Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2005-10-10 09:14:25 by StarBurst []
Friday, September 23rd
After class today my mom is taking me out to lunch. Then she's taking me home for the weekend. Tonight is our high school's homecoming game so most of my friends will be coming home also. I've loved the homecoming games ever since I was little. Last year, I got to be on the court, which turned out ot be pretty fun. Anyway, it will be nice to be back in my hometown with my friends and family for a day. Saturday morning I'm leaving with my boyfriend and his family and friends to go to Buffalo (it's an annual trip). We'll go into Canada, see the falls, and go to a Bill's game. Though I miss many aspects of home, I'm sure I'll be excited when the weekend is over and I come back here... I love Penn State.

I'm so mad I didnt get to go home this weekend for my homecoming game! I love going to see the floats and the homecoming court and of course the game (even though we lost every game) haha!
-LaurenSmith

Thursday, September 22nd
For some reason, ever since I got here, I end up waking up so many times through out the night. I have no trouble getting to sleep or anything... but I'd say I wake up 3-6 times a night. It's usually only for a couple seconds each time but it's weird. A lot of times, it's right in the middle of dreams (I've had a lot of strange ones). I don't know if it is outside noises that are waking me up or my roommate making noises or something else. Sometimes when I wake up, I'm sort of delirious. At times I seem to not be thinking straight or logically. Like the one night, my roommate came in at like 2:30 and I was already asleep. When her noise woke me up, I immediately got out of bed. I remember getting out of bed, but I don't remember why I did it or what I did after that... I think I just went right back to sleep. I've woken up before, seen that it's dark and, still think to myself for some reason, "Hey I have to get up for class now." I start to get up and then realize it's 4:00 in the morning. Anyway, it's strange but it's not really depriving me of any sleep or anything so I guess I shouldn't worry.

Wednesday, September 21st
This is a good week for tv. My two favorite shows, Lost and Desperate Housewives, start this week. Before criticizing them, you have to watch the first couple shows... I guarantee you'd be hooked. It'd be really hard to pick up and start watching them this season if you didn't watch last season but they've been playing repeats the past couple weeks. There are so many different storylines and suspenseful events going on in each... they are addicting.

I have to disagree! my ex-girlfriend used to make me watch Desperate Housewives with her, and I never became hooked--MichaelNiffeneggerTestUser

Tuesday, September 20th
Over the weekend I figured out that a girl on my floor is bulimic. The first time I saw it, it really scared me. Bulimia can lead to serious health problems. I'm not sure what I should do. I don't know her very well so I can't really just talk to her about it. Maybe I'll just let the RA know about it. I'm sure she'd know what to do. It's really sad that our society pressures girls into feeling like they have to be so skinny. In many of the girls bathrooms they have posters about eating disorders that say 1/3 of college women are bulimic... scary isn't it?

Monday, September 19th
I feel a little overwhelmed. I hate how all of your classes end up having exams around the same time. I have my first test is human development family studies tomorrow then a smaller one in women's studies on Thursday. Next week, I have an Astronomy test Monday and Psychology Wednesday. On top of doing other homework, it is hard to study and focus for more than one test at one time. I'm glad we don't really have tests in this class, but writing assignments can take up a lot of time. I guess that is what college is all about though... learning to use your time wisely and study hard.

Friday, September 16th
I'm excited for the weekend as usual. Today after class my dad is coming up to have lunch with me. He has an office up here so he usually comes up to do work once every other week. We live about an hour away so it's not a bad drive. Tomorrow is the football game, of course. I don't understand how people can attend PSU and not want to go to the football games... it's an awesome experience. Saturday night is always fun but it always sucks when Sunday rolls around. Especially this weekend, I have a lot of studying to do plus I think we have a paper to write for this class.

InsantMessengerconvo

Thursday, September 15th
I miss dance a lot. I started taking dance lessons when I was three years old (tap, jazz and ballet). It was more than just a dance class though. I had a special relationship with my teacher and fellow students. A lot of other dance studios in my area were very strict- all about work. It was different at my place. We worked but we also had a lot of fun and became close friends. As I got older, my teacher asked me to be an assistant teacher. I helped teach two preschool classes and a class for special needs children. I miss teaching both very much. I'm very excited to go back home to see their Christmas show. It will be kind of weird actually sitting in the audience watching instead of being the one on stage.

