Feelin' Blue

In my final post as the spring semester to our first year at Penn State is upon us, I wanted to take the time to reflect all the cool things I've been able to experience. I found myself incredibly grateful to be a part of this university, and I realized that all of the coolest things I've been able to do have been through Blue Band. Because of this, for my final post we're going to go back through time and let me relive my top 3 moments from these two semesters, because I'm pretty sure there is no way to top it.

1. Ohio State 

Remember when we beat Ohio State at the Whiteout game against all odds and began our run into the limelight of national football standings? SO DO I! This was an insane night, and the only time last semester that I lost my voice from screaming for 2 days. If you'l recall, this was a night game with an 8pm kickoff, and was also one of the most stressful days of my entire life. I got stuck in traffic outside Beaver Stadium and barely made it to the Blue Band building in time to join the rest of the band in the parade to the stadium. Then, this game ended with our fans storming the field at around midnight. Your fun fact for this event was that the band had to wait for nearly every single person to get off the field before we could leave (I'm not complaining though), so yours truly did not get back to her room until almost 2 am. 

2. B1G Championship

Remember when we won the Big Ten Championship against Wisconsin? ME TOO! 

The fun thing we discovered about Indianapolis is that the city is connected by walkways, and we found that we could get from our hotel to the heart of the city without once setting foot outside. Also, before the game the band was fed our usual pregame meal of a turkey sandwich, a bag of chips, an apple, and a cookie. Whoever made the decision to feed us turkey sandwiches narrowly avoided a disaster of epic proportions. While we had turkey, the Wisconsin band was given ham sandwiches that caused nearly 60 of Wisconsin's members to get food poisoning. That would've made for a fun bus ride home! Also, another fun fact is that we got to eat Chik fil A on a Sunday. 

3. Rose Bowl

All I can say about this one is that I still can't believe that it actually happened. The fun fact about the Rose Bowl is that at the end of the parade, Red Cross volunteers are waiting to force you to drink water out of tiny paper mugs. Also, it's not always sunny in California.

4. Hockey B1G Championship 

I can officially say that I've seen Penn State win two Big Ten Championships in person. That is unreal. For this event in Detroit, we were fully expecting to go home the first night, but ended up staying until the end and left at around 1 in the morning after the game ended. My final fun fact is that we escaped the blizzard of State College and went to warm, sunny.... Detroit? Just kidding, it was still freezing. Also, at one place in Detroit near the GM building, you can literally see Canada. It's crazy.

All in all, I've been very fortunate this year and I've had so many incredible experiences that I would never be able to have at another university. I'm so grateful for where I've been, and I'm excited for what's to come.

Dear Penn State, I give you 100 unforgetable moments out of 10

IM: Are You In?

It's been a while since I've reviewed an activity that is available on campus, so this week we're going to explore the wonderful world of IM!

IM, short for intramural, sports are an excellent opportunity to get some sun, exercise a bit, and meet new people all at once. Unfortunately I didn't have time in the fall to join a team, nor did I know how easy it is to join! In this spring semester, a good friend of mine wanted to create a team, so lo and behold, here I am playing soccer one to two times a week! It's just like AYSO!

The process to creating a team is simple:
 Step 1: acquire a team
 Step 2: go to the IM Leagues website
 Step 3: follow the brightly highlighted directions in the box!
 Step 4: Profit (just kidding)

A cool factoid about IM Leagues is that technically you don't even need to have acquired a team to play. You can register as a Free Agent and get picked up by a team or create one from other free agents! You also get to choose your own team name!

Another fun thing about IM soccer is that you play on a shortsided field with only 5 field player and a goalie, so if you were worried that you would be too out of shape to play a sport, you resident hasn't-gone-to-the-gym-nor-exercised-in-2-months expert can attest that although it could be tiring at first, you absolutely can do it!

