I just looked out my window and discovered that I have an apple tree not ten feet from my room.

The Reeves Family Apple Tree curse has followed me to Pennsylvania!

Address:

I got my mailbox and my address! Here it is:

Rachel Reeves
PSU Behrend MB# 1540
5091 Station Rd
Erie, PA 16563


And I think I'm coming home this weekend. Almost all of the freshman, the vast majority of them, are going home, so there's not much point spending 3 days in an empty dorm. And then I can pick up all of the stuff I need, like double-sided tape and lots and lots of pasta. The only thing I'm worried about is if it will make it harder to come back to school. Anyways, I can get a ride up with Jen, my next-door neighboor from Pittsford on Friday afternon.

Love you all!

1/2 The School Are Steeler's Fans!

So I am officially a college student. This morning a bought a Stouffer's microwavable chicken pot pie meal for lunch tomorrow, and I have been looking foward to it all day.

I'm not liking orientation. I've met about 30 people today, had about 30 of the very short "What's your name, hometown, major?" conversations, and never seen the person again. I've hugged four strangers, thanks very much to embarassing ice breakers. And I can't make friends with boys because they all just think you're hitting on them. Oh, and the hall that all of the sessions are in is NOT air conditioned. Right now it feels like the idea is to jump into a clique before the door of opportunity slams shut, and I don't really socialize that way.

But there have been good things.

Convocation was good if a little boring; it put everything more into perspective. All of the professors and administraters had to process in gowns in no air conditioning. The chancellor and some students spoke, and then we sang the alma mater and split up into small groups.

My group - communications - is mentored by Prof Mester, the woman we met with last year. Which is a very good thing. I got to spend a couple of hours with the same twenty people, which was nice for a change. And it was a lot easier to get along with everyone when there was a discussion and something in common and an actual reason us to all be in the same room. So I think that once classes start, everything will be a whole lot less awkward and forced.

After dinner I went for a walk, and heard shouting coming through the woods. Organized kind of shouting as opposed to drunken shouting. So I found a trail through the woods (it wasn't dark) and walked for a few minutes, and a soccer field appeared out of nowhere. I watched the game for an hour before I got cold. After that was an actually decent comedian, unlike the one last night who relied almost wholy on sex for his material. Lets just say he knew his audience was 3/4 male.

The upperclassmen moved in today, and that just made the whole campus a lot more comfortable. Today there were three games of catch, two of frisbee, and a steel drum band.

I think I'm going to have breakfast in the dining hall and lunch in my room. I really miss a toaster, and the lunches are pretty much the same as the dinners. I think I can buy bread and deli meat, and I can stock up on soup, and I like breakfast more than lunch anyways. So I think I'll give that a try.

I asked Prof Mester what to get involved with on campus for my PR degree, and she said the communications club. So I will give that a try. I'll also be writing for the paper a little bit for one of my classes, and if I like that I can join the paper, although they don't it too seriously here. There's a club rush next weekend, and I'll spend some time there. I'm very much not the "Hey, party in Porcupine tonight!" kind of friend-maker.

So it's been interesting. I'm still in limbo, and I won't be comfortable until everything settles down. But that's no surprise. Miss you guys, love you!

List of Things To Do

Here's what I need to do in the next 10 days. 9, because I can't count moving day. Actually, 6, because of white-water rafting.

AUGH!

Mom - I need totes/boxes for packing and a first aide kit.

Dad - I need a laptop lock. Thanks for the thumbdrive!

Nate - I need you to dig out all of the books I've lent you that you haven't had time to read.

I need to sort though clothes, pack away winter clothes, launder warm weather clothes and throw out everything that I won't really wear. I need to clean out my desk and get all of my school supplies together. I need to buy enough toiletries to last a couple of months. I need to back up all of the music, pictures and writing on my laptop onto discs, especially my blog. I need to figure out my printer situation and buy ink cartridges. I need sticky tack.

I also need to get a haircut, take Nate to training camp, and have everybody over to the patio sometime next week.

Tonight I am
- sending out thank-you notes (finally, I know)
- filling out some library form Behrend sent me
- getting my ethernet hooked up online
- tracking down and filling out my meningitis form
- finding all of my overdue and almost-due library items
- making a packing list for rafting
- try and track down Lindsay

What am I forgetting?

Oh! We also have to wire money into my E-Lion card. Right.

Welcome

Hi family - Here's to our first posting in our new blog. I am looking forward to finding out what adventures we have waiting for us. I am also glad that I will have this to look back on to help my memory. You guys know how I can forget things. So anything you want to get in writing "for the record" this is a good place to do it.

It's Sunday afternoon, warm and humid. Rachel is shopping for school supplies and a bathrobe. I don't know why she needs one as the footy PJ's I bought her should suffice. The boys are watching Tiger play the final round of the PGA Championship. Golf is a feeble substitute for Football but we have a few weeks till The Season starts, so Tiger it is and then swim, chef's suprise for dinner and Bourne Something at Tinseltown.

The swing on the Patio is calling me, I think it is a great afternoon for a nap.
luvyas - mom