Spring Break and Lion Ambassador Conference update

Hello everyone
I'm back from Ireland, the best spring break ever!
I left the states on the 6th and flew from BWI to JFK and then on to Shannon, Ireland to visit Paul (who's studying abroad for the semester). It was a wonderful trip, I made friends on each flight there and back and got to meet his uncle's family and his NUI Galway friends (National University of Ireland). We flew out to Edinburgh for three nights and stayed in a waterfront apartment complete with a full kitchen, dishwasher, two bathrooms, one with a tub and the other a shower, as well as a washing machine and flat screen TV! It was only about 54 pounds a night which is the amazing thing. We saw the castle and Holyrood Manor (where the royal family still visits, The Princess Mary stayed one night while we were there). We then went back to Ireland and down to Galway where I met a bunch of the foreign exchange students and had a delicious dinner, kudos to the French girls. We went to Inis Môr that Friday and wound up walking at least 10 miles around the island over fields and rocks. We even climbed down to the Ocean, it was such a gorgeous place.
Then we went back to his uncle's house on Saturday and 'babysat' his cousins, Alanna and Fina. (we wound up watching American Idol, the first I've seen this season) Unfortunately I had to leave him on Sunday and come back to reality in the states: school and work. Oh well, I get to see him Memorial Day Weekend :D

This weekend a bunch of Lion Ambassadors met up at Main Campus for the All-Campus Conference. We had a ton of fun (the hotel even had a pool and hot tub so we got there early), I'll try to upload pictures once I'm finished typing this. We all shared different ideas about how to improve our clubs and then played a few ice breaker games.
Well, that's the update for now.
Hunter Schenck

Adult Learner Continuation

Here is a continuation of my academic history.

After returning from Egypt, I was deployed to Bosnia in September of 1999 in support of NATO. While I was there, I received 10 cr hrs from the University of Maryland and Montgomery College. Although running patrols and taking classes was challenging, I was able to multitask and make ends meet. Anywhere I was able to receive college, I was willing to step up to the challenge.
After returning from Bosnia, I was transferred to the1-501st parachute infantry regiment (PIR), Ft. Richardson, Alaska. I had always wanted to be in an airborne unit and loved the cold weather of Ft. Drum, Ny. The 1-501st PIR is the only arctic airborne unit in the U.S. military arsenal. After several months of being on jump status, I was injured in an airborne operation where I sustained fractures and torn ligaments in both ankles. Since I was out of commission for a while, I found that the University of Alaska-Anchorage and Central Texas College offered classes on post. From there I spent the next 2 years trying to get as much college as possible until I was medically discharged from the Army. At the end of my career, I had worked hard enough to accumulate over 60 cr hrs of college.
Once I got out, I moved my family back to Red Lion, PA and started working at the prison. Since child care was costly, I had to wait five years until all of my children were of school age in order to return to school. I had heard of the vocational rehabilitation program that was offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs. I qualified for the program and have been at Penn State-York ever since.
Starting back in college was something that I wanted to do, however at age 29, it frightened me. Here I was making very good money without a degree. However, I knew that I needed a degree to pursue a profession that I am passionate about, which is counseling. The first two weeks of the Spring 2008 semester were the hardest of my college career. I had signed up for 12 cr hrs of class my first semester back in college in five years. I figure that if I could place the maximum amount of work on me and take it seriously, it would be a good indicator of how my academic career would carry out. I knew that I had to work harder than most of the students at the school. I knew that I would be successful because I had something that set me apart from many of the students. I had a "can do" attitude and was not afraid to burn the candle at both ends. I knew what sacrifice and deprivation were and was not afraid to endure either. The mindset that had kept me driving is that failure is not an option. I refuse to not give my best effort. If I am limping through college, I am wasting my time and that of the university. After the Spring 2008 semester, I had worked hard enough to be on the Dean's List. This was quite an accomplishment for me as I had never made any academic honor roll in my life. To be continued.....

Spring Break

Bleh...I've been sick since Saturday just finally starting to recover. Spring break sucks...

In all seriousness, I'm not off on some fancy trip like some folks and had planned on just hanging out at home catching up with old friends. I did go to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with a friend of mine but otherwise haven't managed to get out as much as I'd have liked.

So that's pretty much where I'm at right now...finally out of bed but still drinking lots of orange juice.

