the end... of the beginning

According to my pattern that I’ve kept up this semester on varying the posts on this blog between freshman year and pre-freshman year memories at Penn State, this week should be something from my past.

In a way, it is. This week marks the last post that this blog will see. It is toward the end of the semester, but more importantly, it is toward the end of my first year of college. So, in a way, this post is both contemporary and “historical.”

It’s been a hell of a ride. I think that’s safe to say. If anything, it’s certainly safe to say that there is no way that I could have ever predicted what freshman year at Penn State would be like (especially this year).

I remember being absolutely terrified when my ROTC orientation started. I remember being equally terrified my first week on campus. And I remember thinking that those fears had nothing compared to the terror of trying to make new friends.

As it turns out, all of those things went incredibly well right from the start.  Not only do I enjoy ROTC, but I enjoy the people as well. As for campus, I know it incredibly well now. I have my favorite buildings, my least favorite buildings, know my shortcuts, and know the routes to take when I honestly just feel like strolling. And as for the friends, I’ve made a great deal. I love my floor, the bonds we’ve made, and the foundation that we’ve established for our next three years here.

I think the thing that is most exciting about having finished my first year here, is that I still love it. It’s a little different from the magical place that I saw it as as a kid, but it’s magical in entirely new ways now. As for those ways, I’m sure they will continue and foster – and I can honestly say that I couldn’t be more excited.

Paterno: Months Later

This week’s Penn State blog is about the politics after the passing of Joe Paterno.

My goal was to wait a while to write this post because although I love to write with emotion, and at the time there was a lot of it, I also wanted to wait and see what developed in the ensuing months.

True, a little has developed. Just a few weeks ago the Board of Trustees released yet another statement on why they fired Paterno. Even some people who aren’t huge lovers of the former coach started to realize the “shadiness” of some of the BOT’s actions. Their statement was answered with a furious reply from the family themselves – and I was glad to see it come.

Besides these small dealings of indirectly going back and forth, there hasn’t been much development since the end of January. In a way, I guess that’s a good thing, after the way everything went down, I’m glad to see his name isn’t crushed in the papers anymore. But in another sense, I was hoping that he would gain a little of his credibility back just in that short time frame. Though I suppose that that was naïve of me to wish for.

retweeted by @OnwardState

Next, I would like to comment on the few positives after everything happened. I’ll skip the vigil – we’ve had enough of those this year. But I thought that the viewing was beautifully done by the family and everyone involved. The lines outside the Pasquerilla Center were amazing and showed the dedication and pride that thousands of people had in Paterno. Also, I thought the procession was touching as well. True, the helicopters, news vans, and cameras took a little away from the magic of it, but it was incredible to see the streets lined to capacity under a few impressive hours of sunshine. 

Finally, I would like to say for anyone that was lucky enough to get to the memorial, I hope you forever remember it. I thought it was amazing and breathtaking. And I’ll never forget when Phil Knight showed that he didn’t give two shits about politics and stuck it to the University and every other nay-sayer out there.

All in all, everything that happened just further added to our crazy freshman year in Happy Valley. Looking back, nothing is more resolved now than it was then. Time passes, but I’m glad we don’t forget.

324

This week’s blog post is about one of my oldest football memories here at Penn State. Granted, I was eight – it doesn’t seem like it’s that long ago. After all, I remember games before this one. But this one is perhaps the most special Penn State memory of my childhood.

In 2001, Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions beat Ohio State 29-27.

This was no ordinary victory though. In fact, it wasn’t even an ordinary victory over rival Ohio State.

It was Paterno’s 324^th victory. With it, he passed Bear Bryant for number one on the all time wins list – a position he holds to this day with 409.

I remember the day pretty well, it was a 3:30 kickoff (not quite as awesome as an eight o’clock start, but still sweet because it gets dark by the fourth quarter) and we had just had an awesome day of tailgating. I remember thinking heading into the game that it would either be one of the greatest nights of my young life or a horribly sad one.

Ohio State does that to you.

But then Penn State did it to them.

