THON 2011

This year was my first time experiencing THON. I have never been more overwhelmed in my entire life. There were so many touching moments but everyone doing the line dance left a huge impression on me. Even though Penn State has over 40,000 students, WE ARE... one large family. We come together for events such as football games and of course THON. Everyone put their heart and soul into this past weekend, and what we achieved is incredible. $9.5 million FTK. How many schools can say that about themselves?
I loved the feeling of togetherness that prevailed throughout the weekend. While doing the line dance, we were all physically doing the same thing, but we all did the same thing all weekend. We supported and entertained the four diamond families, we danced, we ruled and regulated (in my case), we OPPerated, we kept everyone's morale up and we financed. A lot.
I realize that THON does not fit my regular blog focus of "something I found on the side of the road" or "this random thing happened to me today". But THON was what left the greatest impression on me this past week and is therefore the focus of my blog. When asked what THON is (which happens to me a lot), I never know what to say. "A 46-hour dance marathon for pediatric cancer" does not seem to suffice in conveying its true meaning. So should I rather say "a huge crowd of Penn State students, laughing, crying and standing together"? That certainly describes it well. It is one of those things you have to be there for.
My favorite experience of the weekend was the one hour I had on the floor. I had previously been working at the family entrance and checking families in, including this girl who had down syndrome and cancer. I did not think she really noticed me, as she didn't speak to me but to my friend. However, when I walked on the floor, she was standing near the entrance and started running towards me upon seeing me. She clung to my leg until I squatted down to hug her. She flung her arms around me and didn't say anything. My entire committee was in awe, taking pictures and wondering why this random girl was hugging me. Eventually she left, still not having said a word. Those 30 seconds made me fall in love with THON.

Is This Love?

Oh, Valentine's Day. It brings equally as much joy as it brings pain. You never see as many roses in one day and you never hear "I'm going to eat chocolate until I burst" quite as much as on February 14th. Girls prance around with roses, cards, teddy bears and chocolate in their arms, arranging everything in their room when they get home. They vow to treasure everything; to dry the roses, to sleep with the teddy bear and to put the cards on their pin boards.
At least I thought that's how it was done - I've never had a legitimate valentine. I've received roses and cards from my friends before but that's about it. Regardless, I never imagined girls would carelessly drop their valentine's rose in a million years.
Whenever I find these things (be it the rose, the random wall paintings or other stuff) I always wonder about the story behind them - especially this one. Maybe the girl did not actually like the guy she got the rose from and she dropped it as soon as she got away from him. Maybe the couple got in a fight and the rose was thrown on the ground in anger. Or maybe the guy was rejected and discarded the rose out of resignation. In any case, this rose reminded me of the day after a party or a concert, when the ground is covered with everyone's trash. It's upsetting to think, however, that a rose could be anyone's trash. Even if you get a dozen roses, every single one matters - doesn't it? Someone sure did pay for every single one of them. But far more importantly, someone paid for these roses because they symbolize affection. Why should you discard that? While it is very well possible that someone simply lost this rose and my judgement is too harsh and granted, people lose things all the time (I know I do), that still signalizes carelessness. And whether this rose landed on the ground on purpose or by accident, it still ended up in the same place - on the ground.

LA LA LA

On my way to my German class yesterday, I saw a girl stroll down Pollock. She had her earphones in, the sun in her face and was quietly singing along to whatever song she was listening to. Although surrounded by hundreds of other students, she was in her own world. She was rocking her head to the beat of her music, not the slightest bit embarrassed (and most likely unaware of) that people were pointing and laughing at her.

I envied her. I could never let myself go in a crowd I don’t know but I deeply admire her for being able to do so. I unfortunately could not get a picture of her, as I only briefly passed her and a picture would most likely not have sufficiently conveyed this moment anyway. I realize that this is not like the other things I have blogged about, for which I had visuals, but this blog is about interesting things I find each week, and the image of this girl still sticks with me and is therefore this week’s choice. After I passed her, I thought about all the times I sang while walking and turned a corner and ran into someone, completely embarrassed. So I asked myself…. WHY? Seriously, what does it matter?

My very stylish Arabic friend constantly critiques my white ski coat and suggests wearing my nicer (and much thinner) coat. He also snobbishly commented on the fanny pack (yes, you read correctly – my THON committee got fanny packs) I was sporting yesterday, telling me that it’s simply not fashionable and even if I think it’s funny, I really shouldn’t wear it in public unless I want to be ridiculed. And I can proudly and honestly say that I don’t care. While I am still embarrassed about bumping into people while singing, I will wear whatever I want! We don’t always have to adhere to society’s code of conduct and the singing girl (and my “you-look-like-a-stupid-girl-from-the-nineties” fanny pack) perfectly exemplifies this. 

Awkward Turtle

Last night, I found the weirdest thing next to Beaver Hall. Instead of building forts or snowmen, college kids apparently enjoy making giant penises. I initially thought it was a huge but relatively low fort and considered adding snow to it to make it into some kind of igloo but when I discovered what it actually was, I quickly walked away. 

You're probably thinking "why in the world would you choose to post this in your passion blog? Isn't there anything better around?!". This week, no, not really. While I could have easily used a picture of something I took a few months back, I want to fill this blog with recent findings of mine. The other things I found this week included squirrels racing each other up and down a tree (have fun taking a picture of that with a cell phone camera) and a girl walking around in shorts and a t-shirt. I was going to ask to get a picture of her, but I realized she was coming back from the gym, which makes it a bit more acceptable (however, there is a kid who wears shorts outside whenever I see him... I'm desperately trying to get a picture of him). Long story short, the penis was a must. 

While I realize that a giant snow penis is a bit awkward to write about, I do have a point. Two, actually.

1. There is a group of kindergarteners who daily take a walk through Pollock and therefore walk past that. Daily. So to whoever built this: what if that was your little brother or sister? Would you really want them to have to see this?

2. When did building plain old forts stop being fun? I would have never even had the idea to build something like this. When I encounter snow, I immediately want to get to work on a giant igloo or a snowman. Or just do snow angels until I have snow in the back of my pants. But to each his own. 

All I hope is that next time someone builds something like this, it will be somewhere we won't all have to walk past.