This week I turned 18, and along with my birthday I experienced a newfound adulthood, and by newfound adulthood I mean boring adulting. Today, I took my first trip into downtown ALONE, which if you know me, is something I don’t typically do. I hate going places by myself, especially public places, transportation, or city-like environments, so downtown state college by myself during the middle of the day is basically my worst nightmare, but I persevered.

My adventure began with figuring out the bus system. Although I’ve ridden the CataBus before, and I know very little about where the stops on each line are, along with which line to take depending on where I am going. Today, I had to adult my way over to the post office to mail a package, and although I know where in downtown the post office is, I had absolutely no clue how to get there. I was riding around in circles on the bus on my way there because I passed my stop and then decided to just wait for it to come again. I think I sat on the bus for a solid hour just waiting to get to my stop for a second time, but I eventually got off the bus at the correct stop and made it to the post office.

After mailing my package, I walked around downtown for a little bit and then settled on going into Target, which I also had yet to do alone here. I wanted to buy knitting supplies, but unfortunately Target didn’t have any, so then I walked around downtown more trying to find a knitting store, but my efforts were to no avail. I went to the Bank after that because I needed to convert some Euros to Dollars, but the bank directly across from campus told me they were incapable of doing that, so then I ended up having to walk all the way to a bank downtown near the far west end of campus to get the money converted.

Although I had to walk around for quite a bit on my own today in an unfamiliar place, I genuinely enjoyed this little trip downtown because it allowed me to work on my newfound independence, along with learning how to be a proper adult, and I got to explore areas of downtown that I had yet to see. I know today’s entry was a bit boring, but so is adulthood apparently.

P.S. If anyone knows of any shops downtown or nearby that sell knitting supplies, please let me know. Adulting also means being a grandma and knitting in my free time now.

This week for my exploration of the Penn State campus and what it has to offer, I went on yet another midnight walk- surprise, surprise! Around Saturday of this past weekend I started getting sick, and with that, so did most of my friends and roommates. Since we were all sick and most of us were not able to go to class on Monday or Tuesday, on Monday night, one of my friends and I went on a walk around campus together to explore more of what Penn State has to offer. Our explorations included parking garages, yet again, but also included stargazing on the Old Main lawn.

I personally have found that I enjoy going to the roof of any tall building when I need a second to relax and breathe after a stressful day; recently, sitting on the roofs of different parking garages on campus and looking at the views at night have served that purpose for me. That being said, if you are looking for a beautiful view of campus and the surrounding mountains, your best bet is to visit the East Parking Deck roof. It is not super isolated or deserted, but it has beautiful views that are unobstructed in all directions, and it is the tallest parking deck on campus. If you are looking for a second to decompress, however, I suggest the Nittany Parking Deck roof. It is much more isolated, and the roof of the parking deck is a lot more unique compared to the other decks I’ve explored. Although it does not have great views of campus, and it is right by a construction site, it is pretty quiet and peaceful at night, and I find it to be a very relaxing place to visit.

Following the parking deck roof explorations, I also visited Old Main at night recently. Although I have walked through Old Main before, even at night, I had yet to seriously sit down and take in the beautiful views that Old Main has to offer until last Monday night. The steps towards the top of the Old Main lawn are a beautiful place to sit, but they do not provide the best view, especially at night. If you are trying to take in the beauty that Old Main has to offer, and take the time to look at the stars without a ton of light pollution, I suggest sitting at the base of one of the flag poles on the lawn itself. There are two flags on the Old Main lawn, the American flag and the Pennsylvania State flag. Both flags have a round seating area at the base, and if you sit facing the Old Main building at night, you will have the most beautiful view of the night sky, the lawn, and the alluring cathedral-like structure in the center of the lawn. I have tried to stargaze at other spots on campus, but so far I have found that only the Arburitum and Old Main seem to lack light pollution and provide the ability to stargaze.

Overall, I would say that my most recent midnight exploration of campus was quite a successful one, as I was able to find yet another parking garage to visit after long days of classes, and I found a new place to go stargazing at night when the Arburitum is closed.

For my passion blog, I decided that I would blog about exploring the area (State College) from the perspective of some who is from New Jersey and has never lived anywhere other than her hometown.

Personally, I love all things nature and the general idea of exploration. One of my first few nights here, my roommate and a few friends of ours decided to grab to-go boxes from the dining hall and go sit in the Arburitum for a little dinner picnic. Honestly, I did not know what the Arburitum was, where it was, or even that it existed prior to this experience, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. Back at home, there is this beautiful botanical garden about a ten minute drive from my house, and it is humongous. I have gone there hundreds of times in my life, but everytime I go, I still find something new to see and do. I felt the same way during my visit to the Arburitum. We started with our picnic in the grassy fields before you hit the fountain, and then after we finished eating, we went to explore. Once we walked through those beautiful front gates behind the illuminated fountain, it was like every turn we made there was something brand new to explore. We found a fish pond, a flower garden, some beautiful architecture, and a wedding alcove. Although we did not finish our explorations of the Arburitum on this night, and I intend to go back very soon, it was honestly amazing seeing what nature-like experiences Penn State has to offer.

Following this, as of lately, I have been going on a lot of night explorations. Over the sum of the last week or two, I have been either staying up or staying out pretty late at night, which calls for a pretty messed up sleep schedule. However, what is the most fun thing to do when you can’t fall asleep at a reasonable time? EXPLORE! About two weeks ago, a group of my friends and I were invited to our friends apartment downtown, which happened to be about a thirty minute walk away from campus. We wandered around downtown with Google Maps open and learned a lot more about downtown and what there is to do in the area, solely by passing buildings and stores and seeing people on the streets. We learned that very night that nightlife in downtown State College is a lot more exciting than the downtown area appears to be during the daytime.

Along with the downtown adventures, my one friend who lives in my building and I have made it a bit of a habit to go on walks together at around two in the morning when we both can’t sleep. Most recently, our fixation has been on the parking garages in the area. Every time we go exploring campus at night, we end up at the top of a different parking garage to try to find the prettiest view of campus.

I am thoroughly impressed with myself and the amount of exploring I have been able to accomplish since moving in, on top of keeping up with academics and socialization. Although I have not left campus too much yet, I do look forward to planning outings to the surrounding areas of State College sometime in the near future, and will most definitely be blogging about that.