Chelsea’s guide to BYU
Random Advice for Enjoying
Life
Choosing a major:
·
I chose mine according to the building. When I
started at BYU, I was a physics major. The building was cramped, sterile, and
the hallways made me feel like I was in an insane asylum. I looked around the
buildings of campus and found the ones where I felt inspired and the happiest,
and they all happened to house the majors that fit me best. It’s random as all
get out, but it worked for me.
Choosing classes:
·
If you want to get in and out of BYU as fast as
possible, disregard this message. If you want to enjoy the experience, then
this is for you. When you graduate from BYU, you want to be the best at
whatever you decide to major in. But to be happy, I think you need to be able
to experience a wide variety of things to be able to find out when makes you
happy and there is so much opportunity for that at BYU. One way of doing that
is with the classes you choose. Thankfully, in order to satisfy your general
education requirements, you do have to take a variety of classes outside of
your field. Really take advantage of that to make cool memories and experience
new things. My favorite classes at BYU were introduction to cinema,
introduction to social dance and country swing and world dance, world religions,
intro to singing, and art history. I
loved my major, but these classes opened up a world of possibilities to me in a
way that just taking major classes would not have done.
Make a friend:
·
The first day of each class, esp. the big
classes like American Heritage, I always made sure to make 2-3 acquaintances in
the class. That way, if I ever had to miss or was unsure about something, I
always had someone I could call from the class for help.
Things to know about campus
Great places to
study/ have peace and quiet:
1.
The library- you can rent a desk, a group study
room, or a room with a TV/ projector for group projects, or the quiet zone
2.
Joseph Smith Religion Building- In the little
garden in the middle, it’s usually quiet and nice to sit when you’re stressed
out or just want some quiet
3.
The JFSB
has a beautiful little water fountain in the front that’s nice to sit by
and also has really comfy chairs scattered throughout the building
4.
In the international study building (The Kennedy
Center), the women’s bathroom has a bed, in case you really need to lay down
for a minute
Things to know about
specific buildings:
1.
In the nursing building (SWKT), they show free movies for the cinema classes almost every
day. It’s called the international cinema and every now and then they show
really cool movies, mostly foreign
2.
In the honors building, The Masser Building, they have a study lounge on the first floor
that hardly anyone knows about. It has magazines, a microwave and is a nice
place to eat lunch away from the craziness of the Cannon Center
3.
The art
museum on campus is free and they
have some really cool rotating exhibits and a cool restaurant upstairs. The Harris Fine Arts Building is where the
art and music majors have their exhibits as well. Most of the best musical
concerts will be there, as well as student exhibits of things like pottery,
photography, and graphic design.
4.
The Business building (The Tanner Building) is the perfect
place for a paper airplane competition
5.
The International Studies building (The Kennedy Center) has a huge display
at one end with papers detailing all the different study abroad and service
abroad opportunities for the next year. They always have limited space, so
apply as soon as you can when you pick one.
6.
The Science building (Eyring Science Center) has a ton of random, fun science exhibits
you can play with for free on the main floor of the building
7.
The library
has a lot of random, cool stuff
a.
They have a quiet zone where you can be sure
there will be no noise for studying
b.
There is a room of international movies for free
rental
c.
There is a sheet music room
d.
They have research librarians that you can
reserve to help you with papers
e.
They sometimes have snuggie study parties, which
are hilarious
f.
Be careful with overdue books- they charge you
like a $1 a day per item
g.
Amazing family history resources!
8.
If you get into family history, there is a family history lab in the JFSB building
and every computer there in and in the library has access to some amazing,
really expensive programs. Along with the family history center in Salt Lake
City, you will never again have such access to such amazing resources- a great
time to take advantage.
9.
In the Jesse
Knight Building (KNB), there is the English Writing Center, where you can
have English majors look over your papers and make critiques
10.
The Bean
Museum- has a huge collection of taxidermy animals. It’s free and kind of
fun to check out.
11.
In the Wilkinson Center (the WILK), they have a little movie theater
and will regularly show discounted movies for about $3 dollars. They have free
bowling days downstairs and a cool new café where you can hang out and meet up
with people.
12.
The WILK
Bookstore is the most expensive place to buy pretty much anything. But the
chocolate-covered cinnamon bears are probably worth it.
