I guess I’m an… alumn?

This is weird.

I walked across the stage, and shook a lot of hands.

I picked up my diploma, and thought about all the classes I took to get it.

I came back to an apartment full of families, food, and people relaxing.

I went out to dinner one last time in Stage College.

I packed up my room, and looked back at an empty space.

I said my ‘good byes’, and even thinking about that now makes me want to cry.

I drove out of town, and realized I don’t know when I’ll be back.

At our ceremony they said “Welcome to the Penn State Alumni Association”. That doesn’t sound right yet, but I guess I’m an “alumn”. And now I’m part of one of “the most powerful networks of college graduates”. Thanks, Penn State.

Now I’m en route to Florida for a family vacation.  We love us some “Disneyworld”, and I am pretty exciiited. I hope it helps to block out this whole “graduation” thing, because reality hasn’t hit, and I don’t want it to. So instead, I’ll spend my week at the Happiest place on Earth, having a Magical time.

Senior Year: Part 1

I got a little taste of what this year would be like over the summer. I finally turned 21, and began introducing myself to the bar scene that is downtown. I couldn’t wait for my best buddies (aka roomies) to be back so we could hit the town together.

We started off strong, the football season was looking gooood after a victory over Notre Dame in the first ever FULL stadium White Out. It was beeeautiful. Em & I even bought ourselves a Jersey for the occasion.

Ohio State may have beat us, but the experience wasn’t lost.  The whole day was spent at the Hanson’s tailgate–eating, warming up, drinking, eating, and preparing ourselves for the game. It was the first and only Late night game I went to in Beaver Stadium, and it was quite the experience. This is my favorite picture of all of us.

For most of the 07′ Season we enjoyed some gorgeous game-day weather, tailgating, and some Wins here & there. It took us to the Alamo Bowl in December, which I got to enjoy with the fam in San Antonio.  The last game we attended in Beaver Stadium as Students was sad, we sat until the very end and savored the experience.  I can’t say I’ll miss standing up for four hours every game, but I will miss being a part of the BEST Student Section in the Country (yea, that’s right.).  “We ARE……PENN STATE!”

Football weekends were crazy as usual; we quickly learned you can’t move (or breathe) in most bars unless you get downtown earlyyyy and mark your spot. On the off weekends, we explored the different bars, found a lot we liked and a few that we didn’t.  I introduced Larisa to “Lulu’s”, and she was never the same. We spent every Saturday there, with DJ Killa Kaos and $1 drinks.

My parents came to visit, I said good-bye to friends who graduated early, and I narrowed my options down to the internships I wanted to apply to. Last fall seems like so long ago already. It went by way too fast, and before we knew it there was snow on the ground and we were studying away for Finals.  We had our “Second Annual Classy Christmas Party”, and after learning from a few mistakes on the first round, it was no doubt a success. We celebrated the fact that we survived, and still had one more semester to go…..

Suddenly Juniors & Growing up….

Spending the summer here after a semester ‘off’ put me back into school mode. I remember driving in and seeing that sign, “Penn State University 2 Miles“, and I couldn’t get the smile off my face. LB and Em both stopped by for a weekend visit, and I was getting so excited for us all to finally be together in one apartment. I was still a little nervous about how it would work out, because it had only been just the four of us a handful of times before moving in together.

Something happened that summer that changed everything. It brought us all together for one day-LB and Sally drove 6 hours to meet up with me, and we drove another 3 to meet up with Em-and while helping one of us go through one of the hardest things she may ever have to deal with, we became a family.

I walked up three flights of stairs with my two big ol’ suitcases to start the move-in process, and was met with a very excited LB and a living room that was already decked out in everything PSU, including blue & white curtains for the big ol’ window. It was mostly ‘football’ themed, as we couldn’t wait to get back in that Stadium and watch the first kick-off of the season.

We all had our separate rooms, and we have decorated them so differently. Of course I had to be the one to move my furniture around, just to test things out. LB’s is nice and cozy, with big curtains and blankets covering the windows, and drapery over her bed. Sally’s always looks relaxing, with her big quilts, and pictures of flowers and postcards from Italy on the wall. Emily’s is all pastels of course, it feels like Spring, with a touch of class in her Marilyn Monroe pics that have been around since day 1. Plus her awesome mirror with the green frame, I love that mirror. I tried to branch away from all things purple, buying a new light green Duvet cover and very light yellow curtains.

