Cougar Crash Episode 4- Adventure

In this episode of Cougar Crash, the hosts discuss the importance of getting off campus and trying new things. They have a guest speaker, Rex, who shares his experiences of traveling and exploring new places. They talk about exploring downtown Provo and the variety of activities available there. They also discuss the importance of exploring beyond Provo, such as visiting the mountains and nature nearby, as well as exploring small towns and other places in Utah. They share stories of trips that didn't go according to plan, highlighting the importance of problem-solving and teamwork. They also discuss the value of internships and networking in college. Overall, they emphasize the importance of exploring the world and gaining new experiences outside of the classroom. Hey guys, it's Grace. And Hannah. And we're back with another episode of Cougar Crash. Today's episode we're going to be talking about getting off campus and trying new things. Alright, let's get started. So, today we have a guest speaker with us, Rex. And he's one of our good friends that we've met in our freshman year. Introduce yourself, say hi. Hello, my name is Rex. What would you like to know about me? Anything you want our audience to know about you. I am from the great land of Salt Lake City, Utah, not too far from Provo. I am a returned missionary, like many at BYU. The same in Brazil and California. And my parents both really love to travel and they took me on lots of trips as a kid and taught me about how important it is to visit new places. So I'm excited to talk about this topic today. Awesome. We are really grateful to have you. So our episode today, we just want to talk about how life isn't just on campus. Especially freshman year, when you're living on campus, it can kind of feel hard to see anywhere beyond that. But I think from our experience, there's a lot to Provo and the rest of the world outside of BYU. So I'm just wondering, do you have any thoughts about that importance, for you at least, personally or for everybody, about getting more than just campus in your life? Oh yeah, 100%. I think that travel and meeting new people and seeing new places is an essential part of any person's life, not just college students. I really am grateful that my mom, she worked at a travel agency for a long time. So she gained this love of going to different countries and going to different states. And growing up, we went on several trips a year. And that really taught me the things that I can rely on, like my family and my friends, and other things that aren't so constant, like where I'm sleeping that night or what we'll be eating and experiencing all those new things. Awesome. I think one place we want to talk about, the easiest way to get off campus is to take the bus and go to downtown Provo. Because obviously we're going to talk about some bigger trips that you can plan with your friends or just ways to explore Utah even. It's super easy to get off campus. 10 minute drive. So what about you, Hannah? What are some of your favorite things to do in downtown Provo? That's a great question. Honestly, downtown Provo is kind of a vibe. I haven't been to a ton of places, but I've been to enough. I've been to the India Palace, that food eating place, the Indian food. So good. Yeah, food eating place. I like that. I never knew the word restaurant. Oh yeah. I've heard of things like the Soap Factory. People have done some fun dates. I think that's just around here. There's rock climbing, there's ice cream, there's fish kiss. So in downtown Provo, I think what's nice about Provo and a perk of the dating culture here is that you can get a little bit of everything from everywhere. And so fish kiss is one of those places where the little minnows eat the dead skin off of your feet. And so as a joke, my friend and I decided to take some guys on a date there. But we didn't tell them what we were doing. So they just kind of showed up and got roped into it. It was entertaining. It was a new experience for sure. But we mostly just did it for the shock factor, I think. But yeah, what's nice about Provo is it's a little bit of everything from everywhere. Most places don't have a fish kiss, I don't think. But yeah, it's just very unique and very fun. There's also a place called Sub-Zero Ice Cream where they make ice cream with nitrogen. Have you guys been there? Oh yeah. I've been there, yeah. It is a magical scientific experience. Yeah, I think that's one of the easiest ways to explore something new. Because the bus is free for college students also when you have your ID. It's just a quick drive to try something new. But shifting away from that a little bit, how have you guys seen the world since coming to college besides maybe outside of Provo? I would say another huge thing, just not quite to leave the Provo scene, is the mountains and the nature that you have here. Oh yeah. Literally, your view off of campus is just a bunch of mountains. There's Provo Canyon really close. There's Spanish Fork Canyon really