My team is composed of 7 girls, and only two of us (myself and my friend who created the team) had ever played soccer before. I'm not even joking. So far we've played three teams including one that was similar to us (in the way that they were seriously inexperienced as well), one that absolutely destroyed us, and a third that was comprised of girls from the lacrosse team.

Soccer games are played on the fields in front of the Blue Band Building right off of Park Ave. The season consists of 5 games, and you can also sign up for practice times to build chemistry with your team if you want to use those fields to practice. My team has not done so yet, but we've been planning a team practice because the girls who have never played before are eager to get better.

Image courtesy of Penn State Mag

Despite the fact that my team for the most part has no idea what they're doing, it's been incredibly fun playing with them. Over the past three games I've been able to see our players grow and learn more about the sport and it makes me feel proud to be their co-captain.

I can't attest to the fun or functionality of other IM sports besides soccer because unfortunately I have not been able to play them, although, after our second game we did see an exciting game of Quidditch going on at one of the fields near where we played.


In the end you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing IM sports.
I'd give being on an IM team 10 slapping hands out of 10

It's All Greek to Me

Considering the uproar this week caused by restrictions on Penn State Greek life, let us delve into the history of Fraternity and Sorority life at Penn State, and see how we could have gotten to the point we are now.

According to the PSU Student Affairs website, our Greek community can be traced way back into the 19th century, the 1870's to be exact. Penn State itself only came into being in 1855, with the first fraternity being born in 1872. Delta Tau Delta has the honor of being the very first frat on campus, and ironically enough considering this week's proceedings, was quickly closed. Faculty felt that frats were generally up to no good and did not imbue the values and atmosphere the university was trying to encourage.

The arrival of university president George Atherton (the one buried outside of Schwab Auditorium) brought about a change in perspective. George and many of the faculty members had belonged to fraternities as undergrads themselves at other institutions, and believed that frats could help create new opportunities for friendship and brotherhood while also solving the housing situation which was becoming a bit tight on campus.

Little did they know that there were already secret fraternities going by Greek, German, or Latin letter combinations right under their noses. Well, they probably knew (college students aren't sneaky)  but refused to officially recognize them or allow gatherings for socialization because most students were living crammed in the OG Old Main. Students lived, breathed, ate, slept, and worked in that building.

The most prominent secret frat was the Latin letter society QTV, which was a national organization at one point, but had since dissolved with its chapters affiliating with other national organizations. During this process, President Atherton lifted the frat ban and the first fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta was recognized.  QTV, which was falling apart and not recognized, ended up splitting and affiliating with two national Greek frats, Beta Theta Pi (not even joking), and Phi Kappa Sigma.

The first "off campus" frat house was bought by Phi Gamma Delta, on the corner of present day Beaver Ave and Allen St. In the 1920's to the 1930's, Greek life experienced a colossal boom leading to the building of the mansion-esque houses we know and love today, and the arrival of sororities.

In the 1960's, student uprisings on campuses all over the nation declared that frats were part of the 'administration-establishment', leading to record low numbers of Greek life students. However, in 1968 the still annual event Greek Sings was created as a way for frats and sororities to display musical talents. Profits and proceeds from the event go to the Gayle Beyers scholarship fund which was named after an advisor at the university that was a proponent and supporter of the Greek community.

While still in the slums of public favor, IFC President Bill Lear devised our now infamous dance marathon in order to garner some more respect in the public relations front. They raised almost $2,000 dollars for the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children; the humble beginning to the now multimillion endeavor that is THON.

Then, in 2004, the Greek Pride: A Return to Glory initiative was created, culminating in the Dream Statement, or  the values and ideas for creating a positive Greek community and ensuring its presence in the future.

Greek life has a hugely intertwined history with our university, and hopefully in the face of the current restrictions, the community and the Greek community as well will remember the values and goals to which Greek life embodies.

Hockey Valley Part 2

As many of you may have seen, last weekend our very own hockey team beat Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and WON THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP!