A come from behind victory late in the fourth quarter made the Nittany Lions 29-27 victors. As the victory bell rang and the crowd was screaming 3-2-4! 3-2-4! over and over and over, a soft snow fall began to come down in the Valley.

It was nothing short of magical. It was a legendary victory, in an amazing rivalry, on an incredible night.

It was right out of a storybook. And, really, most of Paterno’s career seems that way. I only witnessed a small part of it. I saw win number 300, 323, 324, 400, and 409 – and I’m pretty lucky for that. But with the win over Ohio State, and the snow falling at the end, 324 definitely was my favorite moment of witnessing Paterno history firsthand.

the language barrier

This next blog post isn’t as much about glorifying a Penn State event as it is telling a story about capitalizing on one.

My roommate is a Chinese national. That may seem like a strange detail to kick off this post – but it is entirely relevant. He doesn’t speak a ton of English, keeps ridiculously abnormal hours, and spends most of his time in our room. To be perfectly honest, I can count the number of (actually engaging) conversations that we’ve had together on one hand.

All of this is true so much to the point that I didn’t even know that it was his birthday until about three hours after I woke up… and I found out on Facebook.

I don’t want to sound like I’m pitying the kid, because that’s not my intention, but I did feel bad that he was going to have to celebrate his birthday just as he would any other ordinary day – in a foreign country, in his dorm room, without his family and friends.

That night, was a Penn State basketball game (and one of the things I do know about my roommate is that he loves basketball), so myself, and a few of my friends on my floor, convinced him that he should come with us.

That night was one of my favorites of my freshman year. Shiwei looked like he had the time of his of life, and I definitely had never seen him so animated. In my head we had simply gone to a Penn State basketball game, and a Penn State basketball game, albeit a good one, is still rarely a spectacle to see.

But to Shiwei it was much more than that. And that’s something I’m glad I could be a part of. The population of international students on this campus is pretty high. A lot of people even complain about it, I know I have at points. But that night I realized how hard it must be on a lot of them, and how much they were perhaps unaware of what they’re missing out on.

Regardless, it was one of my favorite nights here that I’ve ever had. I spent it at a Penn State sporting event, with some of my closest friends, and with the roommate I’ve been aiming to make one.

tailgating

 I’ve talked a decent amount about football on this blog. I mean it kind of makes sense, right? It’s a pretty passionate subject in this area, and since I’m in love with the area, they go hand in hand.

But just as I think that Penn State isn’t simply a school, I also don’t think that Penn State football (or any football in general for that matter) should be limited in definition to the confines of Beaver Stadium.

That’s right, I’m talking about tailgating.

Growing up with season tickets to Penn State games gave me experiences that hardly any other kids I knew could begin to understand. If they were lucky, maybe they got to go see an Eagles or Ravens game – if they were lucky.

They’d come back in to school on Monday and talk about how awesome it was. I couldn’t help but laugh in my head.

Only sixty thousand people were there?

You only “tailgated” for two hours?

These things blew my mind. Growing up tailgating in Happy Valley had totally (but thankfully) spoiled me in the art of tailgating. Noon games meant getting to the parking lot no later than 7:30 AM; 3:30 games were awesome, they had a similar arrival time and almost twice as much tailgating. The best though? Night games.

An 8:00 night game in Beaver Stadium is one of the coolest experiences ever. It started off sleeping in (relatively) – we’d probably get to a parking lot around 8:00-8:30 in the morning. It also meant that it was an extremely huge game on the schedule. In my memory, night games are highlighted by games like the Michigan State game when Larry Johnson broke 2,000 yards and the 40-7 Nebraska game.

The day is full of excitement, amazing food, awesome people (up to about forty, coming in up to four RV’s, for a big game), and victory would bring a great after party.

It is a culture. There’s RV Land, the car lots, grass spots, pavement spots, the opposing fans, and lifelong friends.  And I love it all.

Growing up tailgating at Penn State has taught me to take pride in my tailgating. Then again, that’s not so different than anything else here.