close. There's Spanish Fork Hot Springs. There's Bridal Veil Falls. There's Tipanogas. Yeah, there's Mount Tipanogas. There's tons of fun hikes and river runs and just cool views that you can go check out. And it's really nice to just kind of disconnect from the city. I mean, once you turn a certain bend in Provo Canyon, you forget that you're anywhere near a city. That's true. Nice. I think it's also really fun to explore the small towns around Provo, and if you're willing to drive a couple hours, there's a lot of really fun places to go in Utah. There's kind of a funny culture at BYU of just roasting Utah because people think it's funny. But there's so much variety in Utah. Like, if you want to go hiking on Red Rocks or on Sand Dunes, or if you want to go river running, or if you want to go check out some of the farms or ranches that are here, or if you want to go check out – there's actually a ton of theater and musical opportunities. In Salt Lake, we have a fantastic symphony and orchestra, and there's all the opportunities, too, with all the church events that go on with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. There's a surprising amount of culture and diversity in Utah, which is in accordance with the promise in the scriptures that all nations will flow into the mountains of the Lord. And so I've met people from all over the world and had food and seen restaurants from all over the world, and there's really a lot of variety if you just kind of get on the Internet and start exploring a little bit. Yeah, it's really cool. Another thing about Provo is it has – if you're a member, it has two temples. So whichever one is closest to you on campus, you could go to the Provo Temple or the Provo City Center Temple. So those are really nice. Yeah. It's also really fun, though, especially in Salt Lake, there are a lot of other religions that you can get familiarized with as well. True, yeah. There are a lot of cool old Catholic cathedrals in Salt Lake City, and there's a pretty decent community community in, like, south Draper. It's really cool the different cultures that you will see if you just start looking for them. Yeah. Well, you went to a Catholic Mass recently, didn't you? I did, yeah, in Salt Lake. It was a really cool experience to, I don't know, see another religion and their point of views. It's super cool. Awesome. Yeah, I think it's really important in college to really explore the world and see more than yourself. Yes. It's a really good opportunity to, like, really experience diversity and new knowledge and explore who you are and who you want to be for the first time on your own, because, like, you're outside of the influence of your parents for the first time. So you really get to, like, decide what you want to do and what you want your routine and your life to look like. I think shifting back to Rex mentioned the Red Rocks. So we had a question for you, like, recently we went on a trip down to Moab, and that's something that is really fun to plan with your friends, like getting to experience something new. Like, I've never really been camping before up until this experience. So what would you say it takes to plan, like, a big trip like that with your friends to make it cost-effective and also timely with all of our busy schedules and being broke college kids? To plan a big camping trip, well, usually step one is find someone that can plan it for you and just kind of make you do it. What? No, no. I think the first thing is to figure out transportation, which either will come from just the beater cart that you bought for your first year of college or just, you know, ask to borrow it from your parents. You know, they're usually very willing to give up a car for a weekend. And really camping is the way to go if you're trying to be on a budget. Just find some tents, borrow some tents. There's also BYU Outdoors Unlimited rents a lot of equipment for really cheap. So get the equipment that you need to be camping and find a cheap or, if possible, free campsite. And honestly, for the first time that you're going camping, I recommend just doing, like, a one- or two-night maximum trip because as you get into, like, four- or five-day trips, the planning just gets more and more complex. But one or two days, I mean, that's, like, five or six meals, a couple of which can be in restaurants along the way. As far as budgeting for that, I mean, I think it's just you need to set aside money for your well-being. And that could be a really fun goal to say, like, at the beginning of the semester, hey, we all want to go to Moab, or hey, we all want to go to St. George. And you start talking about it, you start figuring out who does have equipment, and you all start setting aside that money. And that trip will be a lot more fun because you work the entire semester to earn it. Yeah. Do you feel like a lot of that trip, like, didn't go according to plan? Or have you had trips that don't go according to plan? What do you guys do about that when trips don't go according to plan? I mean, I think