One crucial thing that I have learned from my summer at Penn State is that it is a lot harder fixing bad habits than I had thought. At the beginning of the session, I was aware of what kind of student I wanted to be but was oblivious of that hard work that I would have to put in to get there. I am not going to lie in highschool I was a big procrastinator, I was lazy and sometimes I didn’t even bother showing for a couple of days. That is not the kind of student or person that I want to be going forward. I now set hard limits for myself so I can get work done and use a lot of resources before handing in an assignment so that I am sure that it is the best that I am capable of. Going into the fall semester I plan on doing the same but I also want to push myself a little harder and get it done even quicker before the due date because I have learned that there are so many things to do around campus and if I have work to do its best to get it done earlier in the day before. I go out. I have done much better than what many of my friends back home were expecting but I still have a lot of room for improvement that I will continue to work on in the fall semester.

I have met some incredible people during the summer session. I am having difficulty expressing just how amazing my leap is. I am positive that I would not have enjoyed the summer session as much if it were not for the wonderful people that my leap consists of. I mostly hang out with them but I have also made friends outside of my leap like my friend Chelsea who I meet in the dining hall. We even plan on going to the Chainsomker concert together in the fall semester. I can’t wait!

With the summer session drawing to a close, I have this overbearing need to start preparing myself for the Fall semester. I first went exploring on Lionpath trying to figure out how to see my required books for my classes. When I finally discovered it I was shocked I knew the books were going to be expensive but think of getting them all at once. especially my Italian language book because you cannot rent because you also need to have access to the online resources and they expire after two years.

I first went to the bookstore in the HUB because I knew that they have a service that scans your ID and prints out everything you need for your classes. I was also aware that sometimes the bookstore in the HUB was overpriced so I went to the bookstore downtown. I picked up my Italian books there which in hindsight  I am glad I did. when I went back to the HUB bookstore where I got my by books but my English and Italian. Italian because I had already previously purchased them and English because the professor and required course work were unavailable at this time. The guy there was looking at my to-buy list and he recommed I return the Italian book and I could rent used there.

At first,  I planned on doing just that because if he said so then it must be able to be done. But I asked some of the upperclassmen I  know and looked online and found that it is a hit or miss situation. Some of the used books have the access codes and others do not. Only thing is that even the ones that do have the access codes might be expired/do not work or will expire in the middle of the semester. It’s just not worth the risk especially as someone who plans and taking multiple courses on Italian. The online access is crucial because it is used in all levels, so I would hate to have to repurchase it when it could have been avoided. But overall my experience was not bad and looking at the books now has made me really excited to begin the Fall semester.

I love that Penn State uses the Freeman Auditorium to play current movies free, for anyone who has a Penn State ID. I have seen the movie Little and the movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu while staying here during the summer session. All of the movies are movies that I would not have seen if they were not free. The first movie I saw was Little and I went to go see it with my friend Joe. It was really funny, but getting there was even funnier. We were unaware of the fact that Freeman Audoirum was located in the HUB. We spent a good hour if not more walking in circles trying to follow the GPS. We made just in time after we asked someone for directions.

The only thing I would change about the experience is food. Everything is closed in the HUB by four and the Vending machines have been empty since we got here six weeks ago. So we spent roughly a good three hours be hungry, an hour getting there, two for the movie and then some walking to get food. The second movie I went to go see Pokémon Detective Pikachuby I saw by myself which was fine I guess there was only like four others who decided to come to see it too. The lesson I learned from last time caused me to bring a whole bunch of snacks and water with me. I really hope this is not just a summer session thing because I greatly enjoy watching movies, especially free ones. I would probably ignore the movies in October because I do not do horror movies well especially by myself, but I will try to get to all the others, if I have the time.

I have finally had the legendary Poki sticks from Gumby’s Pizza. Last night I went to a party with people in my Leap which was absolutely one and after we were so hungry, but on a Wednesday, not many places were open at one in the morning. Luckily Kaylee wanted to go get Poki sticks, Joe and I had no idea what she was talking about, we were both confused. I thought she wanted Poki bowls and I said the HUB is definitely closed. It was really funny many other of the people in our group decide to go get chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, they are a big thing around here, especially at night. I want to go there next time hopefully before the summer session ends.

I am actually really sad that the summer session is coming to an end. I love my Leap, my dorm, and my professors, and it disappoints me to think that I will not have such a bond with my professors and fellow students in the Fall semester. That and my fall dorm is in Pollock also known for having the absolute worst dorms. But it was a fun experience that I will treasure throughout my time in college. I would highly recommend every incoming freshman to consider doing Leap. It helps a little bit in every aspect of college life here at Penn State. You will even learn how to navigate through the ginormous campus before you get here in the fall, which is a great and helpful thing to accomplish. You also learn where to eat and where not to eat.  This summer has been super fun, and I am glad that I decided to attend Leap. It is bittersweet to say goodbye, but I am so happy to have a two-week break before coming back for the fall semester.

The show 13 Reasons Why has been a heavily controversial topic since its release on the streaming service Netflix in 2017. Many say the show glamorizes suicide and is too graphic. I personally disagree with these critics, I see the show going on to really start conversations. It is graphic and hard to watch sometimes and that is because it seems so real. Some of these instances happen to people all over the world, but as a society as a whole, we refuse to talk about it. I see where people can see that it glamorizes suicide because of the revenge theme Hannah has in the show. I feel that it could have been executed a little better but as a whole, I actually enjoy the show and think it has the ability to start conversations about a difficult topic.

My only real problem with the series actually happened recently. As I was saying before many people did not like the show and they signed petitions and protested. Netflix decided to add viewer caution, trigger warnings and a brief insert at the end of episodes talking about mental health, bullying, and suicide. To some, it still didn’t help but I really respected what they decided to do. My problem now is that with the release of the third season they decided to go and remove the suicide in the episode, in season one.  As a lot of people say they only did it to promote the new season and if that is true that really bothers me. I felt that the scene, even as disturbing as it was, did not prompt or glamorize suicide. I feel the scene did just the opposite, it represented the pain and the finality of ending one’s life. I am almost angry that they decided to remove it especially so close to the release of the third season.