FOOD.

  EXHIBIT A

EXHIBIT B

There are severely average cafeterias that serve primarily thin crust greasy pizza and ice berg lettuce (see exhibit A), and then there are "I can't believe I'm only paying 4 dollars for this" cafeterias that serve salmon with pesto sauce and tossed grilled zuchinis and onions (see exhibit B). Actually, there is only ONE cafeteria that serves these glorious polyunsaturated, fiber rich, 9 essential amino acid fulfilling foods. This haven is Simmons Dining Hall.

And it's in my building.

Here is an example Menu. The blue Ms mean meatless. The green Vs mean Vegan. LOOK HOW MANY THERE ARE!

 

As you can probably tell. I'm a huge fan of Simmons. Its safe because you really cant mess up unless you engulf all the desserts or o.d. on ketchup. Also, what you can't gather from this menu is their extremely extensive salad bar, 6 soup selection, whole grain baguettes and homemade hummus, organic peanut butter and Smart-Balance butter. I repeat: this is no ordinary cafeteria. 

Here are some of my favorite parts of Simmons:

Something cool about Simmons is that they have water tanks that they cut up fruit in and they soak there ALL day. So essentially, your water is naturally flavored. They usually have orange, lemon, lime and either grapefruit or cucumber. My favorites are orange and lemon, but I have to say, the cucumber is surprisingly good


Also. While you can't see the names of the cereals, all of these cereals are low in sugar and are primarily made by Kashi. KASHI! While my father might snicker, this is great in mom and I's eyes. I don't usually eat breakfast in the dining hall (I have my own Kashi cereal in my room), I still hit this up before a big morning exam or if I didn't get a chance to inhale a Fiber-One pop-tart before my early Bio class.

 

This is what my dinner looked like a couple nights ago.

I was a happy camper that night.

Happy eating, all!

Napping

During high school, I would nap on the the occasional rainy Sunday afternoon. All naps were out of pure sleep deprivation. In college, this has changed. I think I nap now out of a need for more brain power. And thus the development of my new power nap skills.

STEPS TO THE PERFECT POWER NAP

1. Set alarm clock for t minus 20 minutes                                     

 2. If mid-day, put on night mask thinger

3. lay down facing away from window, one arm up covering face, enter REM cycle

4. Wake up promptly 20 minutes later and continue studying.

Power naps are very important. Otherwise, ill-timed naps may occur...

Okay. So maybe Billy wasn't actually falling asleep at the football game. But its adorable right?

The alarm-clock step to a power nap is very important as well. Otherwise, something that Urban Dictionary calls "Unprotected sleep" may occur. Emily and I found this on her urban dictionary calendar and it was immediately added to the urban dictionary bulletin board of fame collection.

I also want to say that being a pro-napper is key to being a good college student. I recommend the power nap for all types of studiers.

However, on the weekends my naps turn into more of another night of sleep. For example, while Marc was watching the ND game yesterday, I fell asleep in that really cushy, reclining chair he has in his living room. My nap lasted approximately 2 hours, as did my post-brunch Sunday afternoon nap that I had today.

Also- when you drift off to sleep, I learned in psych class that your eyes start to slowly roll back and forth as you relax. Try not to think about this as you drift off to sleep, it makes it impossible to actually fall asleep because you are mesmerized by how your eyes actually move when you're sleeping. SO WEIRD.

That is all.

Y'all Ready for Some THONvelopes?

Exciting news--I've recently been accepted by the OPP committee of THON!

First of all, I'm essentially bouncing off the walls in anticipation of THON and everything that comes with it. Not only am I committee member, but I'm also an active member of Springfield, an independent organization whose only purpose is to raise money for THON. If you don't know what THON exactly is, or even if you do, check out the link below.

THON 2011 Promo

These are the 10 dancers that were chosen to represent Springfield during THON weekend. It's very competitive to be selected as a dancer. 10 dancers is the maximum amount that an organization can have representing them at once. That's because Springfield is awesome at fund-raising!

There's a joke at Penn State (except it's true), that there are two seasons: football season, and THON season. If there is one thing that Penn State students can put their beers, shots, and keg stands away for it's THON. There is utmost respect for the cause and the kids. Watching the school rally around such a cause that is so close to every one's heart is incredibly inspirational and it attests to the goodness inside every one's heart that we may not get to see every day.

