White-washing the A!

Hiking up the butte at 9 in the morning!

The lovely view of ASU!!!

This is where I splashed my white paint! 

Afterwards... accomplished, sweaty, and exhausted.

So today I went with 4 of the residents from my dorm and 3 CAs/Peer Mentors up to the Tempe butte where A mountain is. It was already hot at a little after 9 in the morning, but I was prepared with a hat, sunblock, and plenty of water. The trek up the mountain wasn't exactly treacherous, but I did have my fair share of stumbles. There was a little tent set up with tables covered in cups of white paint and tons of people behind the tables yelling "DO NOT DRINK THE PAINT!" Everyone grabbed a cup and then continued up to the A, trying not to spill paint all over themselves. I went about halfway up the A (to the line through the middle, thereabouts) and tossed my cup of paint onto the yellow. It wasn't exactly the life-changing, thrilling experience it was built up to be, but I'm glad I did it. In that moment, pouring a Dixie cup of white paint onto our school's symbol, I did feel like I was a part of the community, I really did.

That's kind of what college has already done for me so far. It's made me someone different from the high schooler I was just a week ago. I'm getting up early, walking around outside, willfully going out into the hot sun to hike up the buttes on a weekend when I could be sleeping in. I may have been sick for the first few days, but I'm getting better now and I couldn't be happier to be part of Arizona State University.

In other news, I got my job schedule for next week for my FIRST JOB EVER, as a Student Writer for the school's Enrollment Marketing and Communications office. I'm so so so excited to be earning money, lemme tell you. I've been spending a lot of it this week, although not recklessly. It's been pretty much entirely on food, except for buying myself a new lanyard for my keys.

French class yesterday was wonderful. The teacher is only 24, and she's so sweet. It reminded me a lot of my high school French class, which is comforting because I feel like I'll be able to succeed easier that way. It was small, too, only about 10 or so students.

I'm spending all day tomorrow with my family, and I'm so excited. I can't wait!

-Audrey