Sorry Wisconsin

A few weeks ago we had a post chronicling the history of the hockey program, and I think it's worth mentioning that this team is making history as well.

First, a little bit of info on the sport itself: a regulation hockey game consists of three 20 minute periods with a 15 minute intermission between each period. During in-season play, if both teams are tied at the end of the match, you add another 20 minute period of sudden death overtime. If nobody scores during that time frame, it goes into best out of 5 penalty shootouts. However, the B1G tournament is not in-season play, it is, well, tournament style play, which means you do not go into penalty shootouts, you have overtime after overtime after overtime until either somebody scores or the players keel over from exhaustion.

Now, on Friday, after a pretty physical game which they won against Michigan, the hockey team was slated to play Minnesota. At the end of regulation, the score was 3-3 so we went into overtime, and then AGAIN the score was still tied so the boys got to go into DOUBLE overtime.

Erik Autio scored the winning goal with about 6 and half minutes left in double overtime, getting the team the W and solidifying their place in history. After playing almost 5 periods of hockey that night, coming to a total of nearly 94 minutes, this game is THE longest game in conference history. AND THEN THEY DID IT ALL AGAIN THE NEXT DAY!

That's right, on Saturday the team played Wisconsin with regulation ending in a 1-1 tie. The game went in to double overtime once again, and once again we came out on top thanks to a goal from Liam Folkes. This game did not break the record set the night before, but by the end of the match, our boys had played nearly 13 periods of hockey, or the equivalent of 4 and 1/3 regulation games, in the span of 3 days. That's grit.

This team is also one of the last teams to play in the historic Joe Louis Arena, which was built in the 1970's and is set to be demolished and replaced this April.

It seemed like it was built before air conditioning was invented

 The point of this post is this: Do you like sports? Do you like Penn State? Do you like watching grown men slam each other in walls? Do you like supporting a winning team? Do you like seeing history being made while you're alive?

If you answered yes to even one of these questions, find your way to Pegula next year and watch our hockey team! Even if you think you don't like watching hockey, just sit in the Roar Zone for even 20 minutes and I'm telling you, your mind will be changed.

All in all, Penn State Hockey is not something to be missing out on, especially not with this exciting of a team. I'd give Hockey Valley, even on the road, 10 pucks flung into the crowd out of 10.

Oh, and did I mention the team made ice angels with the Lion? Because that happened too:

First Photo Courtesy of the Penn State Men's Hockey Snapchat (pennstatemhky)

WE ARE

Have you ever wondered why the We Are chant is so ingrained in PSU culture, or even where it came from? Well, what with all the tour groups on campus recently, I found myself wondering the exact same thing so this week we are (ha!) going to explore the history of the We Are chant!

There are two stories claiming the origin of this famous phrase, the first of which comes from back in 1946 when many college football teams were still segregated. Penn State had two black players named Wally Triplett and Denny Hoggard, and before a game against the University of Miami which was still segregated at the time and refused to play if PSU's black players played, Penn State's team voted unamimously to cancel the game. This was only the beginning.

In 1948, Triplett was the only black player on the team who was now facing a trip to the Cotton Bowl against Southern Methodist University. Upon hearing that SMU was requesting  Triplett to be left at home, Steve Suhey coined our famous phrase with the quote "We won't leave Triplett at home because we are Penn State." Triplett ended up scoring the tying touchdown with the game ending in a 13-13 tie.

Although this story builds a history of brotherhood and morality at Penn State, this is unfortunately not the true origin of the chant, although it certainly did happen. The real story begins in 1975.

The Penn State cheerleaders accompanied the football team to Ohio State (boo!) and were stunned by the energy and electricity of the fans in the crowd, and particularly with the simplicity and effectiveness of OSU's 'O-H' 'I-O' chant. They wanted to find a way to bring that level of energy to Beaver Stadium, which is ironic now considering that we were voted among the top college football atmospheres in the nation.