Wednesday, September 14th
Today I went to the open house for the library. I thought it was very well-organized and helpful. They had lots of games and free stuff to attract people to each exhibit. I went with my boyfriend, who had to play all the games and stop at every single stand to sign up for a chance to get free giveaways. They had a chance to get everything from a free day of golf to a giant inflatable lion. The free mug that everyone got was definitely a good gift for college students.

Tuesday, September 13th
A lot of people seem to complain about the food here, but I actually think it is pretty good. There are so many different options ranging from the commons to Fresh Express to fast food. Most of the time, I eat in the commons. They have so many choices: the main line, salad bar, pasta bar, sandwich bar and more. The food in the main line is usually pretty good. I know they have chicken a lot but they prepare it in many different ways. I haven't found one kind I haven't liked yet. If you haven't had a chance to eat in West, you should try it. They tend to have really good food. I had this spicy Mexican chicken there that was awesome and their cookies are always warm and chewy (fresh out of the oven). Now, I'm not saying the school's food is gourmet or anything but it is so much better than my high school's food. I do miss steak though. They had "steak" and East Commons one time but it turned out to be hamburger shaped like steak. For the most part though, it is easy to find things you like.

Wow, I'm definitely going to have to agree with you on West it's worth the trip. As my friends and I like to say...West is Best! -MelissaMalski
Represent Waring Commons! It's by far the best commons on campus, I live in west as well -HimEros
i don't know i don't think going down to west is worth it when we have some pretty decent food in east. Fresh expess rules -ElwoodBlues
Monday, September 12th
IslandGirl's Remixed Narrative
“Hair dryer, toothbrush, socks, shampoo, pajamas…what don’t I need?” I said aloud as I packed everything into one of the many bags scattered around my room. I feel as if I am taking everything I own. “Will other people bring this much?” “Will I like my roommate?” “Is the food going to be good?” These were all questions that popped into my head when I thought of where I would be the next day. In twenty-four hours from now I will find myself in my dorm room one hour from home, unpacking all of these things that I have meticulously placed in my suitcases. Stuffing the last items into their resting places for the trip, I lay my head down on my pillow, close my eyes, and think about where I will be and how I got there.

I never thought this time would come. It seems like yesterday I was graduating from high school. Penn State is a huge school with such a diverse environment, totally placing me out of my element. I come from a small town where I went to a small public school with a graduating class of only one hundred. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to take a different turn and go to a small school or go for change with a bigger school. I narrowed it down to one small school and one big school. The small school was Susquehanna and the big one was Penn State. I turned in applications for both, figuring I still had time to decide. As time passed, I slowly became confident that I wanted to go to Penn State but I wasn’t sure if I would be accepted. My grades were definitely above average, but I didn’t know if they were good enough for Penn State. As Christmas rolled around I hadn’t heard back from either college. I was at the point where I decided I really didn’t want to go to Susquehanna and would be incredibly disappointed if I didn’t get in to Penn State. When a big Penn State envelope arrived in January I was overwhelmed with nervousness and excitement. I opened it quickly and read, “Congratulations Kathleen! You’ve been accepted to the Penn State, University Park under the Division of Undergraduate Studies”. I couldn’t believe it. All the worry about only getting into my second PSU choice, Altoona, I had been experiencing for the past few months suddenly vanished. I was going to Penn State Main Campus!

Looking back, Penn State provides a completely opposite environment than the one I am used to. Looking down the hallway at my high school, I see several cliques that stand out. You have the jocks, the book smarts, the punks, the people in the band, and such. Division is evident by the way people dress and act, but still this school is 98 percent white. Penn State is so different in that there aren’t many separations between people and groups. When I arrived here, I was surprised to see how friendly everyone was and how eager people were to meet new friends.

Reflecting back, choosing to go to Penn State was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I not only need a school that is located in a great town, but one that will also offer me a wonderful education. I need a school that will better prepare me for the “real world”. I need Penn State. Feeling especially excited about the events that would take place the next day, I lay in my bed for the last time for a while.

“Beep, beep, beep!” my alarm sounded. It is nine o’clock in the morning, time to finish packing and leave. I feel refreshed and am ready to begin the next phase of my life. Change, here I come.


Friday, September 9th
I have this first year seminar on women authors of childrens' books. It's a women studies class but I'm not a feminist or anything. I feel a little out of place in the class because many of the twelve girls are. The books we have to read are pretty cool (not to mention really easy reading). They include Beauty and the Best, Nancy Drew, Forever, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The most expensive book I had to buy was a childrens book that has only one sentence per page and will only take about two minutes to read. It seems like it should be a pretty fun and easy class though.

