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