Monthly Archives: September 2013

Freshmen Guide to East Halls

Check out my video about East Halls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB8XUlJBtTc

To go along with my video this week on East Halls I decided to blog more in depth about the food in East Hall. Most freshmen will end up living in East Halls these nearest place to eat and there are quite few dining options.

The Big Onion (The Big O) – This dining option is known for its pizza. They have specialty pizza along with classics like plain and pepperoni. They also have more pizza shop foods like chicken fingers, fries, grinders (chicken parm sub, cheese-steaks etc.) and you can also purchase drinks and snacks here.

Roxy’s – Roxy’s is the place you want to go for a good burger or grilled food. They are especially known for their Wing Nights and Nacho Nights. I just went there for the first time yesterday and got a grilled chicken bacon and cheese sandwich … it was too good! They also have mac and cheese, veggies etc.

Fresh Express – This is a lot like Subway you can get wraps, hoagies and other healthy options.

Fresh Express Asian Grill – I myself am not really big fan of Asian style food so I have not experienced it yet. However, my friends seem to really like eating there.

Findley Dining Commons– They have a little bit of everything. Most of the time you can find waffles, pasta, bread sticks, salad/fruit bar, soup, sandwich bar, the main meal choice and sweet treats. My favorite is the sandwich bar which has lots of different types of breads along with different types of lunch meat, tuna salad, chicken salad etc.  Another one of my favorite things about Findley is getting brunch on the weekends. I never wake up early enough for breakfast during the week so it is really great that brunch is from 10:30-2:00 on the weekends. They have lots of options for brunch. For example, they have the classics like pasta and the salad bar but they have an omelet bar and lots of pastries.

These are only the dining options for East Halls; there are many more food selections for students around campus. Hope you decide to make East Halls your home one day. I am very happy that I live in East even if it is far from downtown. It has lots of perks like living with all freshmen and I really do enjoy the food selection.

Dealing with Being Sick at College

So there are many good and bad things that you will have to do at college. Good thing is meeting new people and making new friends. A Bad thing you will most likely encounter is being sick away from home. I was surprisingly healthy over my first summer at PSU; however it has been much  different during my fall semester. Unfortunately, I came down with strep throat about 4 days into the semester. It felt terrible but being sick showed me a lot of great qualities about Penn State. First of all, it showed me how many people cared about me and who were willing to help me in any way possible. My awesome roommate, Chelsea, who I had only known for a few days was there to give me tissues and gave me some great vitamin C drink that made my throat feel so much better. My other friend stayed in with me on a Thursday night during syllabus week so I could have some company. Even my older brother Nick, who is in his last semester here at Penn State, stopped by to make sure I was ok and offered to get me anything I needed. I had so many people taking care of me and helping me get better. However, even though I had so many helping hands, I needed something else. I needed to go the doctor’s office.  I felt so terrible to the point I called the University Health Services on campus and got an appointment the day I called. Once I had the appointment my friend Jena walked me to the University Health Services. Luckily it is pretty close to east halls, right across from the outside swimming pool. When I got there, I was amazed! It is one of the nicest facilities I have ever seen. It is clean and it looks brand new. After we got there my friend left and I went to get signed in and waited to be called into a room. I met with a nurse, and told her all of my symptoms and some of my past medical history. Then I waited to meet with a Physician Assistant. I can honestly say I have never had a better interaction with medical personnel in my life. She was so sweet and nice and was helping me in so many ways. First we just talked about what was going on with my symptoms. Then she did a routine exam. After that, she sat me down and gave me tips on how to stay healthy. She sent me an informational pamphlet about my sore throat to my student email.  She also sent me information about my visit to my email. Once all that was over, she said that if I had any questions I can email her. There is a secure server where I was able to email her to talk about how I was feeling. She was  so nice I cannot thank her enough for helping me through my first time being sick away from home. After my visit with her I had to pick up my prescription. It was great! I took the elevator down two floors and there it was. I gave the man at the counter my prescription and within fifteen minutes it was filled. It was so much nicer than having to go all the way to the CVS down town and I was able to use my insurance card for my prescription. After all of that I walked five minutes back to my dorm took my medicine and went back to bed! All in all, it is hard being away from home and not having Mom and Dad to take care of you when you are sick but your friends will help and the Student Health Center will always be there for you!