Hopefully someone else has an interesting story to share.

Not in vain..

Hey all,
I know I havent written in a long time here and apologies for that! There is a lot to talk about and I do want to sit down and get a nice long post about all thats been happening and some things that have not been happening as well! But today I just felt like talking about something else...
I know Iv spoken quite a bit about how much a lot of effort has been put into me coming here and getting this education..and today I wanna tell you about that one man whom I miss the most in this whole wide world and without whom I and my mother would not be here where we are today.
Girish Rajadhyaksha was born as the third child in a poor yet ever increasing family in Mumbai in the 1970s. Growing up in old Mumbai in a not so rich family wasnt the best deal you could get in the 70s. Life was difficult and Girish didnt find it a bed of roses either. His mother wasnt the most helpful of persons, and although his dad worked hard, it just wasnt enough to support 5 children and Girish like his siblings had to start working from a very young age. Tough times instilled tough values, and in no time , he was one of the most famous doctors in Mumbai, married to the woman of his dreams and with a perfect life. The only thing missing was a child....
Due to certain reasons Gauri, his wife could not bear a child..they decided to adopt.
On a fine morning in September 1988, the doctor and his wife visited the Children of the World centre in Mumbai. Gauri was a bit apprehensive...several babies lay crying or sleeping in cots in a large room. The nurse guided them inside, and they walked towards the babies. They passed one after another, babes either bawling or snoring. Somehow something wasnt right... they walked on. Then suddenly as they were about to pass another infant who was snoring in the nice soft bed, they saw it open its eyes. The baby looked at them, stretched out his hand and grabbed Gauri's finger, and gave the biggest smile in the world. This was it, this was the child. Girish and Gauri knew instantly. Within moments they had the baby in their arms and in no time the baby was home. They gave the baby a name...Shantanu Girish Rajadhyaksha was born.
I grew up always with one aim...to be just like my father. True, I was always closest to my mother, but dad or 'baba' was my hero. The best doc in the world. Growing up in those years was amazing...he did things for me that noone else would have done. I remember when Coca-Cola re-launched in India again in 1994, he drove for 5 hours just to find me a bottle of Coke, and only rested when he saw me sipping it with a smug grin on my face in my mom's arms. His clinic was just 5 minutes from our house, and I would always find time to go there and sit once in a day, playing with his assistant or with him whenever he was free. I was too small to have noticed how amazingly well he was respected by the masses. Everyone from all classes of society would come to him and he would treat everyone equally. My mom has countless stories about the number of times he performed miraculous surgeries or just brough people back from death. We had mafia bosses come to our place, get themselves treated by my father , and then offer him their allegiance. At the time int he early 90's, Mumbai was ruled by a very well known ganglord who was responsible for the Hindu-Muslim riots and the subsequent terrorist attacks in 1993. The papers would be filled with stories of murders carried out by this ganglords cronies..Bollywood stars being their prime targets. Yet they always had enormous respect for my father and he always kept them at the furthest distance, refusing to let him or his family get involved in any way. Life was good....we had a ncie house, we bought another big mansion on the outskirts of Mumbai, and were practically millionaires.
In February 1995, my uncle, my mother's sister's husband, got very sick. They lived in a neighboring city, and while returning from a religious visit, he suddenly had severe migraines and had to be admitted to a local hospital. Hygiene wasnt really that good at the place, and even though the doctors performed an emergency operation to remove a big tumour from his brain, my uncle developed an infection in his brain which put him in a coma. Naturally everyone was very worried, and both my mother and father rushed to be at his side. My father was more so needed at this time than any other. We made several trips, and I remember being there for a couple of days too. This time however, my father could not save him. My uncle's infection proved to be fatal.. and he passed away on March 4th. I was in Mumbai at my cousins' place and my parents were with my aunt to be by her side. My mom thought I should be there too. She almost never left me alone and she missed me a lot. She told my dad ' Could you get Shantanu here please?' He agreed and decided to drive down back to Mumbai to pick me up.