13.
When you go to buy your books, shop around a
little bit. Your school Web site will tell you which books you need for your
classes. With that list, there are companies in Provo where you can get them
for infinitely cheaper than the bookstore.
If you do decide to get your books at the bookstore, there is an option to have
the bookstore put together your books for you, so all you have to do is show up
and grab the stack instead of hunting around the 1000s of other students all
looking for books.
Fun Things on Campus:
The newspaper, The
Daily Universe, which might be totally online now, will have a list of all
fun activities coming up
Concerts/
Performances:
·
Vocal Point- acapella guys
·
Noteworthy- acapella girls
·
Young Ambassadors- Music Dance Theater majors
·
Student Film Festival- best of show
·
Divine Comedy- best of show (try to go to the
free screenings)
·
Ballroom Dance Company (you have a member of the
team get you tickets- they camp out overnight to get you the best seats)
Sunday Tunnel Singing
·
Generally freshmen will gather every Sunday
around dusk to sing hymns at the tunnel leading to the Marriott Center (the
basketball stadium)
Fall Semester:
Homecoming-
·
There will be tons of different dances to go to
and the football games are a lot of fun.
·
Get tickets as early as you can.
·
Tru-Blue football: They will slick a hill down and
you can run and slide down the foam. This is a fun one to have a big group to
go with.
General Conference-
·
Parking: If you look up the TRAX, there will be
places all along the track that you can park at and take the TRAX into SLC so
that you don’t have to try to find parking.
·
Tickets- mention to your bishop early in the
school year that you would like tickets and try to get a couple. Or you can
just go the Temple Square and ask people if they have extras. You won’t always
get to sit by someone you know that way, but at least you get in. OR you can
watch on Temple Square in the old tabernacle or in the chapel or theater of the Joseph Smith Memorial
Building (more comfy)
·
During Priesthood Session, there are tons of
girls’-night-out events with raffles. A good one to check into is the Sister
Missionary Mall.
Christmas:
·
There will be an online raffle for tickets to go
to the Christmas Devotional with the 1st Presidency at the
Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
·
There’s a group on campus that will walk through
Provo reenacting the journey of the shepherds to the baby Jesus, complete with
llamas. If nothing else, it’s really fun to watch.
·
Get your flight to and fro for the break early-
they fill up really early and get really expensive if you wait ‘til near the
end.
Spring Semester:
Hari Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork: All year long there are
cool festivals, but the most popular one is the Holi Color festival, which is
generally the weekend before General Conference. I would recommend big
sunglasses or even goggles and definitely a dental mask or handkerchief to
cover your mouth, because you can’t breath for a couple minutes with all the
colored dust in the air
Cool service opportunities
MTC- be an
investigator
·
Time commitment- about 2 hours at a set time each
week
Temple patron
·
You will get a limited-use recommend from your
bishop and can go whenever without an appmnt
·
Go to lots of temples- Salt Lake City is really
cool- you enter through this random entrance on the side of the temple. The
Oquirrh Mountain is gorgeous!
·
Empty times: during BYU devotional (Tuesday 11
am) or one night a week they go late (I think it’s Wednesdays or Thursdays)
MLK Jr Day (in
the spring)
·
All-day service event that will have dozens of
different projects
Check out Y-serve:
they will have cool ideas all the time
Food
The Creamery
(Eastern edge of campus): really good ice cream
To Do in the Vicinity
Movies:
·
Dollar Movie (timing like the GSR)
·
I-Max theater: Sandy
·
They do outdoor movies sometimes in the Provo
Amphitheater south of town
Theater:
·
Center street musical theater: they do great
little community plays
·
The Murray Desert Star Playhouse: a dinner
theater where they do Mormon spoofs on popular movies, like “My Big Fat Mormon
Wedding” or “CSI- Provo”
·
The Sundance outdoor amphitheater- plays in the
summer/ fall
Hiking:
·
Mt. Timp (usually start at night and hike to be
up there at dawn)
·
The Y (really steep, not esp. fun, but a great
view)
·
Stewart Falls*** (really pretty in the fall)
·
On full moon nights in the summer, they will do
rides up the ski lift at Sundance
·
There are TONS of cool waterfalls to go look for
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