Duck in Pollock!

 Penn State's wildlife is crazy. In the beginning of the year, I was mesmerized by the millions of squirrels running up and down trees and eating out of trashcans. In fact, I witnessed a squirrel digging an acorn out of the ground today! I dearly missed the bunnies and chipmunks these last couple of months and I can't wait for them to come back, so that I can finally accomplish my goal of catching a rabbit and domesticating it.

But never in my life did I expect to see a duck strolling around in front of my building. I was on my way to get tea and thought that I must surely be dreaming and not quite awake yet. I stopped and stared at it for a bit, chuckling to myself that this must the weirdest animal to be in front of my building. After all, the duck pond is fifteen minutes away from where I live and the duck would have had to cross a major road to get here. But it somehow made it here safely.

It was really amusing to see it fly across the quad and seeing everyone's reaction. We all started laughing and looking at each other; confused as to why a duck would be here. That's what I love about odd events like this. You all momentarily bond over the fascinating thing you are witnessing and strangers, who might have nothing else in common, are suddenly talking to each other. Of course you don't bond enough to become friends and in many cases you will ignore the person you spoke to the next time you see them, but moments like this keep me giggling for quite a while. I suppose that's a big part of why I love random things - the reactions they elicit from me and others. For example, when I saw that squirrel digging up that acorn, there was no one around me. I still enjoyed seeing it and it made me chuckle, but I would have laughed a lot more had a random person been there to stop and stare at it with me and to laugh about it.