6th March 1995 : I was playing cricket with my favorite cousin at 7 pm at night. Dinner was almost ready and since I was about to win the game I didnt want it to be cut short. The door bell rang. Everything went silent for 2 minutes. Suddenly there was my aunt calling me outside in the hall . Oh! here were two of my father's friends. 'Hey Sunil Uncle, Hey Vilas uncle. How come you are here?' ' Shantanu you have to go home with them ok?' ' ok....now?' ' yes now, we will talk later ok?' ' Ok..fine' ..We drove home...there was utter silence in the car. Noone felt like talking. I couldnt understand it. Why didnt they let me finish the game? Are Mama and Baba home? 'Shhh Shantanu we are almost home' they said. We parked outside the apartment complex gates. There were a lot of people waiting downstairs ...dressed in white. 'Has someone died uncle?' I asked innocently. They didnt say.... I was led up the stairs. The door to my house was open...I walked in....My father was lying asleep at peace on the floor. He was covered in a white cloth. His eyes had cotton balls over them. I knew at that point what it was...but I didnt realize the shock. My father was no longer alive. He was dead. He had been caught in a car accident while coming back ......to get me. He was waiting at a signal and a truck had backed up on our car, breaking though the windshield and ramming into my father, killing him instantly. The truck driver fled. There was my father....dead on the highway...after saving so many lives God took away his own, he called his angel back. I honestly say I could not grasp the pain, I just wanted to be with my mother. I went in. There she was, crying, sobbing hysterically just waiting for me to hold so she could let her emotions flow at the top of her voice. I still remember the exact words she said..'' Shonu..majhi Shonu...(My baby...my darling baby).. aata fakta tu ani me (now its just you and me)..Baba nahi yenar parat ....(Your father is not coming back)" and we just hugged each other and cried...I remember nothing else from that night.
Today its been 14 years to the day since he passed away. I want to tell my mom something. She was wrong when she said my father would not be coming back. Shes wrong...because he never left us. From that moment onward when people realized that Girish Rajadhyaksha was alive no more, the fame vanished. There were to be no celebrities, no glamour, no millions. All that was left was a woman who did not work and her little son. Everyone but a handful of people deserted us, offered us no support...But we survived. All the taunts, all the attempts to bring us down, spurred my mother even further. We werent out. My father had invested all of our money wisely and it was enough to last a lifetime. My mother learnt how to make use of it. She worked hard to learn the tricks of the trade, and we are at this point of time successful and doing good because of those efforts and invaluable decisions made by my father. My father lives on in me , my mother's husband lives on in her, Girish Rajadhyaksha lives on in us. The day I got my visa, me and my mother both thought of the same thing..' This is for you dad'
Even though my parents adopted me, I do believe today that I am my father's son. Whatever I do today , whatever good that I have done , its all because I just want to be like him. I know I will never be. I always want to be known as ' Girish Rajadhyaksha's son'.. wherever I end up. I spoke to my mother today, she doesnt cry anymore. Today she is happy, that her son has made his father proud. Somewhere up in the sky, somewhere in my soul, somewhere within me, I hope my baba is smiling at me.He died trying to reach out to me, today I want to be as successful as I can so that I may finally grab his hand one day and make that connection at last. I know he would have been very proud of me and my mom, and I feel that pride driving me on to those greater heights...
Never forget that we all are here due to the superhuman efforts of someone who loves us to death..so much that even death doesnt stop them from making sure we get what we want..whether it be a bottle of Coca-Cola or a world-class education. Make those people proud..step up!
Baba I love you
Dedicated to the best father in the world - Girish Yeshwant Rajadhyaksha.