The We Are chant was also partially inspired by USC's rapid chant of "We are SC", which the cheerleaders modified by replacing SC with Penn State, however, in 1976, upon trying to get the students to cheer "We Are Penn State" without any pauses between the words (think like in Zombie Nation), it went nowhere. The cheerleaders kept trying and added the pause to create the call and response effect we all know and love today. The Blue Band drummers were enlisted by the cheerleaders to help the crowd learn  by adding two bass hits so the cheer sounded something like "We Are! boom boom Penn State!".

It took a few years for it to catch on at our home stadium. The cheerleaders used speakers without permission, and Don Mains, the mic man who led the cheers during the game split up and taught the cheers to the alumni and the student section, but it wasn't nearly as loud as it is today. Older alumni were also annoyed by the chant, saying that it distracted them from the game, so sometime around 1980 the "Thank you... You're Welcome" was added to the end by the cheerleaders to get the student section to thank the alumni in the stands for participating in the cheer.

So, in the end our chant didn't quite originate from the story of a courageous team who fought for civil right, although that story certainly is one to be proud of. The We Are chant has become such an important aspect of Penn State culture, and for that we must thank the cheerleaders from years ago.

I'd give our chant 10 yelling mic men out of 10

On State Patty's Day

As many of you may or may not know, this past weekend was State Patty's Day.

Only at Penn State do we create our own holiday

For this week's post, we're going to delve into the history of this holiday, and maybe learn a thing or two about crime rates!

State Patty's began way back when in March of 2007 (wow, 10 years ago!) with a group of students realizing that the notoriously alcoholic drinking holiday Saint Patrick's Day was scheduled to fall during Spring Break. Not one to miss out on a party, these students created a Facebook group called "The Official Group to Move St. Patrick's Day", hoping to get the entire student body to celebrate the day early, and that they did. The following year there was an effort to get the bars downtown involved, and the holiday has escalated ever since.

One of the changes that was made initially to the event was to solidify the date for the holiday, which has now been established to be the weekend after THON. This made sense considering that State Patty's now falls in the gap week between THON and Spring Break. State Patty's has grown to encompass more than just the Penn State community. The group on Facebook has grown to over 12,000 members, and the event itself has become a beacon for tourists and out of town visitors.

However, one of the biggest problems with this new holiday is that it is centered entirely around drinking, and traditionally, with mass amounts of people drinking comes problems, including an annual crime wave. This year State College Police requested the assistance of PA State Police to help
patrol around State College on police horses like they did in the rallies following the OSU upset (24-21!!!) and the B1G Ten Championship win. Despite increasing the policing, there were still over 215 reported incidents this State Patty's weekend, including shutting down parties at the host's request in some cases. All in all, it's a bad weekend to be a police officer.

Because of the crime surge traditionally associated with this holiday, over the years there have been numerous attempts to smother the event out of existence, which have obviously failed, but these attempts have been effective in reducing the amount of incidents from their peak in 2011.

The following year, the IFC banned parties on State Patty's weekend, students on campus were only allowed one guest per room, bars closed their doors, and even the CATA buses stopped running. In 2013, Penn State actually paid the bars a subsidy of $5,000 each (the money was from a reserve made on traffic tickets) to stay closed for the event, and eventually members of sororities weren't allowed to have any guests over if they lived on the sorority floor in the residence halls. All these actions have done much to combat the crime wave, but there is still a noticeable surge in arrests and hospital intakes at Mount Nittany each year during State Patty's weekend.

In the end, State Patty's has become quite the spectacle to behold over the years, and perhaps says something about the drinking culture here at Penn State. Time will tell if this Happy Valley tradition will continue on, and hey, in 2028 State Patty's will turn 21 and will be able to legally drink as well!

To rate State Patty's, I'd give the absurd history of this holiday 8 counts of public intoxication out of 10.



Image courtesy of:
Pennlive

Hockey Valley

In light of it being THON weekend, I feel as though most people on campus have had their fill of news about THON, so for those of you looking for something else to do this weekend, I give you: Penn State Hockey.

