DENVER!!!

Started packing at 11pm Thursday night (That didn't last long though).

Resumed packing the next day at noon-thirty. Ate. Left by one-thirty to meet at the office in time. Jumped in the van with the other four peer mentors and headed for the airport!

Got on the plane... AND a very good looking boy sat down next to me. He just happened to be my good friend's crush from school. She was jealous, and I felt bad for sitting next to him and talking to him the whole time. She was able to talk to him a bit, but he turned the conversation towards me *I felt so guilty!*. I found out he was at BYU same as me, and I invited him to turn in an application to be a peer mentor with us! (and he already has filled out most of it now!)

Landed. Getting our bags was a hassle! There were five flights worth of baggage coming at once to the carousel, and one canceled flight's baggage. After the circus of trying to find our bags we headed to a rental car place, and got a van. That van ride was hilarious. We were still getting used to eachother, and learning how eachother acted outside the office... very interesting.

Arriving at the hotel was awesome. We stayed at the Sheraton! It was in the middle of downtown Denver, right on the 16th street mall. The beds were queen sized, and the comforters were filled with down feathers. I had FOUR pillows also filled with down feathers, and it was all white bedding. SOOOOOooooo classy! We had split up between rooms. Two, two,and one. The staff got their own rooms and were a little ways down the hall from us.

The first night we went out to eat at Maggiano's Little Italy. The portions are HUGE, and we ended up sharing our dishes with eachother. I had creme brulee for dessert! That is one of my favorite desserts. That night we went to bed very satisfied and happy.

We had to be ready by 9:30 am the next morning... so, I had to get up out of that wonderfully comfortable bed. (I would have slept longer if I could.) We gathered together and all went to breakfast at the bakery around the corner. We looked over our room, and tried to figure out the presentations we wanted to go to that weekend. THEN, the time was ours to explore Downtown Denver.

We went to the Capitol building first. We couldn't figure out a way inside, so we just hung around outside for a while. On the thirteenth step of the building is exactly one mile above sea level... so naturally we had to take a picture of us on that step.

Wandering around was fun cause we ended up seeing the Denver mint. The place that a lot of the quarters are made. It kinda looked like a jail because of the barred windows and padlocked fence. We couldn't get a tour, because it was closed, but we did like seeing it.

We then went around to 16th street and shopped! It was so much fun! We had a lot of fun window shopping. And I only bought something at Walgreens... kinda pathetic I know. BUT I really needed a note pad and they had them cheap.

That night we had fun at an author dinner. We were able to hear from five different authors about their life and their new book. Then I was able to get their books for free, and signed!!! It was awesome.

I had to wake up at 6:30am the next morning... earlier than any regular day at school. We got up early to be able to be down stairs and prep for our presentation we were giving at 10:15am. The faculty were kinda nervous and their anxiety was transferring to us. One session before we presented I could hardly pay attention. I raced to the room, and began doing deep breathing. Haha, it kinda helped actually. The presentation was well done. The peer mentors were so good! I was playing the part of a classmate, and modeled an improved thought process because of being taught how to think instead of what to think.

Sidenote: I really think that's an important part of our lives. Being taught how to think, rather than what to think. Sooooo many times in my classes I've had professors tell me, "that's just how it is." or "don't worry about it, just memorize this." When in reality, I need to learn how to come to those same conclusions you came to. I need to learn how to think. With peer mentoring I've had to push my students to think, and by doing that I've learned how to think for myself.

Okay... so back to our presentation. After we modeled our class set up there was a breakout session we were able to talk to those that wanted to talk to us. I was talking to people from all across the world who were very prestigious and had high reputations. They were deans of colleges, department chairs, professors, and program directors of many different universities and colleges. AND they were asking ME for advice on how to help their students. It was amazing. I felt very useful and like I had something to offer. Many times I've been shut down because I'm a girl, or I'm young and obviously that means my opinion doesn't matter. BUT these people really wanted to know what I had to say!

One woman asked if I could go back with her to her college and work for her. Another offered me scholarships to go to their university. REALLY?!?! I was on the top of the world. Being able to share my knowledge with others that really wanted to hear it was just... I can't even describe it! It's like you've been trying to prove yourself for so long, and then someone comes along and says, "you really don't have to prove yourself to me, I know you're good."

The rest of that day we went to sessions and learned a ton about better ourselves, and how to help the students better themselves. For dinner we went to the cheesecake factory... then sat on our beds and talked intelligently until we realized it was valentines day and broke out some chocolate and tried to talk about boys:)

The next morning we woke up early, again, and began our day at a poster session. Then hurried and packed. Went to another author meal and ran to the airport.

We kinda got lost on our way out of the city... but we did leave about three hours early so no worries. The plane ride back home was fun, and I actually got to watch TV! This was the first time I've ever been on a plane that has TVs on the seats and we can watch a movie, or TV, or something. We turned on the Olympics, and then the food channel.

We landed and I was then dropped off at my apartment! Cate attacked me when I got through the door, Walter helped with my bag, and Brian had a great big smile on his face. I love my apartment!

Such a fun weekend!