Dedicated to Girish Yeshwant Rajadhyaksha

First blog representing the adult learners.

Hello, My name is Corey Baughman and I believe that I am a Junior here at Penn State-York. I am 30 years old and am married with 3 daughters who are 6, 8, and 10. I also work second shift as a Lieutenant at York County Prison. I have been at Penn State-York since Spring of 2008.
Hmm...where should I begin? I will start off by explaining who I am and how I ended up at Penn State-York. First off, I graduated from York Vo-Tech or York School of Technology with a certificate in electrical occupations. I was not the greatest student in high school. Although I was involved in such activities such as class president, vice-president of student council, captain of the football team etc., my graduating GPA was about a 2.6. It wasn't that couldn't grasp the material, I just chose not to grasp the material. I thought that it was more important to chase girls and party with the boys. This led me to me first career.
With school not being my forte, I chose to join the Army as an infantry soldier. Although I could have had my choice of jobs in the service, I wanted to jump out airplanes and shoot big guns. Well, I got my wish in the summer of 1996 when I enlisted and was sent to Ft. Benning to boot camp. From there I was assigned to the 1oth Mountain Division in Ft. Drum, NY. If anyone does not know where that is, it is above Syracuse, NY and is colder than your first meeting with the in-laws. Three weeks after I got to Ft. Drum, I left from a blizzard in upstate NY to the deserts of Egypt for a 6 month peacekeeping mission. This is where I received my first taste of college. At the time, I was less than a year out of school when my team leader suggested that I take up school. I said, " No way sarge, I didn't sign up to go to college. I am not a college guy." Sgt. Talbot said, "Ok Pvt. Baughman, While the others are sitting in class, I am going to smoke your bags for an hour." Needless to say, I chose to go to college over getting scuffed-up on a daily basis. Once I was in class, I found that it was an extension of high school. While I was over there, I received 6 cr hrs of college from Central Texas College. To be continued.......

Midterms...Yuck

Just jumping on here to further procrastinate since I should be studying...2 exams, 3 midterms, and 2 papers due this week. I did get my first midterm grade back from last week though - I got an A thankfully since I put tons of work into that. I'd been studying nonstop for 5 days barely stopping to eat and sleep. It was quite a few terms and things to memorize, but it ended up being worth it. I still say studying is detrimental to one's academic success in art history, but it may help in civil liberties. Off to sleep through another lecture, see ya.

P.S. Welcome to the blog Hunter. When's PSY's crisis sim? Am I still welcome to be a chair?

PUNC

I'm currently up at main campus for the Penn State United Nations Conference. So far it's been a ton of fun (I'm Artemis in the Pantheon of the Gods), I'm about to head back to our last Committee Session for today, one more tomorrow and then we'll head back to York.
Hunter

Thon

I feel the need to write about thon www.thon.org
I'm watching the webcast right now and the Icers Hockey team is onstage in the BJC (Bryce Jordan Center) dressed as Penguins. It's absolutely hilarious and I highly recommend that you watch the live webcast. I'm heading up to Thon tomorrow with Sara and everyone in York's van as long as the weather holds out. I'm going to wear as much green as possible! Now the Lionettes are performing Under the Sea.
I guess I'm done with my little blurb for now, if I get any good pictures tomorrow I'll try to figure out how to post them.
Hunter Bryce

Hello Everyone

Hello!
I'm just starting this blog so I'll introduce myself first: I'm a sophomore at Penn State York and I'll be transferring up to University Park in the Fall. (I'll update my profile eventually and put other odds and ends on there)
I'm super-excited for Thon this weekend, I have yet to experience it. I work on Saturday morning but I'm going up with the van on Sunday. York campus's color this year is GREEN!! (Green is my favorite color by the way.)
The next big exciting events to come along are the Pennsylvania State Model United Nations Conference at University Park next weekend and then Spring Break in Ireland the following weekend. I'll keep you posted :)
Hunter

