The Run-down.

dear friends,

let me describe the last week or so to you.

TUESDAY FEB. 9
- my computer got a deadly virus on tuesday night.

THURSDAY FEB. 11
- Went to Erin's to try and salvage some stuff from my computer. It worked. Yippee.

- I stayed up to pack my back until 2:30 am

FRIDAY
- 10 am. Drove my roommate to urgent care. (She ended up having kidney stones)

- 1:45 pm. I was in the FA office to get in the van.

- 4:55 pm. Flight departed from SLC to Denver. In my company: my boss, her husband, the "assistant boss", his wife, and four other peer mentors. The other peer mentors are sophomores, and I am almost a full 2 years older than them.

- Arrive in Denver, take the bus to the rental car agency. I got appointed "co-pilot" (if you know me, you know this was a bad idea)- but the directions were easy, so we successfully made our way to the Sheraton downtown.

- Check in to hotel rooms- 3 rooms for 5 girls, meaning, I got my own room (since none of the other girls wanted to be alone, and remember how I was the old satellite peer mentor. Room 643)

- 8 pm. Walk down to the restaurant Maggiano's. Each plate could feed probably 3 people. We had tons and tons and tons of food that we all shared.

Note: I got a travel advance of $150 to pay for my food.

- Dinner was $15 each, with creme brulee for dessert

SATURDAY
- Up at 9 to meet in Pat's room and go to breakfast at a little bakery. $6

- Walk downtown to the Colorado state capital (which was closed) and then to the Denver Mint (which was also closed). Saw the Denver art museum, but no one wanted to go in. Boo. Then to an old church- we so brilliantly walked in during the middle of mass. Then touristy shopping down 16th street.

- 2 pm. Met Candace (one of the peer mentors who was doing homework) for lunch at the same bakery we ate breakfast at. $8

- 4 pm. Meet the staff to look at our presentation room and go to the opening session of the conference. (By the way, it was The National Conference on First-Year Experience)

- 7:30 pm. Dinner with authors of some books. You see, there were publishers there with big displays of free books, hoping that people attending the conference were also choosing a book for their first-year reading programs. They had authors there to discuss their books over meals, which were free. This was one such meal. It was salad, steak and chicken and rice, and sorbet.

- Meeting in Pat's room to go over our presentation. Bed at midnight-ish.

SUNDAY
- 7:20 am. Meeting the staff and going down to breakfast. Conference sessions until 10, when our presentation was. Our room was full- probably 60 people. When we started though, some people left, possibly because we required audience participation, possibly because we read student work as part of the presentation and it was overtly religious.

- 10:40. The formal presentation ended and the peer mentors were sent into the crowd to answer questions. My group had many questions, and I was honestly surprised they wanted to know so much.

- 11:15 am. HUMONGOUS sigh of relief. The presentation was over!

- Free lunch- salad, stuffed chicken, carrot cake.

- 5:30 pm. Conference sessions ended, up to Pat's room to debrief.

- 7:30 pm. Arrive at The Cheesecake Factory. Wait 1.5 hours for a table. Happy Valentine's Day.

Going to any semi-nice restaurant in downtown Denver on Valentine's Day was a BAD idea.

Pulled pork sandwich (surprisingly delicious) and chocolate cake. $20.

- 10:30 pm. Pajama party with the girls in my room, with Valentine's chocolates we bought for ourselves.

MONDAY
- 12:30 am. Sleep.

- 7:30 am. Conference sessions until 11:30.

- 11:30 am. Packing our bags and bringing them down to the car.

- 1-3 pm. More conference sessions, with another free author's lunch.

- 4 pm. Drive to the airport.

- 6:55 pm. Flight departs from Denver to SLC.

- 8:45 pm. Flight arrives in SLC. Wait for luggage and rental car.

- 10:30 pm. Dropped off at my apartment.

TUESDAY
- Talking to my roommate, until 12:30 am. Sleep.

- Up at 7:30 to go to THS.

- Home at 2:30 after full day of 9th grade SEOP presentations.

- 8:30 pm. Going to Erin's to pick up my resurrected computer, thanks to Bryce!!!!

WEDNESDAY
-Up at 6:00 to get ready to go to THS for another full day of 9th grade SEOPs.

-Home at 2:30, class at 4 until 6:30.

And I am planning to go to bed early tonight, because I haven't slept a full night since last week. So, I have to wrap this up. Results of the conference: net gain of $112, 17 new books, and something pretty nice to put on my resume, plus new friends and lots of laughs. (aww)

Note: To see my name listed as a presenter in the official program, with a synopsis of our presentation, go here. I'm on page 31.

Looking ahead:
-Friday, 8 am - 1 pm. Group interview for Counseling Psych Ph.D. program at BYU.
-Saturday, 6 pm. Date.