New Life, Second Chance, Redemption

Call it what you want to call it, but that's what the Provo Experiment is quickly turning out to be. In high school, I was lazy and took way too much for granted. At home, I felt like I was stuck in the middle of nowhere; couldn't look back to my "glory days" and couldn't motivate myself to move to the future. Until one brilliant day working back at Dick's.

I remember thinking, almost panicking, about having virtually no chance at a career that I was, and still am, dying to pursue. Every option running through my head ended with receiving some sort of higher education. I realized, as I was greeting customers through the south doors, that it was high time to actually DO something about it!

I had considered moving to my friends' house in Ft Collins, but quickly retracted my thought process, knowing that the Fort would most likely have the same sad ending as my Lakewood life.

That's when the idea of moving to Utah crossed my mind. It wasn't the first time I've thought about living in Utah; in fact, I foolishly convinced myself I would be running for BYU in '06. It was a great dream, sure, but you actually have to put in a great deal of effort to even be considered at an elite, private school like the Y.

Through the rest of that agonizingly slow Sunday in February, I mapped out a plan of going to a two year college with every intention of transferring to BYU with my Associates.

After an informative talk with my parents, however, I ultimately decided on attending Utah Valley University and, depending on my experience, decide to become a Cougar.

It took an entire year before I could actually act on this new plan of mine, but, alas, that year has come and gone and I now no longer call 3OH3 home. I feel somewhat accomplished at finally reaching one of the many goals I have given myself, which leads me to believe that I have truly turned a corner in my time-to-grow-up stage.

I'm sure almost all of you know, but I wanted to move to Provo, above all the other reasons, to be around people who cherish the same morals and values as I do. It's not that I'll like you less if you party hard, I'm fine with people who drink, smoke, do heroin, etc. Just kidding about the heroin, don't do heroin, kids! But honestly, if that's what you want to do, then that's what you want to do, I understand that, maybe better than you know.

With that being said, I didn't want to constantly put myself into the "Designated Driver" position, so Provo was the easy choice for my new life, so to speak. Every time I mentioned moving to Provo to my friends and family, they would tease me about moving to "The Bubble," obviously meaning the presence of so many LDS kids tends to cut you off from the Real World.

If there's a proverbial bubble over Provo, then there must be a pretty darn big proverbial hole somewhere, because with what I've seen so far (which, admittiedly, is not much), it seems like a fairly normal college town to me. Well, not counting the drinking, smoking, etc., but you get my point. I was expecting this aura of haughtiness, this general understanding of "We're BYU students, we're the best, most righteous, most holy of all other kids." I have quickly realized, though, that if you have the right attitude towards people here, then you don't notice any kind of self-righteous atmosphere. If you're nice to them, they'll be nice to you. I truly believe it's that simple.

While I'm feeling more at home now that I have finally moved in to a nice condo, there have still been some downsides to the Experiment. First, I put a lot of trust into somebody I shouldn't have trusted from the start and, had I not bolted from my last apartment, could have turned into a wicked bad deal for me, most likely resutling in a hefty bill that would have been quite difficult for me to pay.

I've also been working hard, almost too hard, at trying to make friends with a particular group, mainly because I had these grand expectations of something working out in my favor with someone in the group. But, as I learned on Thursday, with high expectations comes a higher risk of falling short, and, more often that not, there's not one thing you could have done to have prevented yourself from falling.

Even with a couple minor hiccups, things have been great so far in Provo. A big reason why it has, up to this point, been an easy transition is the unflinching help of my family members, most notably the Leamings, for letting me stay at their house until the whole contract situation was under control, and Kimbot, for letting me crash at her place whenever I needed a place to sleep. I can't thank you guys enough!

I just got an overwhelming feeling that I know this is where I want to be; not just where I want to be, but where I need to be. I have full confidence in my decision to move to Provo and I am more than grateful for the opportunity to be out here.