Junior year was a weird time for us. We met a lot of new people, and realized our time here was already winding down. We hosted our first annual “Classy Christmas Party”, requiring people to dress up (and they did!), and we had a few family visitors stop by. We dressed up as Crayola Crayons for Halloween (oh, we looked Awesooome), and I began to seriously Love Football (first game-and from there on out-I stood for the whole time, big accomplishment!). We had to start thinking about what our life would be like after college, as it seemed like everybody was starting to prepare for that. It was stressful in that sense, as I really had no idea what I wanted to do. We were getting a little burned out from ’school’, and also from seemingly be the only Juniors at this school that weren’t 21 yet. Obviously we weren’t, but oooh it felt like it sometimes.

Jack and I had started dating while I was in FL, so being only 8 hours apart actually felt close. Weird, I know. He drove up here, I drove up there. We had our weekends together, and they were so much fun. For as hard as that was, it was also good. I know that if he were any closer, or even here (crazy, I know), I wouldn’t have had as much time to devote to making memories with my roommates and best friends. My life here would have been very different, obviously in many good ways, but finding that balance is never-ending. We did fine on the phone and with sporadic weekend visits, because that’s just how it was. It’s how it started, and it’s how it progressed. The other roomies had “long term relationships” too, so we all did it, and we all had each other.

By the end of the year we had had ourselves some goooood times, some down times, some times when we were ready to be done with it all and felt like it was never going to be over (classes). We grew so close to each other, and become quite attached to this little apt of ours. Renewing our lease meant not having to move (yes!!!), and getting to be together for another year (yes yes!!). LB and Em finally turned the big 2-1 at the end of the year, so Sally and I only had to be jealous for a few weeks. Our time would come in the summer, and we had our whole senior year to look forward to.

Visitors: Lauren (the little sis) & Jack (of course)!

Sophomore Stories: Tales from Crazytown

After spending the summer at home, it was hard to go back. I wasn’t sure if this was the right school for me, and I hated to be so far away again. The first night in our new dorm room, Em and I stayed up for hours talking and talking and talking. We had so much to catch up on, and we picked up right where we had left off. I felt at home again, and I remembered why I came back.

We decided to call our room “Crazytown”. Mostly because of a few “inside jokes”, and also because that’s exactly what it was. It would turn out that I’d only be there for one semester, but that was one awesome semester. A lot can happen in four months.

Early on I decided that I was going to do an internship that would mean I’d live in central Florida for Spring semester. On a random Monday night I ran into two girls putting up posters for this program, and I uncharacteristically stopped to chat it up with them. That “chat” changed the rest of my experience at Penn State.

They knew somebody (Larisa, aka LB) who would be driving to the auditions for the program and would probably give me a ride. I jumped at the opportunity, e-mailed her, and we decided to have a lunch date. We “hit it off”, and I hopped in a car with her and Sally for a road trip the next weekend. We got lost, almost missed the audition itself, sang loudly to Mariah Carey, danced danced danced, chowed down on McDonalds, and somehow made it back alive. I remember calling my mom that night and telling her that these girls were awesome!! I remember saying that “we just clicked”.

From there we would move on to going to football games together, dressing up for Halloween together, having lunch dates on Friday at McElwain because they had Spaghettios….and I reallyyy like Spaghettios.

Em & I invited them over for a night in “crazytown”, and let me tell you…it was a little crazy. We did a Christmas-music themed power hour ( I survived until about minute 34, ehhhhh), and snacked on a ridiculous amount of chips and Chex-Mix. We didn’t know it then, but this was only the beginning to our roommate love story, and the start of many many many nights together.

(this picture, um, sums up the night. oh, man)

In January, LB and I departed on the adventure of our college career. We met up in Florida, and found ourselves in an apartment with 6 other girls. Yes, we lived with 8 girls in one apartment. It was ridiculous, and one of the best experiences of my life. We were all on the same program, and came from very different places. The next four months would be spent working at the *happiest* place on Earth, playing, enjoying life without classes/tests/school, growing up, and learning a lot about each other. We made a few trips to the beach, a lot of trips to the theme parks, and had a few visitors along the way. The experience came at just the right time, a nice little break from college and the winter of central Pennsylvania.