that life would be incredibly boring if it went all according to our plan. That is true. The definition of an adventure is when the outcome becomes unknown. So if everything went just, you know, the way it was, quote-unquote, supposed to, then we wouldn't end up having a lot of fun, surprises, and memories. I'm trying to think of trips that didn't go quite like… I can think of one. I can think of a couple. There was a trip that we did about two months ago where we drove out to the hot springs, the Smithwater Hot Springs. Where is that close to? Spanish Fork. Yeah. Out by Spanish Fork, which is about an hour-ish from Provo. And our original plan, like, we made a plan to drive out in the evening, hike, spend some time in the hot springs, hike back, and get home around midnight so we could be up and ready for church on Sunday. I hadn't come. Hannah was… Hannah missed out on this adventure. I missed out big time. But as we were coming back, Rex's car decided to stop working. Okay. There is more to this story. First off, I was pulled over by a cop. I wasn't going to call you out, but… Who was awesome. She's great. She pinned me for leaving the lane twice, which I didn't avoid a deer and avoid a snowbank. So I feel totally fine doing that. Anyways, after that, my car, as we were driving away, slowly died and stopped, which was unfortunate. However, over the next couple weeks, I will say I'm so grateful that I had that experience because I repaired the car with a friend of mine, and then that, unfortunately, didn't work. And so I had to go repair the car again, but this time with a dealer who… with a used car stealer. Sorry, not that kind of dealer. A used car stealer who's a family friend. And through this experience, I learned a lot of things. I mean, it was my first time getting pulled over. I feel totally ready if that ever happens to me again. It was my first time ever, like… I mean, I've done basic oil checks and stuff, but ever really fixing something in a car and getting my hands dirty there. And it was also I learned about this family friend that we have that I can go to anytime when I need car repairs or when I need to buy a new car. And so I remember my parents being like, oh, I'm so sorry that this happened. Like, this must have been so tragic. I mean, honestly, I learned a lot, and I'm really glad that I have these skills under my belt now. Yeah. Yeah, I think on that trip, too, like, once your car died, we learned a lot about teamwork together, like, as all the friends. Because, like, we had two cars and 13 people that we needed to get home. And so, like, we dropped some people off. We figured out how to get everyone home safe because it was cold, too. So we had to make sure, like, everyone was feeling okay and that we could get everyone home in a somewhat timely manner. And, yeah, it might have been 3 a.m., but I think it taught us a lot about working in quick problem solving, which is another really important skill to have in your life, like learning to make a plan but still work through when the plan doesn't work. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's really valuable. Can I share another quick story about a trip that did not go as planned? Of course. I'm curious which trip you're talking about. So this is one when I was actually in high school, not in college. Okay. So this is going back a bit. Me and several of my friends, we went out to the Salt Flats. Oh. Yeah. We were just having a good time out there. We had a campfire, and we, like, played Ninesquare. And it was really fun because, like, we had graduated, and so, you know, of course we knew everything in the world, and we were instructed in it. Obviously. Of course. And, you know, just super overqualified for whatever we wanted to do. And we were just having a good time, shooting off some rockets and stuff. And three of my friends got in a car, and they drove off, and we didn't see them for a little bit. But we were just hanging out at the Salt Flats. And for anyone who hasn't been to the Salt Flats, it's a huge, flat, white, just salt. Like salt. The floor is salt. Like, the ground is salt. It's just totally covered in salt. For miles. Miles. Yeah. However, like, it's totally flat, and they use this place for, like, huge, like, car races, and they use it to set records for Formula 1 cars. However, there are these random walls and berms that are just forming naturally. And so our friends, after a while, in this car, we hadn't seen them for several hours. And so we started calling them, and we started calling our parents, and then we heard, like, sirens coming, and there were emergency trucks going out in the direction that they went. And we, at first, just kind of figured that they were stuck. And so I remember in that moment where we just didn't really know exactly what was going on, I remember with, like, nine of my really good friends, we all kneeled down in a circle and prayed to know what we should do. And after we did that, we had a strong feeling that we just needed to stay where we were and not go out