A college experience......... what is it all about? People go on and on and on about huge campuses, working 24/7 to get that 4.0 GPA, attending wild parties, being accepted in a big student club..
All this while I was in India, I had this image of what it would be like when I would be a student here at this campus....I mean wow! Excitement ++
Yet you know, somehow I feel this past semester , great though it was academically and from the perspective of the whole 'college experience' view, I realised that there were few things missing.
Sure, it is very easy for me to sound ungrateful here, after all that hard work to come here , am I saying that Im not happy? Of course not! What I am trying to say however is that the vision I had , the things I was expecting from this campus and life here as a whole, was not enough. Or rather slightly distorted...What was it that I truly wanted? The faculty is brilliant here, the whole setup is just beyond my wildest dreams, Im doing good with my grades..attended some wild parties too! Then whats missing?
Sometimes we all just quickly forget what really is important in life. Of course noone knows for sure because importance changes from time to time and that itself is based on an equation by some obscene sociologist and so on and so forth..( Im really sorry I hope by now you have figured out how much I ramble on) So going back to what is important in life for ME. yes thats better and simpler to explain isnt it? What I realise is I missed my friends..my life, those little things, the spontaenous laughs, the inside jokes, many many many poses for photos..all that which I so enjoyed doing back home in Mumbai... Im sorry I just want to tell you guys about it all.
I have the best friends ever back home, practically family to me now. And I cannot tell you (but you probably know what im talking about) how much fun Iv had with them. I didnt have any wild parties, I didnt play in an indoor gym, I didnt run for president in any club, I didnt make the Dean's list. But there was pure happiness. I sucked at a subject, but with them, I aced a paper, but with them. We went to Hyderabad (an old city in central India) together for a holiday, spent amazing times together, did some awfully crazy things. We drank together secretly, shared our first beers together, just sat around and laughed, danced a lot, put on shows , laughed even more...heck I even donned a skirt and belly danced! I feel no shame in telling you all this because those were some of the happiest moments in my life. There were times when we would all just sit in my house, someone would play the guitar, we would all sing, eat kebabs, get emotional, laugh it off , sing some more, eat some more and just be happy. Other times the venue would change....there was this tiny chinese place near our college..a typical Mumbai roadside Indian-Chinese eatery...dirt cheap and very very tasty...we would all sit there, laugh and laugh and just have fun , and do all kinds of crazy things. After the noodles and chicken were consumed, then came the fresh lime sodas for all but rs. 5 per glass about 400 ml of it! (thats about a dime per glass) . But you know it was worth millions and millions and trillions. Those moments, in class, in the cafe, sitting beside them, impersonating the professors..comparing our test scores, completing assignments...just priceless.
I left them all behind , back in Mumbai, and I realised now after one whole semester, even though I talk to all of them every single day , that I was missing their rock solid presence in my life that I was so accustomed to. This was a whole new world...where everyone had been amazing to me but I had no real friends, not like those I left behind....that was what happiness was all about wasnt it? this is why I was feeling somehow incomplete..
I just wanna tell you guys that when you look forward to joining college, dont just believe that the experience is complete when you get an A grade in your IST class. NO it isnt. True happiness and satisfaction comes when you are complete ease, when the place feels like home. And it takes time. It never happens on the first day, or the 2nd day or the 3rd.....it takes a hell lot of time. But I will tell you that once you do find yourself, when you find your true friends , thats when it all becomes so much more worth it. Those small things I just went on about, I cant tell you how much they have shaped me more than any education in any classroom ever could or will. Today even if I miss them to the core, I still know that even though I am here on my own, I can make it...because I have their full support...and also Iv made some good friends here whom I can trust. That knowledge alone is enough for happiness. When you know that you have a friend to confide in, to cry to, to be happy with when a test goes wrong or right, thats when you know you have had the complete ' college experience' .
Its never about how big the campus is, if you have a couple of true friends sitting around, some sodas, some food, and maybe a guitar and a person who is a half decent singer, even though it might be in a shed , you know this is what they were talking about.

Dedicated to Mayetreyee Bishnu , Gaurang Bailoor, Ashwathy Nair, Farhad Zaiwalla, Chintan Joshi, Priyanka Hirwale, Rahul Mhambrey, Alina Lewis, Arnab Dasgupta...my best friends

What have I been doing with my life?

I'm pretty sure being a procrastinator and super busy do not equal the greatest blogger in the world! I am sorry for that!

So, not going to attempt to update greatly on my life because that might take a looooooong time! But to sum up the basics, some new things have happened! I am no in the spring play called "Boys' Life!" I play the drunk wife at the end of the play! hahahaha! It's something that I wanted to get involved with as well as being forced into it by friends! But I'm glad I auditioned!
I am now the SGA representative for Lion Ambassadors, so that's another obligation, but I'm more than eager to do it! Helps me get more involved with the campus and my fellow students.

More to come! Hope everyone out there is doing well and enjoying this new semester!
P.S. My birthday is TOMORROW!!!!!!!

We are...PENN STATE!

Brief update - Exams Yuck!

Well hitting the fourth and fifth week of classes I'm keeping incredibly busy. It always seems to fall that I have either nothing for all my classes or major tests and projects due in all of them. On that note though, the final exam schedule is up which is great. I have one on Monday and two on Wednesday and Thursday.

Other interesting things of note that I really ought to cover in more detail than I'm going to:

I'm working on a summer internship related to the legal field. I'm still hammering out details of that with the director of the Harrisburg Semester program. I have to come visit the York campus for letters of recommendation.