Thursday, September 8th
I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday. Aren't the weekends wonderful? I'm looking forward to it, especially the football game. Penn State football is amazing. Not just the football, but the whole feeling you get at a game. I stood behind tall people the last game so I couldn't see very well because I'm so short. I had to watch the screens most of the time, which got boring after a while and I ended up missing a lot of plays. Hopefully I'll actually be able to watch the whole game this time!

Wednesday, September 7th
I bet most of you went on a senior trip somewhere after graduating high school. I went to Cancun with three of my close friends. I had the time of my life. My one friend, Ashley, is one of those crazy, loud people who can always make you laugh. One day Ashley and I were riding on a jet ski together when this Mexican on another one came up and started doing circles around us. Ashley accidently hit him trying to escape. He started flipping out and yelling because she had chipped a hunk of paint off. He made us follow him to shore where we found out that he was a guy from a neighboring jet ski company. He kept telling us we had to pay $100 for the "damage". We tried to explain that he caused the accident but their English was limited. Next thing, we heard him mumble "f..king Americans". Ashley retorted with some comments of her own and we began to walk away when he started following us. He followed us all the way to the entrance of the resort (He wasn't allowed to actually enter the hotel area). He kept yelling that we wouldn't be able to get out of the country if we didn't pay because we had signed some waiver before riding. We ignored him, forgot about it and went on having a great week. Needless to say, when it came time to go home, we had no trouble whatsoever getting back into America.

• Don't let people try to scam you like that guy. People can be jerks sometimes especially if you are an American in a different country. Way to not take any shit from that guy.

- ElwoodBlues

Tuesday, September 6th
I had AP English last semester of my senior year in highschool and I have mixed feelings about it. Students were required to read about a book a week. That can get to be pretty difficult when you're reading books like Pride and Prejudice or Shakespeare. I don't do much reading on my own and I hated reading the books that were difficult to read and understand. We had to read Crime and Punishment, which was absolutely horrible. It took about five minutes to just read one page. On the other hand, we read some great books like October Sky. I enjoyed reading that because it was so interesting and much easier to read. Most books that are more recent are much easier to read. We had to write papers about most of them and I actually got pretty good grades on them, but I feel like my teacher wasn't grading very hard because my writing skills aren't the greatest. The only books that I've read lately on my own time are the Harry Potter series. I know it's kind of childish, but I absolutely love them! I don't know if any of you read the sixth book, but I couldn't believe what happened at the end. I am eagerly awaiting the last book, which won't come out for a while. The movie for the fourth book comes out in October, which in my opinion, will be the best one yet.


Monday, September 5th
For my first blog I figured I'd just let everyone know a little about myself. It took me a little while to figure out what I was supposed to do on here and how to do it. Actually, at one point I thought I accidently deleted everyone's blogs. Anyway, I'm from Williamsport, PA, which is about an hour from here (Home of the Little League World Series if anyone knows what that is). Right now I'm in DUS but I'm thinking of special education as a possibility. Back at home I helped teach dance to kids with special needs at my dance studio. I have been dancing since I was three years old(tap, jazz and ballet). Along with helping teach the special needs class, I also taught two preschool classes. I love being around children, especially young ones. So far, I love Penn State. I'm especially excited for the football game on Saturday. I'm not a very athletic person, but I still enjoy watching sports. I also love traveling (particularly to the beach). English isn't my best subject but I'm hoping this class will help me a lot with my writing skills(they really need some work).



My Narrative
Middle school is supposed to be an exciting new step in every child’s life: a time of maturing and moving on to bigger and better things besides recess. For my sixth grade class, it was not only a time of new beginnings for some people but also abrupt ends. Our class endured three deaths that year, thrusting us into the real world a lot more quickly than we were ready for.