Formerly known as the Penn State Icers, our team had only been a club sport until the 2012-2013 season when it joined the NCAA Division 1 league. Penn State did have a varsity team in the 1940's until it was dropped due to insufficient facilities. All of this changed in the summer of 2010 when Terrence Pegula, PSU alumnus and avid hockey fan donated an insane amount of money to the tune of $102 MILLION DOLLARS to Penn State hockey in order to build the arena we all know and love today.

Thanks Terrence!

Shortly after, the Big Ten Conference announced plans to sponsor and form a six-member Big Ten Hockey Conference in the 2013-2014 with the inclusions of teams from Michigan State, UMichigan, OSU, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Not saying anything, but there wasn't a conference until we said we were joining the NCAA, so make of that what you will.

Guy Gadowsky is our team's current head coach, and he took the team to a #1 ranking in the nation earlier in the season until a heartbreaking sweep by OSU after a penalty shootout and some questionable ref-ing.

"Why is this important to me?" you may be asking yourself. Well, the point of this post is that this weekend our team is returning home to play Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, and students can purchase tickets for as little as $17.25 to sit in the Roar Zone.

The Roar Zone is the student section. They are notoriously rowdy, like to pick on the opposite team's goalie, and are very good at slowing down while performing the cowbell cheer. They're noisily enthusiastic about supporting the team, especially our two players from Russia, and contribute immensely to the atmosphere inside Pegula.

Many times that I've been at a hockey game, the Penn State Football team has paid a visit, including Trace McSorley, Daeshawn Hamilton, and Marcus Allen. I also had the chance to talk to James Franklin himself, so you never know who you might run into at Pegula.

Should you decide to come to a game this weekend, you will most definitely have a blast, and you'll also get to hear some stands tunes favorites from the Hockey Band. Also, for those of you who have had the chance to experience the Beaver Stadium Chicken Basket, they are also available for purchase to satisfy all your cravings at the concession stands in the arena.

So if you're not into THON, you want a break from THON, you like chicken baskets, watching grown men get slammed into walls and seeing a winning team, I highly recommend going to a hockey game.

I'd give Hockey Valley 9 shaking pom poms out of 10


Photos courtesy of:
Multimedia & Broadcast Journalism Camp
Sports Business Daily

Escape from Winter

As we all know, this Thursday Happy Valley was slammed with the snow storm of the semester. Mother Nature teased us with hints of spring and almost 50 degree temperatures earlier this week, so this truly is a cruel change of weather. So, in honor of wanting to be anywhere warmer than State College right now, I'm going to give you the skinny on some awesome Study-Abroad programs in more tropical climates!

1. Cairo, Egypt

This particular program is open to all majors and all students in at least their second semester of their sophomore year. Situated in the center of the Arabic speaking world, students study through the American University in Cairo and can expect to get very familiar with the Arabic language. The best part? The current weather in Cairo is a high of 73 and sunny.

2. Melbourne, Australia

Monash University in Melbourne really loves American students! This program allows you to use federal and state grants to finance your trip, and the University Office of Global Programs also have grants and scholarships available to apply for. Monash University is also similar to PSU in that it has several campuses in and around Melbourne (which was also named the second best city in the world to be a student!). However, you need to be a Junior in order for your application to be considered. Sorry everybody. Australia is hot as sin, and Melbourne is no different with a high of 88 degrees next Wednesday. Wouldn't that be nice?

3. Atenas, Costa Rica

Good news! You could go to Costa Rica next year as long as you have a 3.0 and want to study ecology, economics, and sustainability! Costa Rica's Center for Sustainable Development Studies houses the students that embark on this adventure, and the town of Atenas is close enough that you could spend a weekend at the beach, go ziplining in the mountains, or visit the island's volcanoes. And while you're there you might as well go visit Territorio de Zaguates aka Land of the Stray Dogs aka Heaven on Earth in San Jose.