Watching videos like the one above makes me cry out of inspiration and the thought that THON is making each child's day on a daily basis. I know this because Springfield has 3 THON families that we correspond with, and all of the kids say that Springfielders are their heroes and source of strength during their battle with pediatric cancer (in kid language, of course!). 

 The picture above is of some of the committee that I am on helping to remove a platform from the dance floor during THON weekend. People are totally wrong when they think of us as only the clean up crew. Yes, our primary job is to pick up trash and set up/tear down THON, but we are the backbone of THON. We have to clean up trash to make sure that the kids' immune systems don't crash (and thus they would be hospitalized for weeks). But we are always on the floor and always do it for the kids =)

Lastly, THONvelopes are on Springfield's agenda. Look out for a donation packet/brochure in your mailbox soon. If you would like to donate to fight pediatric cancer  please do! If not, it's totally cool, just hold the dancers and the kids in your heart during THON weekend.






FTK,
Emma

Not kidding, my room is 82 degrees right now

So it all of a sudden got to be around 40-50 degrees outside this week and my residence hall turned on the heat...in only my room. Well that's not true, other people got heat too, but their room wouldn't be considered an incubator like mine would. Is it possible that we are using all of the energy that's not being used to to heat other peoples rooms making our room a ridiculously hot room? Probably not.

But anyways, my bed is stuck right up against the wall. Like so:

And the heater is on the wall. So I might as well say that the room comes with a heated mattress during the cold seasons. This would be awesome, except for that I'm afraid of a fire hazard. My wise mother told me not to worry about it and to just move my bed away from the wall a bit, but since the frame of my bed is metal, its temperature is increasing in degrees by the hour.

I tried to go by my RA's room a couple of times but she has this nifty-pointer-thinger that says where she's at (kind of like the one that Mrs.Weasley has in Harry Potter) and so far she has been eating, in class, and working out, and not in her room. So she has been very helpful.


JUST IN: THE HEATER MAKES CLUNKING NOISES AS WELL. 

Great. In other news, the addition of my memory foam pad to my mattress makes it impossible for any of my sheets to stay on. This is what I have resorted to:

I am a true college student.
Study time! Love you!

Studying

If there's one thing my facebook doesn't reflect, its how much I study. Who takes a picture of studying? In a studying picture, no one is smiling, the viewer doesn't actually care what the studier is doing, every one has their ugly thinking face on. Unless you're Emily Mengle I guess....

 She studies in a leopard print snuggie in her memory foam cloud of a bed with a big smile on her face. You can tell she used to be a cheerleader right?

I, on the other hand, ain't lookin so hot.

Emily and I typically get take out for lunch every day so we can keep studying through what would have been our lunch break. By the way, Simmons food is amazing. I get all parts of the food pyramid every single meal without depending on the salad bar. But the salad bar is also awesome, so maybe I'll take a picture of that for you some time.

On average, I think I study approximately 5 hours a day. It doesn't feel like that though, because even your small assignments take about 45 minutes. College is so different than high school. I'm realizing now, and am becoming somewhat angered, that half the stuff I did in high school really didn't matter at all.

It feels so good to say goodbye to worksheets forever.

Side note: I ran 5 miles today! Feeling great. Nighty night.

Rainy Monday

Hi all. I am following in Emma's suit ("strongest suit?"  anyone? anyone?), and creating a
blog so its easy for everyone to follow me as I wrestle with college to the death.

It's monday. I'm really tired. Its rainy and nasty. And this is the view out my window:
Poopy gray skies and freaking hartranft hall. A quick note about hartranft
hall: Hartranft hall BLARESmusic out their window and honestly I have  no tolerance
 for it because mostly its at 3 am when I am sleeping.

Anyways. It is clear, that under these conditions, I will get absolutely no work done today.

I'm not really sure how I'm going to do this blog. I can say,
definitely,posts will probably not be regular. But I'm not sure what kind of information
to give you.Do you want broad post topics, like, say, football games? Or very
specific post topics, like, say, rainy monday  mornings?

Comment and let me know. Love you all!