Social Life

        In the beginning of the semester, I reconnected with sophomore Sophia DeLouisa who I met at my audition last January.  She is also a music education major in the clarinet studio and invited me to attend CRU, a club called Crusade for Christ that meets on thursdays and sings along with a live band in the HUB Auditorium.  I met at dinner beforehand a few of her other friends who also happen to be music majors.  After dinner we all went to CRU together and sang our hearts out.  I was surprised to find that the people I met also happened to be music education majors.  I was also surprised that her group of friends were not only music majors, but also members of the Blue Band.   

I didn't have football tickets so I went to the Bryce Jordan Center often on Saturday mornings before the game to see them perform. 

(Photo: Half time show performance in Bryce Jordan Center)

 

Blue Band Members Marching Toward Beaver Stadium after Bryce Jordan Center Performance

The Nittany Lion (Penn State Mascot) 

Fortunately, I was able to purchase Sofia's extra football tickets for the Penn State vs. Temple and Penn State vs. Illinois White out games and tailgate with her family and our other Blue Band friends afterwards.  

                                                                    Ticket Stubs from football games (left: Penn State vs. Temple, Saturdy September 20,2008 ; right: Penn State vs. Illinois Sat September 27, 2008)

In mid-October, my boyfriend Andrew, who attends Franklin& Marshall University came to visit during Penn State's Homecoming Weeked.  We spent almost the entire weekend walking all over campus taking in the beautiful sights of the newly changed fall leaves.  

Additional pictures of Andrew's visit: http://www.personal.psu.edu/bac5186/blogs/beth_40s/additional-photos-from-andrews-visit.html

I was having dinner with my friends Louise, a musical performance major in the trumpet studio, and Natalie, a music education major in the flute studio.  They planned to bake a cake for a friend's birthday and invited me to help.  We baked the cake in the kitchen, with permission, of the sorority house Natalie was pledging to.  We couldn't help but laugh the whole time because it was one of the dirtiest most disorganized kitchens either of us had ever been in.  It took us forever to find the blades for the electric beater and we couldn't read the stove dials so we weren't quite sure what temperature the stove was set to.  We cleaned the mold off the neglected 1960's electric beater and made do with the circumstances.  There wasn't a timer n the stove so we kept track by our watches, however we got talking, forgot, and almost burnt the cake.  

The Beater weighed as much as a canon!     

 Oh goodness...what a mess . . .                and thankfully, we only toasted the cake

(Above photo: Louise standing left)

       On the evening of November the 19, at 10pm, myself and the clarinet studio took it upon ourselves to cover Dr. Costa's clarinet studio with decorations for his birthday.  We wanted to surprise him so that he saw the decorations first thing when he walked into his office the following morning.    

Later in the semester, I met Kyle, a friend of my friend Natalie's.  We went one Wednesday evening to go salsa dancing downtown at Tony's.  It was the most fun I had all and we all hope to go again next semester on days when we're not too tied up with work.We are also considering making plans to join the swing dance club that takes place once a week in the White Building.  

Oftentimes it is hard to schedule in time to spend with friends.  To make up for that time, we usually try to eat together at the dining commons.  On occasion, I go to either the blue Spoon Deli, Otto's, or the West dining Commons with friends in the School of music after ensemble rehearsals.