I needed that year to realize how much I loved Penn State. I had no idea how much I would miss this place. I knew that coming back in the Fall things would be very different. Amy would be graduated and gone, and I would miss her so much. Emily, Larisa, and Sally would be my roomies and we would have our first college apartment. I would be a Junior, and I would be completely in love with this college life of mine.

We were only Freshmen

I was way too far from home, and had no idea what to make of it. I was desert born and raised, and the first time it rained I thought I’d be okay without an umbrella. But here, when it rains it pours, and I got soaked.

Emily lived right next to me, and within the first week I knew she’d be my saving grace. We were placed in the Honors dorm, and being that I was NOT in the Honors College, you could say I was a little out of place. I did get lucky; my first roommate was awesome, I couldn’t have asked for better. She was so nice, caring, un-confrontational, and completely sane. We got along just fine, and we never wanted to kill each other.

But when Emily ran into my room while I was getting ready one night, and said “Are you going out?!? Can I come?!?!”, I knew we were meant to be.

I joined a social service sorority, which only last until my sophomore year. Through this, I met the other person who saved my Penn State life. She was my “big” (you sorority-ers know what that means) and she took care of me. Amy is two years older than me & I’ll be in her wedding this Fall. She came into my life at the right time. Anyway-We had to have socials, which I was never crazy about going to. All I knew was that Emily would be ready and waiting for me at exactly 11:15 p.m. when I could leave, and we’d have our own fun for the night.

We handled the concept of college classes, and learned how to study/not study and get away with it. We learned that you can Not go to class, and still survive (I learned from the pro herself!). We learned that taking shots before you go to a Frat party may not always be the best way to start your night. We were painfully homesick, and found comfort in each other. We didn’t know it at the time, but we would be the main reason each one of us came back for Sophomore year.

She took me home with her over our Fall Break. We sat at the table with her parents and 7 other siblings, and enjoyed homemade macaroni & cheese with broiled steak for dinner. I remember thinking that by the end of the next four years, I’d know this place as well as my own house. I’d know where to find the cups in the kitchen when I wanted a glass of water, and it’d feel normal to help do the dishes after a big family meal. I was right, and I will always think of that house as my second home.

We met some of our best friends, but some of the best was yet to come. Somehow we survived the year, and have a lot of laughs to look back on. While neither one of us were a huge fan of this little town at the time, we did like the Football, and the ice-cream, and the plethora of flowers that bloomed around campus in the spring. Deciding to be “roomies” the next year was a no brainer, and we picked out where we wanted to live on campus. I was so sad when she left for the summer. It was the first time I realized I’d be happy to be back the next Fall.

Oh, Hello Friday

After four days of surviving off of Motrin, and wondering around in a Dayquil-induced buzz…..I finally feel better. Just in time. Today is my last day of class as an undergrad at Penn State. Whoa.

To say that this ’snuck up on me’ is an understatement. I have no idea where this semester went. I have no idea how all of a sudden it’s May, and I’m done with school in 5 days. Oooh man. My attention has been turned to finding an apartment in another state, a job this summer, and where the hell I’m going to store the insane amount of crap stuff I have accumulated in the last four years. Oh yah, and the route I’ll take back home. Ehhhh.

But I’m not thinking about any of that. Nope nope. I’m thinking about the good stuff. The fun stuff. The stuff that needs to be taken care of in the next two weeks, and the stuff that we have to look forward to. Stuff like….

-taking (only!) 2 finals!!! My college record LOW. Except they are both at 8 a.m. (on different days, of course). Gah. Thanks penn state. Much appreciated. I have not had an 8 a.m. final since Greek Mythology freshman year. Yes, I’m a nutrition major and I took a Greek Mythology class (honors option too. I’m dumb.). Whew. That was interesting. The only good part was that Em was in there with me. We survived together.

-being done with everything by Wednesday next week! Which means I have 10 days after that to do absolutely Nothing. My only responsibility will be picking up the siblings at the airport the next Tuesday. And showing up to the “Commencement” ceremony the following Saturday. Hmm, life is hard good these days.

-buying detergent. The laundry basket in my closet is screaming at me. Random, yes. Necessary, double yes (yes).

-going out to dinner to celebrate those lovely birthdays discussed below. Location-their choice. Delicious food and the best company around. Mmmmm, can’t wait.