and try and find them. I remember that was a really cool, really bonding experience to receive a revelation like that as a group. That's cool. And then we were just kind of comforting each other, freaking out. Eventually, we got a call that our friends were on the news. They'd been in a crash. They'd crashed into a wall going around 100 miles an hour. Oh, wow. All of a sudden, like, helicopters, lifelike helicopters were showing up. Then one of our friends who was in the crash, his mom, showed up. And I remember her coming out and giving us all hugs and stuff. And it was around 3 a.m. when finally the helicopters were leaving, and we decided that it was time for us to get going. And I remember I was pulling out, and I was driving, which was kind of stressful at this point. I remember driving over it, and my friend's car, who had crashed, his car was pulled out in front of me on a trailer, and it just looked like an absolute wreck. I thought that there was no way that they had survived that. I remember driving home after that and just talking to my friends about that. And they, I will say all my friends, are fine now. One was in a coma for several months. Actually? Yeah. Wow. And the other one kind of had PTSD from the experience for a while. One just had a plate in his elbow. They all survived miraculously. But after that day, all of my friends and I had a couple more years on our shoulders and thinking about how valuable it was that we were all alive, and it was interesting to see how we all responded to that emergency situation. It also made me think about driving safely and all those things. And if that had gone according to plan, we wouldn't have learned any of that. So, of course, I never would have chosen to have my friends crash into a wall. Like, I never would have done that. However, we have these learning experiences that we need and that we don't choose, and it really bonds you to these different people in a way that you weren't expecting. You learn lessons that you will never forget. Yeah. You can never grow in the comfort zone. So true. You can't go outside campus outside. Yeah. I guess just to culminate all these experiences that we've talked about, how do you feel that your overall experiences of doing things outside of school have shaped your adult life? Like, everything besides education. How do you feel? Is that equal to your educational experience? Is that more important? Is that less important? I think there's a great danger while you're in college to kind of measure yourself on a metric, on just one or two metrics. And one of those can be grades, and the other one can be, like, how many friends you have or how many fun things you do on the weekend or something like that. And college, especially BYU, where so many well-accomplished, like, outstanding, award-winning people are assembled, and all of a sudden they're not so outstanding anymore. Like, everyone is super good, everyone's super popular, everyone's super pretty, and everyone is getting better grades than you. It's really a valuable experience to go somewhere else. Especially for me, that means going to nature. Going somewhere where none of those grades matter or how popular you are doesn't really matter. And just kind of having some quiet, meditative moments to ask yourself, am I really doing things that make me happy, or am I just kind of keeping up with expectations? And so I, in particular, I remember a trip that my brother took me on where I was, like, I was not with any of my friends from college. I was without my roommates who had been my best friends from high school for years. But I was just with a group of totally different people. We went to a place in southern Utah. We went through some slot canyons. And I just had a lot on my mind, like, grade-wise and friendship-wise. And it was just great to hit pause on that and go and kind of think about it and just go on some hikes and feel grateful for the beautiful world that we have. And that really, I remembered back to a scripture in Genesis, I think, that talks about, you know, escape to the mountains where you can hear the voice of the Lord. Escape to a place away from all the commotion and hustle of your life where you can have clarity, you know. So I think it's important for all college students to find that place off campus, that kind of your sacred grove or your spiritual refuge that you run to when things are starting to overwhelm you. That's really good advice. Thank you for that. I think with the time that we have left, we wanted to take, like, one more quick shift and talk about, like, getting off campus and trying new things other than just school because school can get exhausting. Do you have any advice or thoughts about, like, getting jobs and internships while we're in college? I would say one of the biggest things to remember about being in college is that your job is not to just get good grades. It's to get good friends because those friends will bless your life just as much, if not more, than whatever certification or grades that you're