Tag Archives: THON

Three Instances of How I Represented PSU

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I’m just gonna dive right into what’s been happening these past two weeks~

I saw my second live professional match of Starcraft last night =D and it was fantastic – even for going alone this time. It was the GomTV studio in the Gangnam district, so there was a much smaller audience than the last venue. I was shown quite a few times on the big screen and on the English and Korean streams, which brings me to my first way of representing Penn State:

Here I am on the stream (with maybe over ten thousand of fans around the world watching) cheering for one of the players (named “MMA”) with my signature as “~PSU” and also being acknowledged by the casters. I knew the Penn State Starcraft club would be watchingㅅ_ㅅ

If I look a bit tired in the photo above~ =/

…it’s because I was hiking for the first half of that day. Next, here’s how I support THON in Korea:

Sorry it’s more of a triangle than the four diamonds =/

This is pretty awesome~ The photo above on the left is a rock formation seen to resemble Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. 0.ㅇ

Thursday afternoon was the exchange fair here, where exchange students got to chat with Korean students looking to study abroad. It was great representing my University, but it was really frustrating having four girls from Ohio State next to me representing their own school, while I was alone >< Here’s my third way of showing my Penn State pride:

It says University of Arkansas, but that’s the one next to me

Here’s something you’ll never see advertised around a Penn State dorm.

This was a party poster in my dormitory (dorm name: Gonzaga).

Alcohol is completely banned in the dorms here, but for one day, the university allowed an exception.

Even some Korean professors came to drink some soju vodka ~~ Hard-workers like to enjoy soju after their work days.

Also, I find the accidental juxtaposition of what’s above that poster kinda funny ^_^

November 18th was the first snow “첫눈” of the season here ; *it*was*beautiful*

Also last week, I went to an underground bar for college bands to play. Mind you that these bands were playing songs that middle school bands play like Wake Me Up When September Ends. It was a total noobfest, but I enjoyed myself.

What I found interesting was that each of the bands had at least two girls as musicians. I have two reasons behind this trend: 1. Female sex appeal is better ; 2. Parents here force their kids to learn to play an instrument (guitar, piano, traditional Korean instruments).

My three favorite things to do in Seoul:

3. Baseball games

2. Starcraft pro-matches

1. Jazz clubs

Vietnamese and Indonesian food that I’ve had earlier this semester:

Two weeks ago, I bought a Girls Generation (Korea’s most popular KPOP group) concert ticket online for only about $100 (make fun of me all you want~ xP) – tickets sold out within seconds. This is a huge deal for me because – as crazy as this sounds – I thank two sources for how I fell in love with Korea’s culture a year and a half ago: Starcraft and Girls Generation.

The show is the night before I return to the States, so this is my going-away present, to me / from me =D

Let’s talk about KPOP boy groups — you know, like Backstreet Boys, but Korean and post-90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8

SHINee is the same label as Girls Generation, so that means they’re all about idols and focus less on quality of music. Boy groups – especially SHINee – dance better than the girl groups. If you learn about East Asia, you may have heard about the very feminine boys, maybe called 꽃미남 or “flower boys.” The guy in the video with long hair is one of them.

I’m only gonna talk about KPOP boys once – because I don’t like boy groups :3 – so here’s another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ULhmadHkg

G-Dragon is the most popular member of the most popular boy group 빅뱅 Big Bang. They’re from a much more respected label that makes popular groups that often end up being anti-KPOP in that they don’t make their members cute.

When I first saw this music video, I thought it was going to be another “Gangnam Style” only not as popular ; KPOP usually isn’t this funny :3

Alright one more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfUlE2LlGro

Boy groups are completely different from girl groups socially since there is no pressure on the male population to look like their idols, unlike the girl groups.

One more month from yesterday until I fly back. I can honestly say that this semester is going at about the pace as I predicted.

This blog has been brought to you by the letter 남 “Nam”

and

남양 몸이가벼워지는 시간 17차 Tea bags

Location: Sogang campus

First THON abroad, Clerkenwell Vintage Fashion Fair, Design Marketplace @Forest Hill FW, No hot water for 14 hours, Harry Potter Studio Tour & London Fashion Weekend

I hope it’s not too late but congratulations on $12+ million raised for THON 2013 FTK!!!! I knew Penn State would top last year’s total. But surpassing it for nearly $2 million? That was beyond my expectation. I am incredibly proud of every single individual who has dedicated their time, energy and resources to this great cause.

