In which we take a look at the cultures of State College

Incorporated as  borough on August 29th, 1896, State College PA was originally founded to be the accompanying borough of the formal Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania. A classic example of a college town, State College relies  economically on Penn State University.

“Happy Valley” actually has quite a rich culture outside of being a social hangout for PSU students. Starting from a residential population of and a student population of 110, State College is now home to more than 104,00o people. The streets, as you can probably tell already from living here, is always bustling with people going shopping or hanging out with friends. Best of all, State College is extremely safe, which is one of the reasons my parents even decided to send me here. In fact, it’s voted the third safest college town in America.

I really have not been here long but now is a good time as any to share all that I have found about State College.

The food is great! If you know where to look. Not so good if you are just on a night crawl with some friends and looking to grab a cheap bite, though we do have plenty of stores for that too. That being said, let me just share all the great cuisines that I have tasted so far. 
College Ave offers the famous Waffle House, which if you haven’t gone yet, why the heck not? Behind the Waffle house is Chipotle which is always the right answer, not matter what your looking for. A little down the block is the Corner Restaurant  if your looking to impress a date that’s definitely a safe bet. Moving out of College Avenue, other notable mentions are Chen’s Mongolian Buffet and Nihao Chinese Buffet. Both these places offer great food at a cheap price, though it might be more than a little walk to get there. If you do have a car though, they’re both definitely worth the trip.

On the social end of things, there’s a reason why Penn State is the 9th party school in America, we know how to have a good time. Any night between Friday and Sunday, heck any night of the week you can pretty much always find a part around  frat row. But if that’s not really your scene then there’s plenty of places to socialize outside of campus. THe shopping is endless between all the different shops on College Avenue alone, which might explain why there’s exactly $1.56 in my bank account right now. If you smoke than I would recommend chronic town a little college ave, there’s great music even if you’re not into hookah. No matter what kind of social even you’re looking for from bowling to laser tag, I am more than positive State College will have everything you need.

There is actually quite a lot more to this  over 100 year old town that I live in. It’s more than just a small college town PSU students go to have a good time, it has a rich history and provides for the students of PSU more than we really realize. I’m starting to realize how blessed I am to have such a great community to surround myself in. 

Next time, we finally take to the globe :D.