Also, Costa Rica is currently a balmy 73 degrees, in case you needed some convincing.

4. Rome, Italy

For those of you that aren't quite ready to jump into shorts weather, PSU offers many programs in Rome, one of the easiest and probably the most fun is through the College of Communications and is the study of Roman Film and Photography. You need to be a sophomore, have a 2.5, and the dream of being a photographer for this one (just kidding). Students get to watch movies and get graded on them, explore the architecture of the city, and take pictures while they're doing it. Did I mention you also get to visit Florence and Venice? And that it's 51 degrees in Rome right now?!

5. London, United Kingdom

Finally, if you're happy being cold and soggy and are just looking for a change of scenery (and dialect) go to London! PSU offers a literal dozen programs based in London, and basically if you have a 3.0 and are at least a sophmore, you are likely to be accepted to one of them. Study topics range from theatre, to business, to engineering. While you're at it, you can visit the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, and all those other touristy locations during your free time. Just don't forget to bring a windbreaker and an umbrella because right now, it is 36 degrees and raining.

PSU has so many fantastic Study Abroad Programs, brochures for which can be found at Penn State's Global Education Page, and I highly encourage you to take a look and find one that best suits your interests (and weather preferences)

I'd give Penn State's Study Abroad program 7 chilled students out of 8

Photos courtesy of  Penn State Education Abroad website and Wikipedia

Cairo
Melbourne
Atenas
Rome
London

aMAIDSing

For those of you that didn't know, there was a cabaret show this past Sunday in the HUB called MasquerAIDS!

What a beautiful poster!

If you're not familiar with the term cabaret, it's pretty much just a concert of songs and dances on a stage without a set plot. I was lucky enough to be in the orchestra for this particular event.

In explanation, MasquerAIDS is an annual concert put on by the Penn State Thespians where all donations benefit the Centre County AIDS Resource. As one of the oldest clubs on campus, this is Thespian's 120th anniversary, and to honor that achievement,  the MasquerAIDS songs and dances were taken from the club's prolific past productions and possible future productions, which led to an awesome setlist and an wide variety of genres for the songs. It was interesting time to play in the orchestra considering Broadway songs are always in keys with tons of sharps and flats (not fun for musicians) and given the range of the music itself. I mean, the songs went from A Chorus Line's "What I Did For Love", to "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago, to "Heaven On Their Minds" from Jesus Christ Superstar! (Just listen to this song, it's one of my favorite Broadway songs ever!)

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this production, and part of MAIDS's charm is that fact that nothing falls into place until show day. Parts of songs were cut, measures were missing, orchestra and vocalists were choosing two different tempos, and in at least one case, an entire song was rewritten and distributed on the day of the show! Although this may sound like I'm complaining, I definitely am not, and I wouldn't change any part of this process for the world. I truly believe that learning to roll with the punches and last minute changes makes you a better musician, performer, and person in general.

Anyway, show day began with a noon call time at the HUB for the orchestra (the vocalists and dancers were there even earlier to warm up!) and a hunt for a stool, 9 music stands, and a melodica.

Otherwise known as a mouth-piano (not really, but it is a real instrument!)

The plan for rehearsal was to get 2 runthroughs of the show down before our break for supper at 4... which did not happen. We got to run every song down at least once, but between some technical difficulties and getting songs to gel, we weren't able to run the entire show straight through. But it was okay! Things were falling into place and we were ready.

The cabaret kicked off at 7:30 pm on Sunday, and we had a really good turn out considering it's a niche audience and a strange night for a concert! The show ran smoothly, and I'm pretty sure our executive director Jerrod might have cried a few times just from sheer pride and emotion.

 All in all this was an incredible night. Even though you may have missed it, mark your calendars for next year's rendition! The Centre County AIDS Resource is also always accepting donations, and their website can be found here.