The trip to DC was pretty incredible. I love art and spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian stuff down there. I learned one of the old ballroom dances from Lincolns Inaugural Ball - special Bicentennial event. I made a complete fool of myself but it was fun...

Only try iceless iceskating if you're incredibly brave! I can ice skate just fine but it was essentially a greased floor and you try to use ice skates across it...really odd. I outlasted my date though - she gave up in about three minutes I lasted five! We went to dinner when the skating event didn't work out so that was fun. She hadn't ever been to an on campus event before though so it was a good experience. Big hint: get involved on campus or you'll sit around insanely bored.

Criminal Trials this week in Dauphin County. I'll be spending every spare moment I can down there observing.

I'm aware I was all over the place in this post, sorry. It makes sense to me - hopefully everyone else can follow it. I'll try to keep updated more often to avoid cramming in so much info.

Penn State? Isnt it in South India?

August 2006 ( I dont remember the exact date and I wont even try try to remember it) ; After officially being accepted in this program, me and my mom came home in the evening with our raincoats and umbrellas dripping wet thanks to the ruthlessness of the Indian rain gods, yet more happy and satisfied than we had been in months, perhaps years. After going through the extreme torture that is the 12th grade and its board exams and various entrance tests that are the hallmark of the Indian education system, this was a day to celebrate indeed.
India has a different education system to the U.S of A and a student going through the formative years through 10th till 12th grade requires a mental and physical strength of superhuman levels. Generally kids opt for either one of 3 routes - Engineering , Medicine and Commerce. Arts forms a growing but woefully small minority. After graduating from school in 10th grade, we have to go through 2 years of junior college where we choose our broad academic area of study in either science, commerce or arts. All this sounds simple enough (so far) and it really is, at least on the surface. A normal child does not make this decision based on his own interest in most cases. There are a thousand things to consider, and it is enough to make one mental, certainly in my case. My dad was one of the best doctors before he passed away, and my entire family had been on my case to follow his legacy..'Son you are a natural doctor, take up science' ...another one said ' Beta! (son), I looked at your horoscope and theres simply gold written for u in commerce, go for it!, go for science or arts if you want to, but dont blame me if you end up losing everything and going bankrupt and begging on the streets in 2 months' ...clearly this was getting out of hand. Personally I wanted to pursue Arts, but there wasnt really any future in it anyway...ended up taking science in my local college. Mom happy, another aunt not so happy, fortune teller really not happy, but who cares? I was happy..all my friends were here, the area was great, the college was great, I enjoyed it. Then came 12th grade.
12th grade means board exams- HSC (Higher secondary school certificate), and various CETs (common entrance tests) to apply to engineering and medical colleges in the country. For the smart kids there is IIT-JEE ( the entrance exam to the most elite university in India - The Indian Institute of Technology). As if these tests werent good enough, the rotten cherry on top is the reservation quota, which is where politics and corruption make their way in the education system and manipulate the population and divide it based on caste and religion. A 'general' category student (one who is of the majority religion and caste) has less than 5% of the total number of seats in the college to choose from..everyone else gets to pick and choose first. Knowing that its indeed a very steep (concave even!) mountain to climb, students cannot rely on junior colleges with their poorly experienced and even more poorly paid faculty to prepare them adequately for the many D-days. The answer : Professional tutoring classes.
12 months and about 100000 rupees later, I was convinced that I should have rather gone to the Himalayas and meditated on a glacier. Dont get me wrong, I wasnt doing badly. This whole process however was frustrating me more and more every single day. I was giving exam after exam, not knowing whether the political scenario might suddenly change and and I wouldnt be able to get in a nice decent engineering college at all. All my batchmates were going through the same thing, and our professors constantly reminded us the importance of scoring not less than 95%...yea right! Not only does the grading system and exam pattern make this extremely difficult, but the fear of NOT getting in was making me hell nervous! Somehow I got through it all and by the end of May it was done...or was it?
Almost a month later (during which I at least got to enjoy the soccer world cup) the results were out, and although I didnt do badly, I still wasnt India's brightest Kid. Scorecard in hand , then came the final task of applying to all the colleges. I wont get much into the way this works now, but in a nutshell its like a lottery. Its mostly down to sheer luck. I , very obviously wasnt very happy at this, but knowing that there wasnt another option, had to deal with it.
I accidently discovered this course while on one of my rounds at Vidyalankar college to enquire about their engineering program seats availability. I saw it, knew this was it, and jumped at it. Asked mom, got her approval, asked my seniors and cousins who were Penn State alumni, and made the decision. PENN STATE! woooooooohooooo, away from this quicksand that is the Indian education system....in one of the best universities in the world!!
Now you know why me and mom were so happy that day...... came home dripping wet, I decided to call up one of my best friends and tell him about this news.....Picked up the phone and dialed..' Hello? Is Prasad there? I have some news..hey Prasad! Im going to Pennstate!! Isnt that cool? '
Prasad: " Wow dude! that IS cool....Isnt Penn in a south indian state? You will have to appear for their CET though, you ready? "
Me: ........................... *blank with anger and frustration* !@#!$@!#$!#W$

