Guess we're not in summer camp anymore, Toto

I started off at Penn State with great expectations--not the book, obviously...Why would I go to college with a classic? I had the idea that I'd feel like I was going off to summer camp, and that I could pop up at home to down some coffee and homemade, erm, protein bars. Homework, you say? I left that in high school, along with my title of nerd. Five essay assignments later, and I realize the only "camp" aspect that has stayed the same is bonding over crappy cafeteria food and awkward ice breakers that anyone over the age of 30 has been blindsided to believe will make us best friends forever. But just because my summer isn't filled with horseback rides and awkward campfire stories, doesn't mean it's been a wasted July and August. In both senses, although I can't speak for the girls wearing "frackets" on Friday nights. Who knew there were special jackets to get thrown up on?

I've been caught in a lot of stereotypes this past summer, and I've broken down my own pre-conceived notions of what college really entails. Dealing with the millionth accusation that I go to "the pedophile school that only cares about football" can be draining, but the overall atmosphere of the campus is no longer angry or resentful. We really all just want to come together and find a way to inform people outside of Penn State that we're so much more than a football institution. I don't know about you, but I've never been a fan of a bunch of testosterone machines smashing into each other, and I spent my Saturday afternoons pretending football didn't exist. Upstairs, I'd hear uproars of "WE ARE!" I'd reply, "Trying to sleep!" or "hungry!" or, "aliens from Mars!" But even though throwing balls never interested me, I still feel a tremendous amount of pride for this university. Yes, we've had some bad luck this past year. But the students didn't do anything wrong. Speaking out about Joe Paterno's legacy doesn't make us advocates of child molestation. It makes us proud of someone who contributed so much to what makes Penn State great. And no matter what mistakes certain individuals make, I will always be proud of this school as a whole.

I admit, I came into Summer session with my own generalizations about college life. I assumed studying would be an afterthought on Friday and Saturday nights, and that a bunch of people screaming "I swear to drunk I'm not God!" would be tearing through the dorm hallways. And there are those select few people who must be taking Brave New World literally and acting like they've never seen this fascinating concoction that slows their brain and instantly throws awful pickup lines out of their mouths. But to everyone in college who thinks they're "that guy" who doesn't think having fun involves acting stupid and feeling like shit the next day, there are many of those people. And labels became "so last year" when jeggings stopped being cool. So embrace your "that person"-ness. I've been lucky enough to find several amazing people who unleash their inner party animal at Kiwi or Starbucks, rather than at a frat. We still giggle over stupid stuff, but we can *gasp!* construct coherent sentences the following afternoon. It's an amazing concept.

Don't underestimate the partying one can accomplish with a bowl of cookie dough.

While college hasn't been perfect, it's a refreshing change from a world in which dumb blonds won everyone's attention and the word "I" was banned in English classes. I'll be relieved to have a week to stop scrambling over MLA format, but fall semester no longer feels like the end of the world--only just the end of my indulging in vampire chick lit for a while.