 

Here is a like to the University’s Health Services website.

http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/health/services/

Stay healthy during the flu and cold season everyone!

What is the first day at Penn State really like?

I attended Learning Edge Academic Program (LEAP) so I had two freshman Welcome Weeks!

Summer (LEAP) – The first day of summer was so exciting but also extremely nerve racking. You start by go to commons to pick up your dorm key. Then you have to find your room and meet your roommate. Most of the time people have a least one parent with them but it is not uncommon for extended family to come as well. I was lucky and lived in South Halls during the summer. South Halls is really close to downtown so getting some off campus food was a short walk away. Anyway, the first day went really fast! You move in, and then your parents will not want to leave … it is okay if you push them out a little but try to be considerate as they are losing their baby. Then, after your parents finally leave you go to a LEAP wide meeting where you get to meet the people in your LEAP group. LEAP is a summer program for freshman where you take two classes with the same group of students and the class has an upper classman who is your mentor. I am sorry to report but you will play ice breakers no matter what! Some are fun and during others you might be thinking…so when is dinner? My mentor played a nice ice breaker where we had to choose a jolly rancher lollipop and for every color there was a different question we had to answer. For example, my question was, “if you could only drink one drink for the rest of your life what would it be”? My answer was a virgin strawberry daiquiri with whip cream on top!  It was a great way to break the ice and start talking to the people who I was going to be in class with. After that there was a pool party and good amount of people went but not everyone did. Then we ate dinner with our LEAP groups. Later on, all the freshmen students went to a huge auditorium where there was a comedian, a presentation by the president of Penn State, and a lot of other great acts! It doesn’t end there; there was the HUB late night. They had an electronic shark, not face character drawings but butt character drawings this was an artist who would draw a funny picture of you and your friends butt and during all of this they had music blasting. It was a great first day! The next few days my mentor kept my group very busy and I always had someone to eat with. We did activities like play sports and ate at places downtown. There were also Welcome Week events going on as well. We had a few days before classes started so we had a lot of free time to meet and make friends. Then classes started and the work began!

Fall- My fall first day was very similar to my first day of summer semester. The big difference was instead of meeting the people in your LEAP pride, you meet the people on your floor.  I am now going into my third week at Penn State and I love knowing the girls on my floor (check out my Instagram for a picture of some of them). Anyway, another big difference between summer and fall was they had bigger events during the fall and smaller events in the summer. One of my favorite parts about the first day, except being reunited with my summer friends, was going to the convocation. The convocation is where the entire freshman meets in the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) to listen to lots of important guest speakers. I know a lot of people who did not go who later regretted it so I would definitely suggest you go.  It is a great experience to see your entire graduating class in one room. After the first day we had one more day before classes started and once they did the work began once again.

 

If you are interested in learning more about LEAP the link to their website is below.

http://www.leap.psu.edu/

About Me!

Hi! My name is Chrissy Boguslaw and I am a freshman at Penn State University Park.  My hometown is outside of Philadelphia in Montgomery County Pennsylvania.  I myself went through a unique experience in applying and making my undergraduate decision.  Most high schools are now pushing AP and Dual Enrollment credits. I am one of the students that took advantage of these programs and therefore I came into my freshman year with 36 credits from my community college. It was a little bit of a roller-coaster trying to figure out how my community college credits would affect my time at Penn State but with the help of the PSU counselors, it all came together. I was very involved in singing groups in high school and now I am looking forward to getting involved in THON at Penn State. I am also very excited to be interning with Undergraduate Admissions at Penn State and if anyone reading this blog has any questions for me please do not hesitate to contact me! One thing I love almost as much as being at Penn State is talking about Penn State!

ChrissyPSU@gmail.com