Namaste, PSY!

Hello everyone! Its such a big relief to finally get on this blog at last! I cant believe its been almost half a year since I hopped on a plane to come here! Knowing that I would be a Penn Stater almost 2 years ago and then waiting for that time to come and then waiting some more...in a nutshell it wasnt a short period of time. But it was worth it. Not only did I have the best time of my life In Vidyalankar (my college back home), but the Penn State experience has been just as wonderful.
Before coming here, there was so much of a ruckus surrounding my departure. Do this, do that, DONT do that, etc. etc. etc. America is a strange country son!, be veeeeeery careful, dont drive and drink! Yes with tons of baggage and even more tons of advice on my shoulders, I came here..leaving all my dearest friends, the love of my life and most importantly , my mother back in India. As soon as the plane took off it hit me hard, I wasnt going to see my mother soon for at least a year or more. The jokes were forgotten, this was it...my chance to either make it or break it! 2 years of hard work, 2 years of friendships, 2 years of watching my mom run around Mumbai getting all my papers in order, 2 years all directed towards one thing....
Shantanu Rajadhyaksha : undergraduate student of the Pennsylvania State University
My chance to make it

Changes!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

This is my first official blog post, and I'm using it to simply alert you all to some changes in the blog.

Jess Olan graduated (yay Jess!) and we miss her terribly already...but I'm sure she'll be around. But since she's no longer with us, we're adding a new blogger, and I hope you all are as excited as I am to meet him!

His name is Shantanu Rajadhyaksha, and he is an international student from India. It will be awesome to be able to get such a different perspective on Penn State York.

As a side note, spring is coming quickly, and if you find yourself with any questions about admissions, applying to college, or are interested in visiting Penn State York, please don't hesitate to call!

:-)

Sara

Wheelz of Fire

I attended my first formal campus event tonight - it was hosted by my CA (community assistant) at Wheelz of Fire a local roller skating rink. I met two Penn Stater's who seem interesting - more on them later perhaps from future campus events. More importantly, I found out that there is in fact a local rink with inline hockey! Unfortunately, they don't have a website so I didn't find it before. Also got invited to join a speed skating team - I probably am turning down that offer but pickup hockey sounds awesome!

I played for about six years at a local rink which has since shut down. I haven't played for three years now, so I'm going to get killed but should be fun.

First week

It's now Wednesday night as I finish writing this, so I have had all of my classes at least once. I'm definitely dreading my honors seminar the most - each professor who teaches it personalizes the course to their field of study - Dr. Jastor is interested in Renaissance England...Shakespeare. She has a really great energy though and is totally upbeat about it which is definitely a benefit. We're going to be taking a trip to The American Shakespeare Center in Blackfriars' Theatre in Staunton, VA to see the various pieces we are studying performed live. That sounds like it should be fun and really help in appreciating the material.

I'll keep you updated on other classes more so once we really get into them. Here's a short insight though.

Accounting - not really a course I'm interested in but a core requirement for a Business Administration minor. I still haven't gotten the textbook from the bookstore - I ordered it in mid-December. =/ Apparently a number of instructors have had trouble with PSH's Bookstore

Public Administration - The professor seems pretty laid back and really interested in facilitating class discussion which is great. He doesn't seem to believe law school is worthwhile, so we have a bit of a disagreement about that.

