And It Begins

I made this blog not only to give updates on how my life is going but also to give you a look into the life of a guardling (colorguard member). Therefore, I express my apologies for it being the third day of band camp and I am only now writing about it. You deserve a day to day analysis. It would give you a better look into the world of colorguard. Nonetheless, I will try to make it up to you.

As an overview, BYU band is WAY different than high school band. First of all, we have prayers at the beginning of every practice. Then, we have devotionals every night. Then, the way BYU does marching and basics is different. I am having a tough time making changes to my guard habits. The spirit days are more fun at BYU band camp. Today was Old People Day. It is a lot of hard work and the learning is fast paced, but I think I will have a great time.

So for the first day of band camp was not band camp; it was a special practice for colorguard. I met the other girls. They are really nice and cool. Then we split up into big sister/little sister. I really like this feature. I would use it in my guard (my future guard). The bigger sister watches over the little sister and helps her with flagwork. My sister is Rosa from Texas. She's helped a lot in cleaning my fight song and pre-game. After we met each other, we learned the fight song and a bit of choreography. It was SO hot outside! Sweat just poured down my face. It was disgusting. When we broke for lunch, I went with a bunch of girls to In-n-out. Many of them had never tried In-n-out before. Then we let out for dinner at 5 which was when my room was open for check-in. So I got my key and started moving into my apartment. Crazy, huh? I now live on my own. Whoa.

When dinner was over, Ashlee, the coach, told us that we were going to an exotic location for practice, but we didn't need our flags. So we all loaded into cars and drove off, not knowing where we were going. We ended up at the base of a mountain. We were going to hike up to the Y! The ultimate BYU tradition! I was very excited, but soon that went away as we started hiking. That hike was tough! Especially because I'm out of shape. It is all uphill. We took breaks at every turn in the switchbacks but it didn't help with the sweat fest I was having. Finally, we made it to the Y, where Ashlee gave a devotional. She introduced our theme "Becoming like Christ". This theme has an interesting twist. It is about goal management and taking steps to achieving our goals and becoming like Christ. The view from the Y is incredible, especially with the sunset. You can see the whole Utah Valley.

Well, I need to go to bed so I'll continue to write more about BYU band later.