Sam's Town

I don't know if you've noticed, but Ben seems to refer to BYU with a slight note of disdain. He really doesn't hate BYU, he just thinks some of the people are crazy. Ok . . . A lot of the people.

Often as a BYU student or alumni, you run into people like my siblings who dislike BYU and claim that they would have never gone there. (I often wonder how many of these people would have even been admitted.) I think part of these people just don't want to live in Utah County because of it's special social demographics. Some people think BYU is too Mormon . . . Uh, duh, it's a church school.

Some of these people say "I would never sign the honor code, it's so dumb. They can't tell me how to live my like" To that I say, nobody is forcing you to go there. If you don't like it. . . Don't go. However, some people do like it, so let them live their lives.

Other people LOVE BYU. It's a great school. You get a great education. Students are in the top 20 for the happiest college students. Granted it is more difficult to get into and once you arrive the competition can be fierce. Average ACT is 27.8 and the average GPA is 3.78. Students may be naive but they are no dummies.

I believe people like Ben have the best perspective. Ben's undergrad is from BYU and his Phd will be from the University of Utah. He has experienced both sides. BYU is full of crazy people and classes can be harder. The U is a bit more "normal" but the sometimes academic experience is less competitive. (I'm not saying it's bad . . . I'm just saying it's not as competitive)
BYU is full of REALLY young couples with lot's of kids (see Ben's Ikea post). I can't say anything bad about young mothers because my mom was only 19 when she had me (and look how I turned out) but sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking! I think it may be one of the only campuses in America where you can see babies in class on a regular basis. Sometimes I wonder why they don't adopt Disney World's stroller parking

Students at BYU also have their own language. It includes words like heck and fetch. Due to the missionary culture a lot of them also speak foreign languages. I can't tell you how many times I've walked across campus and heard guys speaking to each other in Spanish. I think they do this so they can freely talk about passing women.

Perhaps the strangest things about BYU are the mating rituals. Ben has already mentioned into nerd love. The weirdest thing I ever heard of was tunnel singing. That's right, students will go to tunnels on campus and sing (they like the acoustics). Believe it or not, this often constitutes a date. Mormons can be very musical people. (It's because nearly everyone is forced to take piano lessons) Sometimes this translates into loony behavior.

Recently I was studying in the student center. The room was full people quietly minding their own business, hunched over text books and laptops. All of sudden some douche bag decides that we would all benefit from his impromptu piano performance of a stylized hymn (you know this is the only song he knows and he memorized to impress people, specifically females). GAG!!!! I instantly IM'ed my husband who reminded me that this was the mating call of many BYU males. Unfortunately this ploy did not work as all the girls who would fall for it were attending the Tuesday devotional. My guess is that he made is way over to the Marriott Center to join his barbershop quartet where the attempted to snag women.

The funny thing is, this is that at BYU, the men might think they are chasing the women, but I assure you Mormon women sneaky. Just ask Ben.