-surviving “Senior week”. Aka-the week after finals, where the only people left in this college town are seniors and citizens (Not senior citizens). Which translates to ridiculous amounts of time spent at the bars taking advantage of $1 drinks and Happy Hours all around for as long as we can. And hopefully lounging at the pool (get warm! get warm!!!!) and using the Grill for some tastyyy food. Yesssss.

Yup. That’s all I got on my plate. And maybe some studying that should, but probably won’t, consume my life until Monday morning. We’ll see…..

*Happy Fridayyyy*

We Are…Steppin’ it Up

Last Fall, the ratings came out; PSU had dropped to the #6 “Party School” in the country. There was an article about it in the campus paper, and one student was quoted saying…..

“I think everyone just needs to step it up.”

Oh, how right you are my friend. And that is exactly what we are doin’ around here. Don’t you worry!

The realization came last week; this semester has flown by, and will be over so very soon. This is not good! We have yet to officially taken our seat at the senior table. Instead, we have been reserving nights “out” for the weekends, and being productive during the week. Clearly this is why PSU is dropping in the ranks.

So, Mr. Penn State, this week we took some action. Last night (wednesday) the executive decision was made; We’re going Out. There was absolutely no reason not to. All semester the goal has been to start going out on weeknights, just because we can should. Obviously we have classes and things to do on Thursday, but why should that stop us? We’re SENIORS. This is our LAST semester to do stupid college things!!

Lucky for us the weather has been beautiful the last few days, so we went to the “Café”, where you can sit outside and people-watch and enjoy your drinks. And that’s just what we did. It was the perfect temp for jeans and a light jacket, and we sat there for hours sipping, chatting, laughing, and wondering why we hadn’t done this sooner. We headed back around midnight (I know. we’re Crazy) and basked in the buzz of a few good drinks and good friends.

Today, we took things one step further.

It was a gorgeous (and sunnyyyy!!!) 65° outside and everyone was floating around on a spring high. I was at work in the lab when I got a text from Em:

Café at 2:30.

See, the agreement all semester has been this-The first day it’s nice outside, drop everything and meet at a bar where we can sit outside (there are a few). No matter what. No excuses.

Well of course the first day it’s nice, my only class is mandatory. I must compromise. I reply that I’ll be there ASAP. At 3:30 I called, and since the Cafe was completely packed (no surprise), they had a table at “Pickles” on the patio. Yesssss.

We sat, and sipped, and talked, and people-watched again alllll afternoon. And it was everything we hoped it would be; a nice afternoon buzz from beer & sunshine. No, this is not the craziest thing any of us have ever done. But it is something we have all wanted to do since Freshman year, after passing these bar patios day after day and longing for our IDs to read “21″.

LB kept the trend going and headed out tonight. As much as I would have loved to join her, I have weekend plans that require me to be on the road & driving by 8 a.m. Not the best mix.

Not to worry, next week I’ll be all refreshed and ready to go again.

Happy weekending readers!! I hope that you too, are stepping it up!

First Day of Class, for One Last Time

I woke up this morning to the following weather forecast: High, 36°   Low, 27°  70% chance of Rain/Snow in the mornings and afternoon.

Spring Semester has officially started.

In State College’s defense, this is the first year I have ever come back from winter break to find absolutely NO snow on the ground. The dead trees and flat, brown grass clearly indicate that it’s the middle of the winter, but there is no snow to mask the ugliness of this season.  The sky attempted to change this today, but the result was a “wintry mix” of some rain and some very wet snow. Alas, we had gloomy skies and cold temperatures all day.

This was a typical “first day of spring semester”, except for one thing: it was my Last-first-day-of-spring-semester at Penn State.
Whoa.
That still hasn’t sunk in.

I can’t believe that four months from now I’ll be a “College Graduate”. I’ll have a degree. I’ll be moving out of my apartment. I’ll be moving to a new city/town/college, who’s location I won’t even know until the end of April. I’ll be starting that “next chapter” in my life.

Hopefully in four months that all won’t sound as scary as it does right now.

