Sweet Home Alabama, An Internship, and a LOT of boxes

I never thought I would leave Rexburg. Ever. I had been there SO LONG, that is was almost my new adoptive home. Almost. But with two semesters behind me, and freshman year done I could not be any happier. I am officially home in Alabama, and Rexburg is awesome and all, but I really can't remember why I ever left. What I CAN remember however, is six or seven posts ago when I was first leaving Alabama, I made a list of what I would miss the most when I got to Idaho. So in honor of Rexburg and all of its cheap, Mormon glory, here's what I have found I miss the most. In no particular order.

1. 75 cent diet cokes from the gas station. Good for my all nighters, bad for my addiction. Still on the search for cheap 44 ounce diet cokes in Alabama. And when I do, I will let you know. Be watching for that status update.

2. Reeds Chocolate Milk. I don't know what geniuses have been living in Idaho my whole life, but they make chocolate milk WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM. Mental rubix cube, I know. So many questions I asked myself when I first saw this. Is this for real? Why have I not thought of this? How MUCH is this?! They could make millions. And then I drank it. And all I can say, is that all the memories of my first love, life's happiness, dreams and wishes were all replaced with Reeds.  Thats how good it was.

3. Burrito Grande's with Cassie. Forget Costa Vida. Cassie and I had this tradition of going to the Crossroads (BYUI'S Cafeteria) at least once a week to get these HUGE burritos. We ate them all semester long and fell in LOVE. People kept telling me how I should go to Costa Vida and try it....and how it was soooooooo much better than the Crossroads. I could really care less. But, on the last week I was there I cracked. Adell and I (and some others) went to Costa Vida. And can I just say, I am SO SORRY I ever doubted you, burrito grande. Take me back.

4. The DI. I am tearing up a little just thinking about the DI. I found so many treasures there. The love I have for the DI and its 1980's romper, leopard print, spandex, blue jean jacket on blue jeans beauty is ridiculous. Tommy doesn't agree, but we have had our arguments and I think we have agreed  to disagree. Low maintenance, high performance, thrifty women shop at the DI. And that's something every man wants. I THINK he will forgive me for purchasing things from there one day. Maybe his hatred for buying things from there is stronger than I think. I might have my work cut out for me.

5. MY AUNT JAN. Oh my gosh. I love my Aunt Jan. I had never met her before last spring, my family has lived in Alabama my whole life-and she and her husband Dale have been in Idaho that whole time. But when I came out to school, she was like my second mom! She took such good care of me, and always made sure she helped me any way that she could. She was SUCH a blessing. Its only been one week and can't wait to see her again!!

6. Andy. Ohh Andy. I love this guy. Andy is Aunt Jan's sister's son. We had never met either before we came out to school, but we ended up have both of our biology classes both semesters together! I miss studying so hard with him that afterwards I didn't even know my own name, our Friday afternoon runs to the farmers market for 3 gallons of raw milk each (that still never seemed to last for more than three days), and our dinners at Aunt Jan's. I spent an insane about of time trying to name things that he would eat. He is a super health nut. Bread? no. Potatoes? no. Corn? no. He enjoys things like coconut oil, and fish oil, and oatmeal.... Gross. He is shown here with his "oatmeal pie", aka vomit on a plate. still LOVE HIM!

So Rexburg, you are missed. At least a little. But I'd still like my time in the Bamaland. Being back home with NOTHING to do, I decided I had better get working as soon as possible! Today I went to the hospital to be interviewed for an internship that I applied for. I was SO nervous! And I am usually not nervous about those types of things at all. But it all went over fine, and I got the job! But my happiness couldn't last. She told me I got the job and walked out of the room. (Just enough time for me to stand up and do my happy dance, despite the fact that I was wearing heels, a pencil skirt, and an ascot. Which I know you don't believe, but makes it a LOT harder.) She walked back in carrying a stack of papers that looks all too familiar. It was the same papers that I had seen not to long ago at the....dare I say it...Plasma Center. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Was she serious?! Again?!? I did NOT know she was going to send me straight down to do a drug screening.  But she did. Of course she did. This is Brittany Allen's luck we are dealing with, anyhow. So I gather up all these papers that she gave me and walked downstairs. After playing how-many-floors-can-I-get-off-the-elevator-on-and-look-like-a-fool I finally found the Occupational Health Center. I sat down and started filling them out. When I was done I had pretty much killed a pen. That's how many papers we are talking about. I stood up and walked up to the receptionist to give her my clipboard, and from a distance I thought I saw a BEAR sitting behind the desk. I am about to feed these papers to a really angry at life woman, who wants to kill me and ten million puppies. For some idiot reason that I still don't know why, I didn't even wait for the white receptionist to come back to the desk. She at LEAST speaks my language. I sloooooooowly pushed my clipboard to her from across the desk, and she was staring at me the whole time. Okay, I'm giving you my paperwork. We aren't having a staring contest chick. (glozell howl). She takes it and looks over it. "You CAN sit down." She said with attitude. And in my head, I'm all...woman. Don't give me tude. A couple of minutes later she mumbles something that starts with Miss Allen.
"....Yes?" I said.
"adgajehroeiagba birdseed?" she said.
"um...what?" I knew I heard her wrong. Im not your gangster child. speak ENGLISH!
"apple knees?" she said again.
at this point I am all kinds of confused. I get up and walk across the room so that I am literally just over the desk from her.
"One more time, I'm sorry..." I say. And I know she is about to scream in my face.
"CAN I COPY YOUR ID?!" she says so loud that people in China probably looked up.
I just hand it to her. In my head I am fuming. All I am thinking is, wow. You are a pretty hostile lady. Where did they find you? The DMV?
After Tude (which is what I will call her, short for attitude) FINALLY let "Laquica" take me back to the examination room, I get that same Hunger Games tribute feeling. And then I see them. The needles for taking blood. Ohhhh you.....we meet again. Laquica asks me what I want to do first, and I tell her to take my blood first. Lets just get it over with. She starts checking my veins, and is just making small talk. I'm not really listening, I'm hyperventilating telling myself you better not pass out. But four little words caught my attention. "Its my first day.." And I just look at her. The woman who is about to take blood from me-of course its her first day. Is it your first time taking blood too?!?!
She  put the needle in, which was fine. I don't have a needle or pain problem. She had to take FIVE vials of blood. FIVE. Since when do they take more than three? Today of course. Brittany's luck.
So she take the first two and its all good. Then she decides she wants to re-position the needle. Idiot. It comes completely out, and SHE FORGETS TO HOLD MY ARM. Idiot! Blood all over the place. I try to hold my own vein, but as soon as I see MY own blood going everywhere I am OUT. Anyone else's blood I am fine. I can IV and draw blood all day. Its just a mental thing I guess! But eventually I wake up, I think it was only for a few seconds. There was very little difference between this Drug Screening and the plasma center. Both were going horribly wrong. But the difference is this-I stayed and stuck through one of them. And lived to tell about it. I consider myself a victor, and will be waiting for my house right next to Peeta's and Katniss' and Haymitch's in Victors Village. Thank you very much.

Life in the Bamaland is mighty fine. Im with my family, I have an internship, I am not in School, and I'm alive. No thanks to Tude and Laquica. Now Tommy just needs to get home. For real! TWO MORE WEEKS! :)