Visit, Day 1

Wrapping up my last weeks of work at the Humanities Institute has been nothing short of relaxing... yet, I still kept forgetting to update the blog. Oops. So, here's the update:

I'm in Penn State RIGHT. NOW.

In what will end up being a two-day whirlwind extravaganza, I've come to Penn State to check out my apartment, eat ice cream and meet a bunch of people from the program I'm in.

The short (this is for Mike): This place is awesome.

The long: ... ... ... This place is amazing. I probably walked 10 miles today and it's just gorgeous things after gorgeous things the whole time. The mountains (?) that serve as a general backdrop to most of the campus are just... well.. not in Florida. I've already decided I'm going to get my bike fixed, because if this is one of the trails, I'm there. The old buildings are to die for. The Carnegie Building (heretofore known as "My Building" even if I never actually attend a class in there), which houses the College of Communications, is just awesome. The huge columns, the relief work... I could see what looked like a big staircase. Um, LOVE.

Other bonuses:

• I saw my first chipmunk. Obviously, I named him "Dale."
• Nearly got killed by a rabbit when I arrived at My Building.
• Old Main is just this gorgeous, towering monster of an old academic building. I'm glad I invested in beach blankets, 'cause I plan to sit in the grass and read a lot outside of that building.
• DUCKS!
• Not only did I find a pottery place (YAAAAAYYY) but it is located one storefront away from... a cupcake place. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Wait, hold on. !!!!!!!!!!!)
• Walkable everything.
• The trees! The trees, the trees, the treeeees!! I was going to start Treehugger Tuesdays on the blog TODAY, but just had too much other stuff I wanted to ramble about.
• I found the moocows!
• The moocows are obviously happy cows because holy crapamoly... outside of real Italian gelato I have never, EVER tasted such good ice cream. Ever. It's also worth mentioning that it took me 30 minutes to eat the whole thing, which is a testament to the portion size (especially considering I'm known for being a food vacuum). And the chocolate milk was sooooo good. (Come on, like you didn't expect ME to buy choccy-milk?!)
• The people here are uberfriendly. Love it!
• My apartment is nestled in the hills (at least by my perception) and going to be super awesome. My red couch is going to make the walls jealous.

Uh... I could go on and on. For now, rest. I wore myself out today and have something like eight meetings in a span of seven hours tomorrow.

Peace out, homies!