Shout out to everyone who has donated even a penny, stood on street corners for hours with cans, bought one shirt or raffle ticket, ran booths, doing the PR work, danced for 46 hours, supported the dancers in every way possible, delivered live news coverage (yay for College of Communications), and/or wished us good luck.

I wasn’t able to be there in person but I was thinking of THON at all times over the last weekend, asleep or awake. It has inspired me to be more involved next time. The #1 item on my senior year bucket list is to be in BJC for the THON finale. I have only been able to watch the last 3 finales on my computer but I definitely want to see it in person.

This past week has been a very eventful one, considering how much of a homebody I am.

On Sunday during the THON weekend, fellow Penn Stater and fashionista, Fuli, invited me to go to Clerkenwell for apparently the biggest, most extravagant vintage fashion fair. The overall quality was nice, but a lot of the items were way over my budget. It was quite a journey from Central London but it was fun to look at things and hear stories about the pieces from the sellers. The Clerkenwell fair is a monthly event and the admission is 2 pounds with a valid student id.

On Tuesday, I went to visit Fuli, who was helping with running a booth at the Design Marketplace fashion fair and a Forest Hill Fashion Week catwalk show nearby. Unlike the name suggests, it was a very cozy, at-home-y experience. Forest Hill seems to be an area where up-and-coming fashion and interior designers and artists establish their ateliers/studios/workshops/shops. It is a quirky area to explore but unfortunately I may not be frequenting here because of the lack of options for transportation.

Then later that night the heating system in my dorm building broke down–again. It was my second time not having hot water for more than 10 hours. I had no other choice but postpone a shower until next morning, thinking hot water would come back soon since it is quite usual that the water does not heat up when it’s past certain times at night.

Wrong. By the time I woke up in the morning, the whole room was cold. I waited for hours upon hours until noon for hot water to no avail. I decided to use a random gym’s shower. I couldn’t wait any longer because later on that day, I was supposed to be meeting up with a recent Penn State and Belly Dance Club alum, Katie, for a trip to Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio. When I rang a nearby gym on Baker Street, the representative said I would have to pay 20 pounds for a one-time access to the facility. I grabbed a 20-pound bank note, toiletries and change of clothing and rushed to the nearest shower. But when I got there and explained my situation, they let me in for free. I don’t know when exactly it was fixed.

The heating incident aside, Wednesday couldn’t be more magical! Katie and I decided to meet each other at Euston railway station but neither of us could text each other because of the bad signal. But we were able to find each other in the crowded station and got to the studio with no hassle at all. It was wonderful catching up on what happened recently after the last time we saw each other. She seems to be having a somewhat relaxing time after her graduation in December, traveling around in Europe and visiting old friends in State College.

The studio tour took us through the actual sets and props used during the filming of all 8 movies and live reenactment of iconic scenes (dueling with a Death Eater, anyone?). The tickets are on the pricey side, but I would recommend this to anyone who considers themselves to be hardcore Harry Potter fans. If you have read all of the books, seen all the movies and liked them, it is worth a visit. This is the place to be if you can name most of the members of the Order of Phoenix, the main Death Eaters, and/or Dumbledore’s Army, can recite more than 5 spells, know more than 5 magical creatures besides wizards and witches and have a particular House to pledge your allegiance to. Try to have a taste of butter beer while you’re there too (someone told me after I came back about this)! There are so many photo opportunities so don’t forget to bring your fully-charged-and-ready-to-shoot cameras!

I think I had never spent more money in one day before London Fashion Weekend rolled around. It was the fanciest, blingy-est and most glamorous event I have attended besides the LOFT x Marie Claire College Front Row Challenge catwalk show in Fall 2011. The spring/summer catwalk was full of striking color combinations (splashes of neon against neutral backdrops) but at the same time versatile and wearable. The shirts, dresses, jackets and jumpsuits were all breezy, effortless and not over-the-top costume-y.

