Monthly Archives: January 2014

Uncategorized — 4 Comments
29
Jan 14

Five Things You Don’t Realize You Need In Your Backpack

You may have heard this before, but Penn State is kind of a big place. You’ll most likely be out of your dorm or apartment for a long period of time during the day rushing to class, meetings, work and other activities. A backpack is the essential vessel to carry around your books and folders from class to class, but I use mine for so much more.

I always like to be prepared. My friends refer to my backpack as “the mom purse” because I have almost anything anyone would need in it. While what I consider essentials is probably more than you can imagine, there are a few things I didn’t think of carrying around with me until I got into the full swing of on-campus life. I’ll save you the panic and you can learn from my experiences.

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1. A Mini-Stapler

There is an extreme shortage of staplers on campus. You’d think they’d gone extinct! If you want to make 25 new best friends the first time you have to turn in a paper, just have a mini-stapler in your backpack. (I tried to turn in a paper once with a bobby pin and my professor was not impressed.) I’ve never had a printer while at Penn State so I just go to the nearest computer lab and print out whatever I need. This is a really good system- it’s free and convenient. However staplers are nowhere to be found. Keeping a small stapler with you is going to be one of the single most useful things to have with you at Penn State, trust me. Some professors even take points off if the assignment is not stapled and you don’t want to lose points for something like that. Just get one!

2. An Umbrella

Weather in Central Pennsylvania is unpredictable. You can walk into class thinking it is a beautiful sunny day and walk out in the middle of a thunderstorm (has happened to me). My umbrella just lives in my backpack. The day you take it out thinking you won’t need it, it’s going to rain. Just pick one that expresses your personality and make a comfortable home for it in your backpack. Better safe than drenched!

3. Your Student ID+ Card

When you live on campus, your ID+ card gets you in and out of your building, buys your food, and is essentially your lifeline to survival. I would never carry my wallet but just my ID+ card and a little bit of cash for an emergency. With LionCash, you can add money right onto your ID and use it like a debit card at places downtown and even grocery stores off campus. Just make sure you keep it in a safe place. I once just put it in the side pocket and it fell out of my backpack. Luckily someone picked it up and got it back to me through Facebook but you never know. I keep it in a zippered pocket now.

4. Water and Food

Sometimes even the most thoroughly planned days will bring a surprise and you end up stuck at the library during lunch. I always keep a granola bar in my backpack for this reason and my water bottle goes with me everywhere I go. Using a refillable bottle like mine makes it easy to use at the refill stations in various classrooms on campus. Don’t waste time buying plastic water bottles- they’re expensive and you can just keep a water filter in your mini fridge for when you’re back at home. No one wants to see you having a meltdown because you missed a meal (may or may not have also happened to me…)

5. Seasonal Items (gloves, sunglasses, etc.)

Right now, I have an extra pair of gloves and a pack of handwarmers in my backpack. Once winter lightens up (soon, please!) it’ll change to a pair of sunglasses and a mini tube of sunscreen. There will be a day (or several) when you’re running late and forget to grab something that is going to make the walk to class easier. Just keep a backup with you and problem solved.

Add these things to that list of “things to buy before college” that you’re making in your head and you’ll be prepared for anything. It’s a good idea to invest in a sturdy backpack as well. I’ve had mine for five years and it is still going strong. Buy one with multiple pockets to help you stay organized and it doesn’t hurt to make it blue and white!

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On Campus Living — No Comments
22
Jan 14

Yes I’m Really Vegetarian…

I switched to completely vegetarian eating a little over two years ago on a snap decision. No planning or contemplating, I just woke up one day and decided that was it. It’s not like it was a shocking change or anything, I hadn’t eaten red meat in almost a decade and really only ate meat out of laziness. At first I had my challenges being a college student and living on campus as a vegetarian, but it proved to be a really smooth and easy transition.

I’ve now lived on and off campus as a vegetarian, but I’ll talk about on campus solutions first as that was the most difficult.

Living in the dorms, students have a mini-fridge and a microwave in addition to access of the dining commons and eateries on campus. I lived in West Halls which traditionally has some of the best food on campus (you’ll here a lot about the West cookies and they definitely live up the hype!). There is the daily salad bar, pasta and pizza station, as well as sandwich station, all which have meat-free options. What was nice about West was that there was always some type of veggie burger or protein source that did not involve meat along with cooked vegetables and grains. My favorite is the “Mexican” food station with chips, beans, rice, plenty of veggies and taco toppings where I made lots of burrito bowls (aka a Chipotle I could afford).

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Waring Commons in West Halls

All of the dining commons will have vegetarian options on a daily basis, sometimes even tofu. If you’re in a hurry, there are grab-and-go places that will also have options, just slightly limited. Again in West, the convenience store called SiSu is geared towards organic and natural foods. They always had wraps and salads prepared that were discounted when using a campus meal plan. They also sold some of my favorite frozen dinners by the brand Amy’s, a natural frozen food company (try the pesto tortellini bowl!).

It was helpful to look up the menus at each dining hall (there are five) and see which one had the best meal option for the day. I could plan my schedule around which area of campus I wanted to eat at and fit it in with my classes and activities. The menus are available online here: http://menu.hfs.psu.edu/ For instance, today West is offering a Thai Edamame & Vegetable Stir-Fry. Sounds pretty good!

Look for a part-two about living off campus and my vegetarian cooking adventures as well as my favorite restaurants!

 

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16
Jan 14

Why Did I Choose Penn State?

As the title of this blog suggests, I am a third generation Penn State student. Not only that but my grandmother, mother, father, two aunts, two uncles, and brother call Penn State their own. One could say it was in the cards, but like any high school senior, I questioned the family trait. I was curious! I took visits to a few other Big Ten schools and some smaller in and out of state schools, none of which impressed me when I compared them to Penn State.

I remember vividly being on another campus and listening to the tour guide and think to myself, “oh, we do this better,” or “we have a much prettier campus,” and even “well our version is way cooler.” I hadn’t even been accepted as a Penn State student yet and I was already referring to myself as a Penn Stater! I  knew I was part of the “We Are” family. Literally, yes, but the whole Penn State community was my family.

My brother Evan and I then…

There’s a reason so much of my family went here and why my little brother followed in my footsteps even with Ivy League school offers (he’s the smart one in the family. I can’t do math.) I love knowing that the same paths I walk everyday were the ones my family members did too. However even without the family connections, I would have ended up here anyway. Penn State has a way of always making you feel like you’re at home, no matter where you are. When you see other people in Penn State clothes at an airport (trust me, you will, every time you fly!) they’ll always give you a friendly smile or a “We Are.”

I’ve even made my own family at Penn State with incredible friends and mentors who will continue to impact my life forever. I’ve grown as a writer with my pursuit of a journalism degree and found a new love of literature with an English minor. I’m far from the path I was expecting as a high school senior, but it’s turning out to be a much better one. I hope you stick around and find out more about my life at Penn State and why I know you’ll love it as much as I do. There’s a verse in the Alma Mater that makes me cry every time I sing it and it perfectly describes the way I feel about my school:

When we stood at childhood’s gate,
Shapeless in the hands of fate,
Thou didst mold us, dear old State,
Dear old State, dear old State.

Penn State has been molding me since I was born, and it’s not done yet.

-Katy Galimberti

Evan and I now as Penn State students.

Evan and I now as Penn State students.

 

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