getting. If you ask somebody, you can do this challenge. Ask someone who's in their career, who has their job, ask them how they got that job. I'll guarantee you they'll almost always say, oh, my uncle told me about it or, oh, my friend told me about it or, oh, I heard about it from a buddy. Yeah, connections are everything. And the big thing is just ask everyone. Constantly when people ask, hey, how are you, say, hey, I'm looking for a job. I am interested in this. And you'll just start hearing things. Both of the jobs that I'm applying to for the summer I heard about from friends. And so don't isolate yourself and just grind away at, like, trying to find a job and applying to places. The easiest way to apply is if a buddy just says to their boss, like, hey, I've got a good friend. Can we come here? And I've had that happen for me a lot of times. So just really invest in relationships. That is one of the greatest. Yes, you need to work to make money. And yes, you need to study to get good grades. But the investment that will keep paying good dividends throughout your life are those relationships that you make. And that will be in your happiness just as much as your professional life. So true. I have an experience recently of, yeah, having connections and getting an internship. This past year I've been in the music program here at BYU. And someone I know, well, her mom is a music therapist. And I've been kind of looking at music therapy, seeing, like, if that could be a fun route to go to. And she just mentioned her mom. I was like, yeah, she could totally, like, bring you in to do a, to shadow for a music therapy session. So I got to go down to Salt Lake and just shadow her for a day. And that's just a great example of those connections and how they're super powerful in shaping your future. Yeah. Similarly, I'm in the civil engineering program. And I think an important connection to make, like Rex was talking about, is with your professors. Because your professors, like, especially once you're getting into your program and they're, like, specifically, like, the classes you need for your major. Like, they want to see you succeed and they want to see those students at BYU getting jobs and being successful. And so, like, I'm in a class right now that's computer drafting. And we had a guy come in that was like, for anyone staying over the summer, I need five or six interns. And, like, I would love to take them from this class because I know you guys are built for success and you have the skills that I need. And so, like, they are, people are actively coming to BYU looking for jobs and for opportunities for these, like, for students here. So if you're looking for a job in an area that's going to put you up for success when you're looking for, like, a legit job after you graduate, like, I would talk to your professors because they know people. And, like, they might even be the people hiring because professors do research and they work outside of just college, too. So I think reaching out to them or to your academic advisors would be a super, super good tool to, like, get right into your area that you're wanting to focus in. Absolutely. I would say that something that's kind of an art that has been lost a little bit in education is the art of mentoring and being mentored. If you think about before we had formal, you know, standard education, how you learned any skill is you had a master and you were an apprentice and you just kind of learned it. And they gave you their practices and they gave you their skills. And that's still something so valuable. And so one of the biggest pieces of advice that I could give is choose your mentors carefully. For example, if you want to – if you're thinking about going into medical school, right, you're a pre-med student, instead of talking to just another pre-med student, which is what a lot of us do, you should go find someone who is a medical student or who is a doctor and ask them about what they did, what connections they would have, what path that they could follow. So don't just look around you to the people who are kind of going through the same year that you are, that are on your same level. Look up to those who have already been through the path that you're going on and have become what you want to become. Yeah. Exactly. Well, we just want to wrap this episode up. Thank you so much to Rex for coming in and talking with us about this. This has been a very helpful episode. Yeah. I think it's super important to remember, like, college is more than grades, more than social life. Like, it's more than campus, too. Like, we can find good opportunities in nature and in jobs and just really explore – like, take full opportunity of everything at BYU because there's a little bit of every opportunity. Yeah, I think just remembering that it's okay to try something new. It's okay to take space for yourself and just explore. Get out of the box. Yeah. Take some time to really explore something. Yeah. So true. Thanks, you guys, for tuning in today. Yep. See you later. Bye. Bye.