PennState University has been the subject of plenty of recent media attention. Former Coach Sandusky has been accused of molesting little boys. Apparently, many PennState officials were aware and still allowed Sandusky to be gainfully employed. The news is heart wrenching and sad, however, PennStaters are still very proud of their University and must come together to show the world that there is more to Happy Valley than what is being shown in the media. Today we'll look at five things everybody knows, being a student or former pupil!
5. A Million Campuses
Many are unaware of the sheer size of the University! I beleive PSU has the most alumni in the nation, which is understandable due to the fact that there are a million campuses. PennState Abington, Pennstate Gas Station, PennState Hazleton, PennState New Hampshire, PennState Africa, PennState Altoona, PennState Mars, just to name a few! However, the grand-daddy of them all is PennState University Park, where the alleged molestations took place. It's a different type of college experience there than other branch campuses, because, the classes are harder, the campus is bigger and there's roughly 40,000 people living in The Valley when classes are in session, and -3 when students go home for breaks! For the most part, students at different campuses get along nicely, save for those stinking PennState Harrisburg and PennState Mount Alto people! Just kidding, I got friends that attended both, they all do stink though! However, the PennState U. Park campus serves as the main hub for PennState's biggest events...like football, THON, Arts Fest and many others. Events where people come together and help make State College one of the most diverse places in the world!
4. Drinking
Yes, the drinking! PennState was ranked number one party school in the nation several different times. While sometimes you'll question how, there were sometimes when you questioned how one could drink so much and still make it to an 8 o'clock class. Anyone who has went to The Saloon, just for a Monkey Boy or Bar Bleu for a Fish Bowl can tell you how crazy the nights can get! There's a culture that can only be experienced here in The Valley. St. Patty's Day, which isn't held on the actual day, due to class scheduling, has become a wild, energetic weekend filled with booze, parties, friends and memories; a college undergrads dream! Although a few may get out of hand, the majority of the weekend is safe, clean fun, something the University was trying to get eliminated, instead of eliminating that Crusty Sandusky. Weekends where students party to relieve stress has never put a black eye on the school!
3. Finding Classes
Anyone who has ever went to PSU will attest to this; finding classes is no joke. Freshman especially have it tough. Even with a map, it can take 4 hours to find a building, not including locating the classroom. I personally, have been in the right building and still couldn't find the class. Walking from class to class can even be a journey, sometimes taking twenty minutes just to traverse the campus. Just getting from Pattee Library to Paterno Library took me an hour the first time I was there, maybe I'm just an idiot, they're located in the same building! Williard to the Forum, back to Sparks and then out to Innovation Park (PennStaters will get the references) can take two days! I told a professor the reason I was late everyday and she told me to find a shortcut, which I thought was a joke at first but again, PennStaters know, usually upperclass kids, how to walk through building A to get to building D! Finding classes could be a class itself!
2. Shields Building
"The Bursar should be convicted of screwing boys AND girls with all this student loan debt!"
A place no one wants to go, especially during the first week of classes. The lines can sometimes go around the block, into the street! If you go to PennState and don't have a rich family member, then you've been here trying to get a faster refund to pay rent, or registered for class or trying to find out why FAFSA only gave you good luck for aid! The thing I really hated was being sent here and there! I would go to the Registrar only to be sent to The Bursar and then to the third floor to the Student Aid department only to go back to the first floor to speak to The Registrar again! A student can miss an entire week of class in that building in one visit. I hate you Shields Building!
1. The Memories
They say that college is the best years of one's life, and I agree, because the real world makes you work forty hours a week, paying bill after bill with no cheap places to go to drink! The people you meet, the things you learn and experience are priceless. Everyone remembers meeting a kid from a different place and being completely confused at the way they dress or how they speak! I remember meeting someone from New York and instead of saying, "I'm upset that its cold tonight my friend." She says, "I'm tight its brick out here son." I said, " What the hell did you say!" Or someone from Philly saying "jawn" and yes this is the official spelling! "Did you say John? Who's John? Or they say things like, "Pass the jawn that's next to the jawn so I can go to the jawn to talk to the jawn!" No one talks like that! Or they make fun of "drawin'", "bol" "wooder ice", big Philly beards and Philly accents. And people make fun of "mad", "B", "Yo son, I got that spot son, its mad warm son, the sun is mad warm son, you feel me B?" Yes they do talk like that! And also the fact that people from NY must make everything match, yellow hat, yellow jeans, yellow tee's, yellow shoestrings. Or DC people that listen to "house", say "carried" and think PG county is the best place to live or the DMV is the best place to party. Or white people that wear shorts in the snow, "pregame" and play beer pong or black students that go to a club strictly to dance, which some of my white friends find weird, especially if you have to pay to get in, or spend their entire refund checks on clothes, (got to put a lol in here, lol). It's a culture shock that is both weird and mind opening at the same time.
I've met some of my closet friends in college and a lot of other cool people along the way! If I know you, I love you..its a family in a weird way and one that people sometimes take for granted! In times like this, when coaches are fondling little boys and the world puts you in a negative light, people have to remain strong and continue to be proud of who they are!
We Are....
wait for it....
wait for it...
wait for it...
PennState!
