it's nine o clock on a saturday

In late August of 2007, three shot glasses clinked together. The harsh scent of Puerto Rican rum proliferated throughout the air as we threw back our first drink. We had just gone sailing with the Captain for the first time. Earlier that day, two years of anticipation had finally culminated with four Pittsburgh kids making the three hour trip east to State College to embrace our home for the next few years.

When we first stepped into the apartment(after walking all the way across the complex and up three flights of stairs), we relished the fresh scent of nothingness. There was no history for any of us here. All at once, all that had become of our past lives was instantly erased as the four of us were thrown together in a foreign place, left only with memories and lessons from yesteryear and each other to get us through. To me, the first day felt like a vacation. I was still sunburned from a week at the beach and the feelings of relaxation and escape reverberated from Ocean City up to State College.

After the last of the parents left and we had eaten enough free food to feed eight of us, we decided that a celebration was in order. The only problem was that we knew absolutely nobody up here. Thankfully, Dave made a call and was able to locate a high school friend(From here on out i won't use actual names, I'll just refer to the three girls as a, b, and c) and we made plans to hang out at our apartment. The next problem was that nobody knew where anything was. After almost an hour of searching, Dave and I left and were able to pick them up on a street that I would later refer to as "Atherton". Introductions followed. A and B were pittsburgh girls, but C was from Minnesota.

"You're from Minnesota? I need to look at my map when I get home to remember where Minnesota is! What the hell are you doing in Pennsylvania by the way?" I remarked.

"I love Penn State" was all she could muster with a smile that could have made the devil change his ways.

I didn't know it at the time, but that smile would get me into a world of trouble later on in the year. That's a story for another day though.

We finally arrived back at the apartment and Mark, our fourth roommate, had taken off to spend time with his girlfriend Christina. That left six virtual strangers with nothing but PilotWings on N64 to play and a half of bottle of Captain Morgan to give somebody the courage to do something. Finally, after convincing C that she needed to take a shot to loosen up, the six of us clinked together shot glasses and drowned our childhoods and uneasy nerves away. After that, conversation flowed freely. We were so excited we found that we didn't even need to turn on the TV to keep ourselves entertained. There was this amazing sense of new excitement mixed with youthful innocence that encapsulated all of us that night. We stayed up late simply talking about what we were going to do that year until A and B disappeared into Eisel's room for the night. I had passed out on the couch and was awoken by laughter from dave and C as they lied on the floor talking and making the most of the night. I quietly slipped into bed with expectations of great things to come.

And they did. Sort of. The first semester seemed to breeze by as we lived every day away from home like it was our last. Then, in the second semester, after returning home from a trip to Syracuse that can most aptly be described as insanity, things changed. Eisel and Mark had serious girlfriends, Dave and I got consumed in what turned out to be incredibly petty drama, and worst of all was that feeling of exuberance died. Even now, the excitement I feel before going out on a weekend or even getting up in the morning is much more subdued than it once was. In the end though, nothing gold can stay. The exciting can only stay the exciting for so long before it's time to settle into a more peaceful sort of happiness; and as the end of the Penn State experience draws to a sorrowful close for some of my closest friends, I encourage you all to remember. Remember that the faces and places have changed, but the feelings never will.



Until next time,

mh