Before the catwalk show started, Fuli, her friend Mariya and I explored the shopping stalls. Many of the items on display were very costly, with three-digit numbers in GBP being the norm, but there were occasional grab-any-for-�5 jewelry deals. The price range for the scarves was bearable. I dished out what is about a little over $100 (oops) on the goodie bag, a shiny new Kate Sheridan backpack, a few baked goodies and dinner at a posh Turkish restaurant nearby. Uh oh. I hope having lived as frugally as humanly possible my entire college life up until this semester will justify this. I really do. From now on I will try to live as cheaply as possible until Easter/spring break because I will need money for traveling.

Thank you for reading! I hope you’ll have a nice day 🙂

P.S. I will try to post pictures as soon as possible!

Location: London, UK

Week One – THON and Orientation

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I have officially been in Australia for one week. Last Monday, I touched down in Syndey at 6:30am and headed straight to Wollongong. I had twenty minutes to drop my bags off in my room and change my clothes before I joined up with my CIEE group for our orientation. Before I get into Wollongong details, let’s backtrack a few days back to the greatest weekend of the year… THON Weekend.

On February 14, I began my journey to Australia with a 5 day pit stop in Happy Valley. Since THON has been such a huge part of my life at Penn State since freshman year and missing it just seemed wrong, no matter how much I wanted to study abroad. Thankfully, everything worked out and at 1pm on Friday February 17, I was lined up outside the BJC with my sorority Omega Phi Alpha and our fraternity pair Alpha Gamma Rho as we waited to enter the BJC. From the time the BJC doors opened at 4pm until 9am Saturday morning, I was in the stands dancing with my friends. Saying my goodbyes Saturday morning was rough, especially while exhausted and with tired feet. At 11am, I was at the State College airport, ready to begin my first of three flights that would bring me to Australia.

I’ll never forget how I found out the THON 2012 total. I was picked up at the Sydney airport by a shuttle service that would take me to Wollongong. At 7:55 am Australia time, my mom called me and I listened as the THON organization totals were listed off on the live feed she had playing on her computer. When the total of 10,686,924.83 MILLION DOLLARS was announced, I had to ask my mom to repeat it multiple times… I was in shock. No matter what happened this year, Penn Staters came together and show that we are a family and we will find a cure.

I arrived in Australia Monday February 21. My first day here, I joined the 12 other CIEE Wollongong students and our program advisors as we drove around the city and university campus. Later in the day, we went to the Crowne Street Mall to get cell phones and other necessities. Australia is EXPENSIVE. Toiletries are a few dollars more than they would be in the States, not to mention that things in AUD are already more than USD. Along the lines of things that cost too much, Internet access is $30 a month… and you have a quota. I miss Penn State’s wifi.

Tuesday was the uni’s international student orientation. Wednesday and Thursday were free days that I used as beach days and getting settled days. The beach here is beautiful with a picturesque lighthouse looking over it. It’s a 25-minute walk from my dorm, Weerona College, but Wollongong is an easy to navigate place and it’s an easy stroll.

Over the weekend, we had our CIEE orientation trip to Merry Beach, 4 hours south of Wollongong. On the way, we stopped at 7 Mile Beach near Kiama for surfing lessons. Turns out that even though I’m a native Floridian, I can’t surf. After standing up once and ingesting gallons of salt water, I called it a day and “sun baked” on the beach while everyone else looked like they had sponsorships from Hurley.

At Merry Beach, we stayed in a vacation home overlooking the beach. Not bad for a bunch of college students. We were enamored by the wild kangaroos, which the residents consider pests, just like as we would consider armadillos or raccoons. I’d estimate I have over 200 kangaroo photos on my camera from a two-day span. On Saturday, we hiked Mt. Gulaga with an aboriginal guide. At the top of the mountain (an excruciating 2 hour hike up) our guide explained to us the creation story of the aboriginal Australians and lead us through symbolic boulders. To hear how this area which most hikers overlook is actually her sacred ground was eye opening. As interesting as it was, getting back to the bottom of the mountain and downing a $4 Powerade was so refreshing.

