A Trip to Happy Valley

For those who know me (and even those who don't), you know I am a die-hard Hokie fan. Nothing will ever change that. I truly believe that it was God's will for my life to go to school at Virginia Tech and I value my education and cherish the friendships that began there. So just to make clear, I still love the Hokies.

But in the last six months or so, I've come to learn that there is in fact more than one awesome school in the U.S. :) as Brian has introduced me to one of his alma maters, Penn State. Honestly, the only thing I knew about PSU before I met Brian is that Joe Paterno is the football coach. I think pretty much everyone in America knows that so I had a lot to learn. But now I have grown to become a Nittany Lion fan (second to the Hokies, of course!). I've been to Penn State twice- once for a football game and once when Brian gave a lecture to a bunch of smart engineering grad students. And during my those trips, I've really come to like it. Really, it's for one reason...

Penn State reminds me a lot of Virginia Tech!! They are both big schools (PSU is bigger). Blacksburg and State College are very similar towns. Both schools have huge football programs (I'd argue the Hokies are better!) with longstanding coaches (Frank has a waaaaaays to go to catch up with Joe Pa.) Both have mascots that people have to ask about. "What is a Hokie?" or "What is a Nittany Lion?" Both have four syllable cheers at football games. "Let's Go! Ho-kies!" or "We are! Penn State!" Both have great engineering and agricultural science programs. And even two of my favorite COMM professors from VT now teach at PSU.

So this week, I was super excited to learn that POTUS was going to visit Penn State! And even more excited when I learned that I got to go! It would have been a lot more fun if Brian had been able to take the day off and come with me but I still had a great trip. First of all, on paper, things didn't look good. Instead of chartering a plane, the networks and press chartered a bus. That left DC a little after 4a. Yeah, that's early. That involves setting an alarm for sometime in the 2AM hour which is just ridiculously early. And it was a four hour bus ride with my colleagues. But in all reality, it wasn't bad at all. Setting the alarm was the most painful part of the process. I ended up sleeping most of the way to the Happy Valley which made me very happy. And when I woke up, I actually recognized how close to campus we were!

POTUS showed up a few hours after we got there (he obviously didn't have to take a four hour bus ride!) and toured some lab with a lot of smart stuff going on about thermal technology and energy efficiency. Those engineers weren't the same kind of engineer that Brian is so I'm a little clueless to what they were talking about. (Actually, even if they had been the same kind of engineer as Brian, I would probably have still been clueless!!)Then he came to Rec Hall to give a speech on energy efficiency. The speech was uneventful except that Joe Pa was there. And the most significant thing was that Rec Hall was one of the buildings where Brian played a lot of intramural basketball during his time in school! It had been part of the Brian-tour when I first visited campus! I don't think that's why POTUS chose to speak there but you never know!!So here was my favorite part of the day: When we got there, I asked the presidential advance person if we were going to get ice cream from the Creamery. He didn't know what I was talking about. You see, this might be the one way that Penn State far exceeds Virginia Tech. PSU is known for the Creamery which is a student-run ice cream (and dairy) store. After football games, people line up for blocks to get some! Anyway, they teach classes on how to make ice cream (and other dairy products)!!! If VT had that, I'm not sure my career path would have been the same!! And it's sooo yummy. When we were there in October, I had the best pumpkin pie ice cream ever!! So I strongly suggested to the WH aides that we needed some in the workspace. And lo and behold, a few minutes later I get the message delivered. "Becky, your delivery will be at 1p." Talk about serious power!!! Well actually, they brought three enormous tubs of ice cream- chocolate, vanilla, and a flavor called "Alumni Swirl" which had blueberries and chocolate chips. I guess real power would have been to have my own personal serving of pumpkin pie ice cream but I guess beggars can't be choosers!! :) But the opportunity to enjoy the Creamery's ice cream once again (even though it was 23 degrees outside) made this trip go down as pretty darn cool!!