It was the Friday before Labor Day, only one week into the new school year. My younger brother and I were in the car with my neighbors on our way to the pool to go swimming. We were heading towards a small bridge not far from our house. I was playing Super Mario on my brother’s Gameboy. (It’s funny how a major event in your life makes you remember the tiniest details.) My neighbor pointed to the side of the road and said, “Hey, look! There’s Bob.” He had his backpack on and was walking in the direction of his house. School had already been out for over an hour and and it was a long walk from the school to his house. I usually saw him riding the bus home. I glanced up from my game for a second as we passed him and then looked back down. A millisecond later, I heard the horrible screeching of tires and whipped my head around to see Bob lying on the ground. My brother screamed, “I saw it! That car hit Bob! I saw him fly up into the air!” My heart began to race. My neighbor’s mom, Mrs. Nix, stopped the car and told us to stay in it. She got out to try to help but many people were already gathering around him. I caught a glimpse of his motionless body, twisted in ways it shouldn’t be, and tears sprang up burning in the back of my eyes. Mrs. Nix got back in the car and said that paramedics were on the way. We left the scene to go to the pool, though I knew there was no way I could enjoy myself or get the horrible sight I just witnessed out of my mind. While we were at the pool, I overheard Mrs. Nix talking to some of the other adults about it. After hearing her say something about blood coming from Bob’s ears and mouth, I didn’t want to listen any more.

That night when I got home my parents told me that Bob died on his way to the hospital. My mom looked into my eyes as if trying to read what I was thinking. I was the type of quiet kid that kept to myself and scarecely showed my emotions. She must have been able to tell that I was upset because she leaned in and gave me a hug. Somehow, being in the safety of her warm embrace made me feel better. Then I did something that I would have never really considered before. I just opened up and told her about the whole scene I witnessed and how I was feeling. Talking with her seemed to alleviate some of the stress I was feeling. At school on Tuesday everyone was talking about Bob. The worst part was that hardly any of my classmates ever got to know Bob. He was the kind of kid that stood in the corner by himself at lunch reading a book. People thought he was kind of weird and dorky so nobody bothered to talk to him. The teachers gathered the school into the auditorium for an assembly. The principal, Dr. Rose, said a few things and our guidance counselor told us if we needed to talk to someone she was there. There were rumors floating around that Bob purposely flung himself infront of the car. When I heard this, I was irritated that people would go around creating gossip about him. I regret that for the short time Bob was here with us I didn’t ever talk to him. A simple “Hey, how ya doin’” could make a world of difference in someone’s life but now noone had a chance or would ever get one. I now realize how important it is to not take life for granted. Something you have one day could be gone the next.

The second death during this year occurred a couple months after Bob’s. It seemed like a normal day as I arrived at school until a friend came up to me in homeroom and relayed some incredibly disturbing news. In a low tone she whispered, “Aaron committed suicide. He hung himself from a tree in his backyard.” A million things raced through my mind. A twelve-year old killing himself? What could be going on in his life that was so horrible he had to end it at twelve years old? I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be Aaron’s mom and look out the back window to see your son dangling from a tree by his neck. Aaron was completely different from Bob. He had many friends and I had talked to him quite a few times. He sat behind me in English class. It was hard to believe that just the day before he was sitting there chatting with me and now I would never see him again. The school was gathered once more into the auditorium to discuss his death. The seventh and eighth graders were there also but it was directed more towards our class because we had grown up with him and known him since first grade. The guidance counselor talked again saying the same basic things she said when Bob died. That day after school, two of my closest friends came over. We were just sitting around painting our nails when my one friend, Stephanie, burst into tears out of nowhere. I glanced at my other friend, not knowing what to do. Stephanie was closer to Aaron than either of us. We both ran over to console her. I suggested that we go to her favorite icecream store, which seemed to take her mind off of it for a while. Aaron’s death came up completely unexpected and noone could understand why he did it. To this day I have no idea made him think he had to end it and I’m sure it still baffles my classmates too.

As the year slowly trudged on the students gradually got word that our principal had leukemia. After many months passed, we were told that he was recovering. We were used to never seeing him at school any more. One Sunday I was watching television when my mom came into the room and broke the news to me. Dr. Rose had died over the weekend. I was stunned. I didn’t understand. Last I knew he was getting better. I had a strange feeling the rest of the day. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything. The next day at school, we were gathered for a third time in the auditorium. For those students who hadn’t found out yet, they knew meeting in the auditorium these days meant nothing good. The teachers talked about Dr. Rose and the band played one of his favorite songs. I looked around and noticed many of my classmates crying.

It had been a very emotional year for all of us. Coping with three deaths so close together was the toughest thing many of us ever had to go through at this point in our lives. When entering sixth grade none of us had ever imagined we would learn so much about life in that one year, but it also made us realize how important it is to have close family and friends to be able to look to for support.

Other Narratives: [ IslandGirlBlog ] [ HimErosBlog ]