Today starts the first day of classes but fortunately for me, I only have class Tuesday – Thursday. I am nervous to see how the classes are administered here. Everyone says that the US equivalent of a C is a great grade… wow. I’m only taking 3 classes, yet it transfers back as 14 credits. Each class has a lecture and tutorial (discussion) component that both meet once a week. I’m excited to start classes after my two month long winter break, I definitely started to think I was never going back to school. Thankfully, with classes just starting, the beach is still a daily ritual and tomorrow I’ll remember to use more sunscreen. My red sunburn doesn’t go well with my complexion.

Location: Wollongong, Australia

THON WEEKEND

As I write this entry, THON weekend 2012 is starting back at my second home, PSU. I send my love and thoughts to the families, committees, and dancers! Stay strong and THON on FTK, everyone. Wish I could be there.

PSU, I know you have given the Four Diamond families so much throughout the year, and this weekend is the culmination of all of that. Congrats!

Visit THON.org to see what all the fuss is about.

Special shout out to all of my friends who are dancing, especially my fellow Croquet enthusiasts, John Bauer and Robbie Mitchell!

Location: Kenya, Africa

February

Hei Alle!

So I’ve realized that it’s been exactly a month since my last true blog update. Whoops. It’s not that I don’t want to blog I just really don’t have the time. As a student teacher I’m pretty much working full time and that means that I don’t have that much free time. It’s pretty much eat, sleep, teach, plan, repeat. I’m sure all of my other fellow student teachers could agree.

Since I haven’t written in such a long time I’m going to try and give the highlights in chronological order. Every social studies teacher loves a good timeline. So here we go:

On Saturday the 5th of February Megan, her roommate Nina, and I went to Sweden. There is a free bus that leaves from downtown Trondheim and goes just across the border to a store in Sweden. Goods like groceries are supposed to be cheaper in Sweden so Norwegians flock to this one store (Coop) to stock up. Meat is significantly cheaper in Sweden so this bus is known around town as the “Meat Bus”. Awesome. The clientele for the “Meat Bus” is rather…eclectic. International students, older people, immigrants…everyone who wants a good bargain. The trip lasts about 5 hours…2 hours each way and 1 hour in the store. Since the time limit is so short people get quite aggressive. It’s kind of like being on a real-life version of Supermarket Sweep, which is surprisingly less fun that it seems to be on TV. Especially when you have old ladies elbowing you for the best cut of sirloin. I didn’t think the prices were that great and I can’t say I’d go back but at least I can say I’ve been to Sweden. Check.

Pretty much all I saw of Sweden. The store was behind me when I was taking this picture.

The following weekend (11-13 February) Megan and I finally ventured out into the social world! Friday was the busiest social day I’ve had yet. My mentor teacher, Ove, invited all of the teachers at Charlottenlund (including Megan and I) for a drink at Den Gode Nabo. Megan and I were initially unsure whether or not it was appropriate for us to go out with our teachers but we decided that it is a part of the culture here…and we didn’t want to be rude. It ended up being quite fun getting to know some of the staff outside of school. Later that evening Megan and I finally made it to the Studentersamfundet (Student Society House)! We went with our friend Espen and some of his friends, who are so sweet and friendly. At the Samfundet (as its called locally) you pay about 40 NOK at the door (about 8 USD) and then 5 NOK to check your coat. There are at least 8 bars and a concert hall in this place. It is HUGE. Once you have paid cover you can go into any of the bars or clubs. The drink prices are cheaper than in bars downtown but are by no means State College prices. It is incredibly confusing in the Samfundet but also lots of fun. The only problem is that the last bus back up to Steinan (where I live) is a little before midnight. I was definitely not ready to go when we had to catch the bus but I really didn’t feel like venturing home by myself in the dark. You can check out more about the Samfundet here: http://www.samfundet.no/

The following Monday was Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is not celebrated in Norway, but since I was teaching English that day I decided to make my students little valentines. When I handed it to them they looked at me like I was crazy. I personally love Valentine’s Day so I was a bit disappointed when my students were not very receptive but oh well. On the 16th of February our supervisor at NTNU, Randi, took us to a town called R�ros to go to the winter fair. It was a really awesome day that truly deserves its own blog entry. That weekend (18-20 February) was extremely busy. My older sister Tori came to visit. She is a physical education teacher in Alexandria, VA and she came over to Norway on her days off for President’s Day. She arrived on Friday morning so I took her to school with me! My students were quite excited to see another American. She sat in on my social studies elective class (samfunnsfag fordyping) and then I gave her a tour of the school. We spent the rest of the weekend walking around town. It was good to see her and really give her a tour. When my parents came to visit I had only been here about 2 weeks so I couldn’t really play tour guide. By now I know much more about the city. Tori and I were lucky enough to have beautiful (if cold) weather on Friday and Saturday so we spent most of the days walking around town. The beauty of this city and the surrounding area really never gets old. I still find myself stopping and taking pictures.