Until then, here’s to our Last Call!
Here’s to hoping that this semester doesn’t fly by, despite the times we will want it to.
Here’s to going out on random nights, even if I do have class at 9 a.m. the next morning (….just not every week. maybe.).
Here’s to watching “The Office” on Thursday nights in my living room with my roommates and a drink in hand.
Here’s to a few more road trips with Crazy (and the gang) and not getting lost!
Here’s to taco nights, baking cakes, renting movies from Mike’s, TJ Maxx (and our many “Maxx moments”!!), Target trips, walking to Wal-Mart at 10 p.m. for whatever random thing we just have to have right then and there, getting ready together for hooours…because that’s how long it takes to test everyone’s shoes/jewelry/make-up/clothes for different outfits, running to catch the bus, spending days inside because it is literally in the negative degrees, watching “ANTM” marathons (or “What Not to Wear”!), studying too much and rewarding ourselves later, and everything else that will make this Our last Semester.

Penn State. 08.

Another Win for JoePa

After a 24-17 defeat over the Texas A&M Aggies in the 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl, Joe Paterno reached a record of 23 career bowl wins as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. As I mentioned earlier, he also holds the record for bowl appearances, with 34 under his belt. The Alamo bowl also marked his 500th game as a coach for PSU!

With every game and every season, he is setting records and making history. At the age of 80 he still runs out onto the field with the team before every game, he still paces the sidelines and yells at the officials, he still consistently coaches winning seasons, and he still pleases the crowd. When our team runs out on the field to start of each game people are cheering just as much for him as they are for them (if not more so )!

I stood next to a small group of Aggie fans (stuck in the Penn State section) during the game. During the first few minutes they kept saying things like, “No he’s on the 25, wait…now the 30. See! Yah, look, that’s definitely him!”. At first I thought they were probably talking about one of their players, but then I realized they were following JoePa up and down the sideline. Watching him instead of the game. I had to ask, and this was one guy’s response:

“He is college football history! We’re not talkin’ Bobby Bowden or somethin’, this is Joe Pa!!” Couldn’t have said it better myself!

And for those who keep speculating, he’s not going anywhere! In reference to our amazing fans, alumni, students, band, etc, his exact words were:

“Did you see the crowd and that atmosphere tonight? Where else would I want to be?”

WE ARE….PENN STATE.

Remember the Alamo?

Destination: San Antonio!

We are headed to the southern Texas city tomorrow to watch the Valero Alamo Bowl Game, Penn State vs. Texas A&M. We’ll be greeted with temperatures in the sixties, sunshine, and plenty of things to do! The game starts approximately 2 hours after our plane lands, so the plan is to get off the plane and book it to the Alamodome!

I don’t want to miss any of the pre-game festivities because this will probably be the last Penn State football game I’ll be attending for quite a while. In place of my roommates, I will be joined by my family for the first time! My parents did attend one game in Beaver Stadium during my freshman year, but obviously didn’t join me in the student section. My brother has never been a Penn State game. I brought home everything we need to be “decked out” for the game, so he’ll be sporting a PSU t-shirt and the blue & white beads I purchased just for this!

I’ve never been to an “away” game, so this will definitely be a different experience! As opposed to the usual sea of blue and white, I anticipate being surrounded mostly by maroon. Although, our alumni are all over the place, and they tend to be a little into this whole football thing.

I don’t know where the BlueBand will be, the entire stadium won’t take part in a “We are…Penn State” cheer, and I don’t know if we’ll get to sing “Hey Baby” before the fourth quarter (I hope!!). Either way, I can’t wait to watch our team run out onto the field, followed by Joe Pa in his rolled-up khakis and classy get-up. He holds the record for both bowl game wins and appearances (22 and 34, respectively)!

We are predicted to win the game, so let’s hope our Nittany Lions can pull through. Our last two bowl games haven’t exactly been performances to be proud of, but we did come out on top. Here’s to hoping that this game will give Joe his 23rd bowl game victory!

The rest of our time will be spent shopping, sight-seeing, eating, drinking, etc. I haven’t been to San Antonio since I was about 8 years old, so I don’t remember too much. The parents have already done a little “research” on what to do for New Year’s Eve. My brother decided we are getting “decked out”, otherwise known as Dressing Up! I was pretty excited about this. It gives me another chance to wear my black dress from our Classy Christmas Party and my new black patent leather pumps. Exciting right?!! I can’t wait

That just reminded me that I have yet to pack. We’re leaving in about four hours. ehhhhhh. I gotta get on that.