Update

As requested, here is the best I can do on the Alyssa and PSU update. Maybe Alyssa can add in the comment section. To the best of my knowledge everything is going well. Things are going fine with her roommate Kaylynn. I don't believe she does much outside of just rooming with her, though. One of her fellow Leapers lives right across the hall from her and Alyssa seems to spend quite a bit of time in Nicole and her roommate's room.

I attempted to have one of her friends throw her a surprise birthday party last week, but it didn't quite come off as I had hoped. I ordered a b'day cake from the bakery up there, asking if the cake could be picked up by her friend Mary, without Alyssa knowing. I was assured that could happen. Both Mary and I got the email confirmation that the cake could be picked up in the commons area on the 28th. All seemed perfect!! Until Alyssa tells me she received a copy of that confirmation email in her mailbox telling her that she could pick up her cake anytime on the 28th....boo!! I told Alyssa to pretend she never got that, then proceeded to email Mary and tell her that Alyssa now knew something was up. Til it was all said and done, poor Mary, who had made all the plans, had to work that evening, couldn't even be there, and Nicole the girl across the hall did the party for Alyssa at ten o'clock that night! (I have no clue how it ended up being that late, but I've been told that now Alyssa is on college time....LOL!!)

As far as classes go, I don't get the impression she's enjoying her computer science class all that much (part of it may be the 8 am issue) and her math class, at this point, is a review of high school math. She commented that she probably could skip classes and still be fine (although she admits she could never do something like that....). I haven't heard much about English Lit or Spanish.

She quickly learned how to use the bus when she realized she had too much time in between classes and was going back to her room after each class. She says she's been taking the bus to class and walking back to her room. Kurt and I encouraged her over the summer to figure out the buses when there were less people, but for whatever reason it never happened. The funny part was she took the bus for the first time late one night after walking Mary back to her room in East Halls, which is at the end of campus. They had been at one of the opening activities the first weekend, then went back to Alyssa's room and sat there trying to figure out how to get Mary back to her room without one of them having to walk alone in the dark, late at night. The decision was made for Alyssa to go with Mary back to her room, then Alyssa would take the bus back to her room. The cute part was that they decided they would stay on the phone with each other the entire time Alyssa was on the bus and if something bad were to happen, they had a secret code phrase (B. Math is here), and if Alyssa said that, Mary would know something was wrong! Fortunately, all was fine! Oh, and BTW, B. Math was their mentor for the summer session....everyone called him that, as opposed to his real name.