On Sunday nothing was open, as usual. Since museums are pretty much the only option Tori and I decided to go to Rockheim, a music museum. It was actually really cool! The first part was mostly about Norwegian musicians and music, so that was a bit over my head, but they had lots of great artifacts and activities. In one room you can learn how to play the electric guitar from one of the most famous guitarists in Norway (I can’t remember his name!). You can also mix your own song using music samples and a computer system. It was really hands on and a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend it…it’s a great Sunday afternoon activity. You can find out more information about Rockheim here: http://www.rockheim.no/

The weekend my sister visited was also THON weekend back at State. I can honestly say that the only time I’ve been homesick since I’ve been here was THON weekend. As a senior it was really sad to miss my last THON. I knew a lot of people who were either dancers, captains, or committee members. I tried to send dancer mail from Norway but unfortunately it did not get there in time. I watched the live feed as much as I could but it really wasn’t the same. I’m so proud of all those who danced or were involved in THON 2011. The total is absolutely astounding and actually made me tear up when I saw it. I rocked my THON shirt over here and I am so proud to be representing such a fantastic school, student body, and cause while abroad.

The week following my sister’s visit was my winter holiday. For some reason the schools in Trondheim had off from 21-27 February. I took that time to travel with one of my best friends from college, Ally, who is doing the same program I am but in Utrecht, the Netherlands. We went to warm, sunny, and beautiful Barcelona, Spain. Like my other trip, this deserves it’s own entry.

Naturally I’ve skipped a lot of stuff. I am in school and teaching every day. It has been a blast and I am learning a lot. Perhaps school stuff will get its own entry as well…

The Skiing World Championship is currently taking place in Oslo and to say people are obsessed is an understatement. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen such fanaticism. Or such looks of scorn when I tell them that I haven’t been watching or following the events. I don’t have a TV and I obviously don’t ski (see my last entry for proof) so it’s a bit hard for me to keep up. I don’t like watching skiing as much as I like watching other people watch skiing. Way more fun. : )

I’ll do my best to get better with blogging more frequently, especially since I have less than an month left here in Trondheim. My program is significantly shorter than most others because I have to go back to State College in May and graduate. The term “time flies when you’re having fun” has never been more true.

Catch ya later, virtual world!

Location: Edgar B Schieldropsvei 42-18 7033 Trondheim Norway

GO THON! BEAT CANCER!

Although I am the whole way across the world, I am still cheering for THON from Sweden! All weekend long, my fellow Penn State friends and I watched the live webcast of THON, and emotionally celebrated the final result together in Sweden. I even kept tweeting about it, saying the Sweden was FTK!

It is truly amazing to me to see how this student body is so capable of being so selfless, spending an entire weekend to make the lives of children better by giving them hope. We shared the information of THON with many of the international and Swedish students here in Jonkoping, and the response we got almost every single time was: unbelievable.

The Swedish students and I discussed how incredible this weekend is – how the entire weekend is organized and carried out by students, and how the children look forward to this more than Christmas morning! They Swedes claimed that nothing like this would ever happen in Sweden, and the ones coming back to PSU are already anxious to be involved. They had a hard time grasping the idea of THON, but after countless youtube videos and stories, they finally realized how epic and meaningful this weekend truly is.

$9,563,016.09. It truly is unbelievable. We surpassed all expectations for this year, and as my mom said to me after the total was revealed: you know what this means… 10 mil next year. FTK <3

I’ve never been so proud to be a Penn Stater, and I’ve never missed PSU so much in my whole abroad experience.

Location: jonkoping, Sweden

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