In the end, I'd give this experience 7 sharps out of 7

Pictures courtesy of:
Penn State Thespians
Thomann

The Granddaddy of Them All

Hello friends and family, and welcome to the Spring semester!

Yea... spring... right...

I hope you all had a fantastic break and that you'll tell me a little about it in the comments section below! Over break, I had the unbelievable opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl and to march in the Parade of Roses with the Penn State Blue Band!

Look Ma, I'm on TV!

This was a 5 day long event for us and I'm here to give you the play-by-play analysis

DAY 1: December 30th

On this glorious day the Blue Band reunited for a rehearsal at Holuba Hall on campus. We had a fabulous pasta dinner and then proceeded to practice for almost 3 hours. After rehearsal, everybody went home and pretended to sleep, or decided to just pull an all-nighter considering our report time to the Blue Band Building the next morning was at 5 am.

DAY 2: New Year's Eve 2016 (aka the literal longest day of my life)

5 am EST: Report to the Blue Band Building
                  This photo of Alex accurately depicts how we all felt about being up so early:

After a short organizational meeting, we loaded onto buses and departed for the Harrisburg airport. The band was divided into two groups because it took 2 flights to get us all to California, with me being on Flight A.

9 am EST: Flight A departs for LAX
                  Mind you, it was about a 6 hour flight that we were getting ourselves into. I experienced                     airplane food for the first time, which came back to haunt me later.

12 pm PST: Arrival to LAX, number of hours awake: 10
                    We disembarked from the plane STRAIGHT ONTO THE TARMAC. I'VE NEVER                             FELT SO PRESIDENTIAL. Flight B eventually landed as well, we loaded onto                                   buses and were quickly transported to Pasadena City College where we performed at                           Bandfest in the middle of some sweet California rain.

Approximately 8 pm PST: NEW YEARS EVE, number of hours awake: 18
                    We arrived at our hotel and and were allowed free time until our curfew at 12:30. We                           celebrated a double whammy of a New Years by cheering with the rest of the East Coast                     at 9 pm and once again at midnight!

Approximately 12:20 pm PST: Bed Finally, number of hours awake: 22
                    Sleep never felt so good.

DAY 3: New Year's Day!

The only things on the agenda for this day were a performance at the Penn State Pep Rally at LA Live followed by a rehearsal at a community College in Glendale. Super exciting stuff! (Not even joking, the pep rally was electric, I just don't have any pictures ): )

DAY 4: GAMEDAY!!!!!!!!!

My day kicked off with a 5 am report time to depart for our loading site in the Parade of Roses. I can't tell you what time we stepped off into the parade, but I can tell you that it was unlike anything I've ever experienced in my entire life. It was 5.5 miles long, and took almost 3 hours to complete. There is no way to adequately describe how much awe I felt during it, so I'll turn to pictures!

After completing the parade we were bused to the Rose Bowl Stadium which actually seemed much smaller than Beaver, but was still just as awe inspiring. The Blue Band performed our typical pregame show and the National Anthem to a stupid amount of pyrotechnics (that we were not aware were happening) along with a B2 flyover! Also, fun fact: the pilot of the B2 went to Penn State before joining the Air Force!

A quick aside before some more pictures, B2's are unsettling as hell, you literally can not hear them until they are right over top of you and even then the only thing you hear is a whomp as the air depressurizes around them. We spent a fair amount of time geeking out over them.

Nothing like front row seats

Aw yea, fireworks!

As you all know, the game was incredibly exciting with a heartbreaking loss by a field goal to USC, but in case anyone was wondering, despite there being more USC fans in attendance, Penn Staters are undeniably better, louder, and more loyal.

In the end, despite being up for nearly 24 hours on two separate days for this trip, it is without a doubt the most amazing experience I've had in my entire life. For this reason, I give it 100 Granddaddies out of 10. And who knows, maybe we'll be back next year!

Photos Courtesy of
Onward State 
Annemarie Mountz