Exploration

Wow.

Loading the truck

This place, this city and this school. Wow.

It's amazing. I don't even know where to begin.

There are pros and cons of course, there are everywhere.

I've been here for two days and have done almost as much in two days than I have in the past two months at home, and I was busy at home.

I've explored up and down the city and up and down buildings on campus. I've walked 9 miles around town today, according to google maps.

I went to Point State Park and back yesterday before a welcome to honors dinner. Catered chicken parm among other things. It was amazing. My first college meal.

My side of the dorm.

The honors program advisors gave typical welcome speeches and then we played ice breaker games. Some were fun, some... not so much. Whatever.

The people on my floor are alright. The neighbors to my right couldn't be nicer. There are a lot of athletes on my floor who don't talk to anyone besides themselves besides the occasional girl who smiles at them.

My ID card wouldn't let me on my floor for the first day. I had to call my neighbors to let me in. They have the privilege of having the corner room closest to the door. The men's restroom is directly across the hall from my room, accessible only by a key - one of two keys I was given. The other key is the key to my room. Three separate ways of getting into three doors within three feet of each other.

My blinds don't work. That's terrible. I'm living in a fish bowl for now. I need to put a work order in apparently to get them fixed. I currently have a blue fleece blanket as a makeshift curtain.

My only complaints from day one. Day two as well, actually. I love it here.

I visited my friend in Lawrence hall and can I just say that I am beyond thankful to be in Thayer. I have air conditioning and a lot more room. Lawrence is hot and tiny. I thought I had it pretty good. The third and fourth floor in Thayer were renovated over the summer and those floors are gorgeous. All carpeted, overhead lighting, a common area and so much awesomeness. The fourth floor is the honors floor, which I declined to be in. I made friends on the fourth floor who invited me to their room to check it out and much wow.

My room set up is nice and has the potential to be a productive place (mostly). My roommate and I both have our own TVs and I have a headphone extension chord to listen to my TV in bed, which I find one of the coolest things ever.

The bike trail along the Mon River

There is a sketchy water fountain outside of my room, which surprisingly, doesn't taste sketchy. The bathrooms, however, look sketchy and ARE sketchy. Two stalls, three sinks and two shower areas. The shower area contains the shower itself and a sitting area to change. Apparently the honors floor doesn't have the sitting area.

My second day (8.21) consisted of 11 miles of walking (updated), community service and a lot of exploration.

The honors program freshman were split up into three groups with their mentors and went to various locations around Pittsburgh. My group stayed downtown and helped pick up trash along side a bike trail for Friends of the Riverfront, a non-profit organization trying to clean up Pittsburgh. I found trash items including car bumpers, a tool box, a 10 gallon bucket, sweatpants and so much more. It was weird. The other half of my group mulched trees.

My trash bags. My amazing trash bags. 

We made the long walk back to campus to go to Market Square for lunch. If they allow me out of my dorm too much, I'm going to be broke. I had Noodles & Company for lunch and then played with birds in PPG Place.

We then walked across the Smithfield St. bridge to go to the Monongahela Incline. The lady that was taking money had the longest nails I've ever seen. They curled for miles and were all different colors.

After we returned and worked on a presentation about what we did we were free to explore, which for me meant running errands. I found a friend with similar errands which included meal plan authorization stickers and fixing ID cards. The ID center is going crazy with everybody moving in and having troubles with getting on the floors.

I then met up with the only other Butler student that graduated with me, Amanda, who had just moved in. She is in Lawrence and let me tell you, I am so incredibly lucky to be in Thayer.

I have yet to eat in the cafeteria. It's nerve racking and I haven't found anybody to eat with yet so I had a Pop tart for dinner with intentions of getting free food at the bookstore opening. A friend came over to my room to talk with me and my roommate and we got side tracked and by time we knew, it was 8:00. We met up with everybody on our floor and our CF (like an RA at every other school) who is amazingly nice by the way)) and walked over to the University Center to listen to a comedian/author who wrote a book on surviving college life. It wasn't bad. Funny, real and honest.

After coming back to the dorm with so much energy, despite running on fumes, I cooked up a bag of popcorn and sat with 8 people from my floor in the lobby. I then met up with Amanda and her roommate and explored around campus.

Today, the third day on campus, was another day of exploration and finding new friends.

After presenting what we did with the honors program the day before I met up with a couple of commuters and walked down to the point. The commuters were awaiting convocation and we had over 5 hours to kill. At the point, there was a duck, ducky tours and people "necking" on the edge of the fountain. That's as PG as I can make it. It was gross. Get a room.

Point State Park is so peaceful and relaxing. It's amazing. We then walked back to campus for lunch and met up with more commuters and went to Market Square (I told you I'd be broke soon if they let me out). I stopped at Subway and only had a 6 inch to save money. I'm cheap like that.

FREE STUFF

More free stuff. I love college. There was free Red Bull being served out of the back of a Red Bull car in MS. There was also free chips and salsa being given away in little bags and cups. So a nice full lunch that was half free.

I was also approached by 7 people on a segway tour of Pittsburgh handing out flyers for the tours. That was actually cool. I talked for a while to another broadcast major who is actually the sports editor of the Globe this year (the PPU Newspaper). I'm now the unofficial assistant sports editor / columnist for the globe. Yay for connections.

Convocation was pretty cool. It was like a backwards graduation. Professors processed with caps and gowns, an alumnus gave a really nice speech and the President introduced himself to us. He's pretty cool as well. He let two people wear his cap and official medallion during the ceremony. He also walked around the students and had some of them introduce themselves.

So many introductions.

I don't know how I'm going to learn all of these names.

Back on track. After the conclusion of the ceremony, we went next door for more FREE food.

"If it's free, it's for me, give me three."

I actually got a picture with the pres with his medallion too. He's such a cool guy. After eating, listening to a live jazz group ( :D ) and talking with various professors and alumni giving cliche advice, I started meeting MORE people with MORE names.

Two guys I met have a lot in common with me. One went to Pine Richland and did a lot with the school video program including coordinating his school lip dub. That was a fun conversation.

Another guy is an acting major, but also majorly into sports, especially basketball. He told me about the intramural team and getting a team together. Of course he already has a team.

I then made the walk to Duquesne (in rush hour) to visit Emily. That was so nice. It was only for an hour, but an amazing hour. Being apart is going to be difficult but even more rewarding when we get to reconnect. I met her roommate, walked around her campus a little bit and just had a nice catching up conversation.

President Hennigan

Walking in rush hour is easier than any other time of day that I've walked. Weird, right? With more people to walk with in the streets, I guess that's what makes it easier.

I'm back at my dorm with my roommate now awaiting some carnival to be held in the student center tonight. I've been up since 7 and haven't stopped since. Yesterday was another 19 hour day and I expect today will be the same. With all of the construction and pipe slamming going on downstairs, it's hard to sleep in.

That's okay though.

I'm still running on fumes but having the time of my life. And it's only day three.

Don't get used to a minute-by-minute update every few days either. It's a lot of work, believe it or not. I just have a little bit of free time now and then (for the time being). This is a fun release though.

I'm going to keep having fun, making new friends and explore everything that the city has to offer. I love it here.

Because, why not?
Josh