Spring Break, etc.

If I don’t do this now, I never will–I already don’t feel like recounting the week, so I’ll summarize:

We went to Gulfport, Mississippi to work on reconstructing local houses in disrepair from Hurricane Katrina (or occasionally because they were too old to do it)…
Stayed in corrugated cardboard tents called “pods” which we actually got used to really fast.. At least showers were separated (within one huge pod)…
Teams were chosen for different projects you were skilled or interested in, and broke off kind of on their own schedules to work each day. But breakfast for everyone was at 7 AM, and dinner was usually around 6 PM or so…
Various groups volunteered to prepare each of our meals for every day we were there besides the first night and our “dine out” night–supposed to support local economy, but just plain good…
Camp fires every night for those willing to stay up late & plenty of board games to go around for the evenings…
Simultaneous best & worst story my team heard: An old lady whose aging shed we painted told us that not only did her son die before the hurricane, but his body was inexplicably transported from their local funeral home to one on the beach just before Katrina hit. Of course, his body was washed away with everything else, so she doesn’t know where he is now and never had a chance to bury him. Not to mention her four daughters, each living somewhere within the state, rarely ever visit or call her. How ungrateful can you be?? So we’ve decided to “adopt” her: send her the picture we all took together (when she nearly cried because we were leaving), a few letters, and have someone check up on her in the area.
My team mostly did demolition and painting, by the way.

I think everyone that went really liked it, if not for the work then because of the people we met and the stories we heard. No matter what campus they were from, I didn’t hear one person say they didn’t plan to come back again next year–not even the ones going up to Main next year. (Not to mention, the weather in Mississippi is about a hundred times better than most of PA right about now. It definitely involved a lot of nice t-shirt/shorts weather.)
I’ll link to pictures if I ever get around to developing mine/tracking down the others’.

“Now back to you..”

So obviously I have a problem with being pseudo-productive on my days off. But at least I never specified which dinner–technically, I’m eating right now.
Anyway.
New York ended up being quite fun and quite wet at the same time. I walked to campus to get there in time for the bus, and however it happened (I blame it on lack-of-sleep-loopiness) I GOT LOST on the way. Seriously, how does that happen? It’s basically a giant “L” from Pineford whichever way you walk. But I’m over it; at least I got to the bus on time (actually FIRST) and had plenty of time to sleep on the ride up.

My friend from high school back in VA now attends the New School in the city & literally lives in Manhattan, so everytime I get a chance to go up, I call her to hang out. We didn’t pass up the opportunity this time either, because I don’t know when the next visit will be and, particularly fitting for a photo club trip, she has a seriously sweet camera which was at my disposal the whole day. Essentially we went to the ICP exhibits–yes, all two floors–and then hit the streets on our own. We had time to go to her dorm/apartment and pick up her roomie Fang and head out before we were struck by a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR on the way to a nice burger place. Believe me, it was capitalized for a reason:

Yes, the pictures are a little large, but you see what I mean; this was when the wind was dying DOWN, after the rain. We were getting buffeted all over the freaking place… But at least I had someone who could lend me a change of clothes while my stuff was in her dryer. And afterwards, the weather was pretty decent (meaning nice and warm, sparse drizzles) and I got some great pictures & a thriftshop run in, so it was worth it.

As for Spring Break… well, now it’s time to go out, so I guess I’ll take a raincheck.
Happy Saint Patty’s Day!

NYC follow-up

Those photos I promised..

I’ll get back to the update after dinner (aka sometime tomorrow).

waiting for class..

…Because I’m not one of those lucky kids that got to leave after classes yesterday, and I’ve still got a full day or two ahead of me.

I realized I won’t be near a computer at ALL over break–and I’m not even sure on the picture situation for that yet, since it’s not recommended we bring anything expensive/electronic.
But it’s cool, I guess, because I’ve got a few things I could share:

1) Admissions asked Lion Ambassadors to help out with their Offer Receptions this week, which is when high schoolers come to the campus to check it out and get more info. after being offered admission.. I just sat through mine last year for this campus, and it all sounded the same except for the Student Panel session that they added (I think?) for the first time; that’s what we were there for. The first day it was just me and my other off-campus LAmb buddy, Jen. I actually liked it because we each got a chance to seriously answer some questions students and parents had and fit in stuff you normally don’t get to hear.
I did it again yesterday, and this time we had a relatively HUGE group of students (6), so it was sort of awkward standing around waiting for people to ask way fewer questions than they did on Tuesday as well as for your turn to answer. Either way, though, it was sort of fun… plus we got free lunch cards, which we weren’t expecting! Mmm..
I tend to bring my food from home or wait to eat until it’s free (haha) since I don’t have a meal plan or anything, so I always look forward to Stacks food. And Tuesday’s was amazing, too: cornbread-battered chicken breast with mac & cheese and a biscuit! Good ol’ Southern faves.

So yeah, I got pretty overenthused about that. I was talking to Jen while we were eating, and I kept randomly interrupting to make noises about how good the food was. It was pathetic.

2) I’m trying to be a CA for next year, aka an “RA” at other campuses, and I just finished my second preliminary interview yesterday. Seems like I did well, but we’ll see how that goes…

FF>> through today’s Astro test, 2 hrs of work, shopping for overalls for next week (again, I’m excited, haha. I’m going to be one sweet chicken-farmer-looking construction worker! nice tanlines, too, I’m sure), and then packing for Sat. & MS.

P.S. If I end up taking any good pictures on the NYC trip tomorrow I’ll put ‘em up here. Just to warn you, they’re mostly supposed to be artsy and technical; not sure how I’ll pull that off, but just in case. Later.

Hey, cyberspace.

I’m generally not much of a blogger or “journal-er”, but there’s so much going on around here that I’m sure I’ll find stuff to talk about.. For instance, THON just passed a week or so ago (Sarah pretty much beat me to the post on that one, though), mid-terms & stuff are coming to a point this week, and spring break is in a few days!

Just for those who don’t know, THON is the affectionate nickname Penn State uses for our biggest, longest-running charity event of the year. Originally started as a literal dance marathon, it’s now a marathon of staying awake and on your feet–all the while collecting pledge money and donations for the Four Diamonds Foundation. Basically, it goes toward fighting childhood cancer by helping fund affected families in their time of need; it’s run out of Hershey Medical Center, and no family has ever been turned away for an inability to pay for treatments.. thanks to our help. In ‘73 when it was first started, the event took place in White Hall. Last year, it moved to the BJC for the first time and broke the $5 million dollar mark. THIS year, my first year participating, we beat that by a long shot with over $6.5 million dollars! “FOR THE KIDS!” Seriously, it’s just a really great thing to participate in.

So… for next week (since I live in VA, don’t have a car and didn’t feel like spending the money to go home–bad, I know) I’m going a little off the beaten path and building houses in Gulfport, Mississippi with Alternative Spring Break. I may sound like a big charity-addict, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and never had the chance to. This year at least it’s free, so the timing and everything seemed perfect. I’ll try and take pictures while I’m there.

(Oh yeah, can you say free daytrip to the Big Apple with photo club on Saturday? I’d never been before, and now I’ve been several times.. Always amazing!)
Annnd that’s it for my first post, guys.

If you have any questions about anything, you can leave a comment, email me: vlk5011@psu.edu, or try me on facebook.

Later.