What a feeling to be back in Provo, Utah! All the memories that have come rushing back to me these last couple of days really have been more of feelings than of places. Provo remains much the same as it ever was - amazingly so, considering that it's been more than seven years since I lived here. Some construction projects that were underway back then are long finished, a few (ok, many) restaurants have come and gone, and they finally got rid of that trailer park on State Street in Orem. But otherwise, it's just the same place, with a fresh crop of BYU students and associated hangers-on to populate it.
I had forgotten, for example, what a meat market this place is. I'm sure this is true of many college towns, but everywhere I look there are men courting women, and men fixing their cars in front of women's apartment complexes, and meticulously fashionable women walking their dogs up and down the same street three times a day, etc. The show never stops.
I had also forgotten how dang friendly everyone is. I went to my beloved Macey's grocery store our first morning here and it was like I could hardly get my shopping done for all the strangers saying hello to me.
There are a couple of things that I remembered being one way that are now another. Monkey bars, for one thing. Monkey bars are the poor man's Creamie, and back in the day, Macey's would put them on sale every once in a while for 17/$1.00. You better believe I stocked up. Now, though, they are far more expensive - and also smaller. The shrinking food package strikes again, I guess.
Also, UVSC is now UVU.
And there is still not a gondola over I-15 like that one apartment complex west of the freeway said there would be approximately nine years ago.
Then there is all the nostalgic stuff - reliving the "glory days," if you will. I graduated from the BYU in 2001. This is where I lived away from home for the first time, where I figured out what I wanted to study, how I wanted to live, who I wanted to be. It's where Jeremy and I met, dated, got engaged, and lived for the first month of being married.
We came back here a few years later for Jeremy to finish up his master's degree, but we lived in American Fork then so my memories from that period aren't quite as potent. Or maybe it's because we're living south of campus again that I remember the undergrad days so well. Part of me just wants to revert back to studying Japanese all day and surviving on stir-fry, smoothies, Marshmallow Mateys, and oven-baked steak fries again.
To complete my walk down memory lane, I will be sure to purchase some ice cream and milk (preferably inspected by Danny) from the BYU creamery, maybe visit the Monte L. Bean Museum, feed the ducks at the Botany pond, and avoid getting hit by a car while walking on 900 East. Anything else?