Civil Liberties and Due Process - better than I imagined since this is my passion. Dr. Woessner is also my academic adviser, and that is certainly a plus. Seems like it will be a whole lot of work though and a rather difficult course overall.

English - this course seems like it will be another that takes a lot of work. We haven't really gotten into depth with anything yet though so stay tuned next week or so.

Energy and the Environment - A pretty easy science credit from the looks of it. Considering how much the idea was thrown around during the election I really hope to cover "clean" coal.

Public Policy Analysis - The professor is the head of the Public Policy program and the Harrisburg semester program; I am hoping to find something in the legal field for an internship to participate in that which means working with Dr. Nechemias The course is writing intensive which means a fair bit of extra work, but I think it should be interesting.

I am really thankful to be done with gen eds after this semester.

Move in on Friday

Sheesh the holiday break went way too quickly. I'm ready for a bit of structure for sure, but I'm pretty stressed right now with packing everything up and redoing lists I've been making for the past few months on what I want/need. I have the list of my roomates, but I haven't e-mailed them yet. At this point I think I'll just wait to meet them. Doubtlessly some pretty cool folks.

One thing that has me stressed is that the east shore YMCA can't decide whether they're hosting karate or judo classes on Tuesday/Thur nights... The website contradicts itself. I'm interested in judo and don't really want to do karate. Ah well guess I'll go for one class and find out. Otherwise I hope to get involved with the learning center up there, the model UN, and anything pre-law related.

Books still haven't come - which rather defeats the purpose of ordering them two months early and having them shipped to my house. Hopefully I can call the bookstore and have them hold them up there instead *tacks another note onto the to-do list*

I'll definitely keep you guys filled in on how it goes, but I'm too stressed to think of much else right this second.

Oh joy...Christmas

I'm really glad the semester is done with (though slightly annoyed final grades aren't posted for a certain class. =/ )

Now I get to put 100x more effort into dealing with family events and all the festivities associated with the holidays than I did all semester. I love the fact that everything is finished up for school, but I find family events to be very stressful. Plus I'm still working on packing everything up making sure I have essentials and such.

Meeting up with a friend for lunch tomorrow that I haven't seen in ages since she's about 6 hours away from here at school. I have no idea how I can get along with an Art/Art Therapy major so well yet still completely bomb my art history final. My artist and musical talent is...well never mind that I have no artist or musical talent.

I've been up until 2 or 3 am lately, so I'm going to crash now since I have to get up fairly early tomorrow.

Night all,

Stephen

Thank You! Goodnight!

I'm going to try to write this without crying. Heh. I've had hair trigger tearducts for the last few weeks. It's been hard to talk about my good memories, or say goodbye to someone, or tell my friends how proud I am without getting all choked up. It seems to be expected now that I'll begin blubbering for no reason. I'm glad everyone laughs it off though. It's embarrassing enough as is.
Now is my time to start slowly withdrawing from everything I've had a finger in for the last three years. I know SGA will be alright (I've endorsed my pick for an heir :D ). I know my friends will be alright - heck I only live 6 minutes away. I guess my biggest fear is that all these wonderful people I've met and become attached to will just *poof* disappear, or maybe I'll just disappear from their minds. Friendships are situational. I know that. And while I know that I'll make friends at Shippensburg, I also know that they won't be as half as wonderful as the friends I've made here.
My interview with Shippensburg is February 3rd. Which means I won't be starting grad school until the summer. Which means I have about 5 months off. Which means I have a lot of cleaning to do....and trashy romance novels to read. I think that's what I'm going to enjoy most (once I get used to it). The Quiet. The Peace. Knowing that I can let my brain - that has been working overtime for the last 4 years - just relax into a smooshy pool of video games and 4th grade reading level books.
Sigh.
Oh who am I kidding? I'll be calling every day for the first two weeks to come hang out. I'll be counting down the days til Paw Search and THON. I'll be on the mailing list for all my clubs and come to all the events. I guess I'll always bleed blue and white. :)

I'll try to get in at least one more after graduation. I want to tell you all about it. And Matt, you're so right. One day you're a sophomore, next day you're a graduate. The horizon is deceptively close. I'll miss you guys. My experiences here will live in my heart for all my life. I couldn't have made it without you. I've never felt so loved and appreciated in all my life. Thank you.

All My Love,
Jess Olan
Alum