The Old Forge accent.

THE OLD FORGE ACCENT

"You're from New York, right?"

Uh....New York?

As I've mentioned in my other Old Forge based blogs I've lived in Old Forge for my entire life in the old Allegrucci house. An Allegrucci has lived within these walls since Italian was the main language spoken around town.

When I was a little girl my grandma Allegrucci, who lived in the second half of the double, would have my older cousins, aunts, and uncles stop by for tea and a chat about the old times. Of course, with my grandma being extremely stubborn she stopped having these little get-togethers in fear of not being able to hear who she was talking to, or having to put on makeup and if you can't understand politics you should at least look good while pretending to listen. But before that the visits were a weekly treat.

My grandma was my favorite source of comedic release in this boring old town so every morning I would check to see if my great aunt's car was outside or if my uncle Sonny was parked in the front lawn again by accident. To see my grandma talk about things like taxes and politics was always fun. Sometimes her face would match the red color of her hair after a few hours.

I'll never forget seeing the old antique cars of my uncle Sonny parked out front ( a different one every time ).

I'd be so excited to go next door and see him that I would run over without my shoes on.

The screen door would open but I was too short to be seen through the window so it would always give my gram a good scare.

"Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She'd say.

"No."

"Look at this child. No shoes, messy hair, is that a sauce stain on your face?" She'd lick her fingers and wipe away the red stain on my cheek.

"Hey you. Tirarsela*. Look at you! What are yah, some kinda animal?" My uncle Sonny would say.

"No."

"Is that all you say?"

"No."

"She's a different one, Glor. A real pistol." I remember him laughing with his gut and then saying something in Italian. The two of them, my grandmother and my uncle Sonny, didn't speak Italian like their parents before them, but instead knew only the words their parents would say to them. That means they only knew the curse words, and demands like "take out the trash."  and "where's your brother?"

From the old Italian relatives I'd notice something a bit difference about their speech. Their vowels were harsher than people from other places. Even harsher from those in the nearest city of Scranton which was recently marked second place in the Gawker poll of America's Ugliest Accent.

http://gawker.com/americas-ugliest-accent-has-come-down-to-pittsburgh-vs-1646594002

Dog - DAHG

Water - WAH-DER

Come on - Come AHN

There - DAER

Three - TREE

H - HAYCH

Bottle it up - bott'l et up.

Here's a good one. It's more of a dialect - 

Don't yell at me. - "Don't be hollerin' at me."

God, if someone with this accent ever gets into an argument with you I would just pack up my bags and get out of town. Every time that harsh "A" comes through it's like a punch in the face. Very stern and very demanding just like the people who used to live here.

Here's the weird thing about it. Only some Old Forgers have it.

It's a deep and thick accent. Either you have it full blown or not at all.

I could say out of the 74 people who graduated with the OFSD class of 2014 only about four people had this accent.

Now in Bloomsburg, there are four Old Forgers who attend the University here.

I speak to three of the four, one being my boyfriend. Each have been born and raised in Old Forge just like me and yet the only hint of the accent I hear is in my boyfriends speech. It only comes through every once and while but when it does I notice it immediately. 

If you'd like to know where your accent most likely derived from you can take the quiz below and once you're finished a heat map will appear showing you the most relocatable locations with your accent.
CLICK:  How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk Quiz
*opens in a new window

Tell me about your experiences with the Old Forge or Scranton accent.

Has anyone commented on it?
What are some words you say a differently than others who don't have this accent???

 **Tirarsela - 

To put on airs, or to show off/boast/act superior, can be translated to darsi delle arie in Italian. Literally, to give oneself airs. That is the nice way to say it, or the proper way, but there are also more colloquial (less elegant) ways to say that a person is acting superior.

Surviving Finals Week

Everyone has been receiving their "Finals Survival Kit" care boxes this week because, as I'm sure you've guessed already, finals week has smashed its way into my happy sunshine land.

I don't care about the candy you get in those things. I don't need that to survive! I want someone to send me my blankie and a little old lady who will make me those little pillows that say "Keep Calm and Study On". #Whereareyougramma?

Tis the season for no sleep, hair loss, and weird cravings for fried chicken. That last one might just be me.... Mmmm chicken.

The lounges are full of students with their faces plastered to their laptop screens, the library looked like some sort of World War Z scene where all of the zombies are stressed out university students, and the coffee shops around town are sending in troops for backup.

This is what us college students do. We get on this extremely expensive roller coaster, make sure it has everything we need and possibly change seats if we feel other wise, go up and down and up and down on the ride and then - BOOM - Holy shit, mega loop in the track. Here's where it gets good. You just ate a double beef burrito from Two Minute Taco and More up the road. Buckle up junior because this loop is coming and coming fast.

Little Becky sitting next to you is prepared for this but you, oh no, not you. You had no idea the loop was going to be this big and now you're in front of it and that burrito is making it's decision to see the sunlight again.

So now what? You can't just throw up all of that burrito, it was expensive after all. Looks like you're going to have to find a way to keep it in. Gotta suck it up, there's no going back now after all. 

And as that loop approaches we are all holding on for dear life. Except for Becky. She always has her shit together which is good for her. Dammit Becky.

Oh, did you click on this link to find a way to survive finals? Whoops. Keep looking, I'm a terrible person to ask. 

I suppose we should all do the thing that we haven't done since high school SAT's. Study Study Study.

Bloomsburg University: All Hallows' Eve!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Although I can't say that I'm happy while picking off the sticky, dried eyelash glue from my eyelids I could say that yesterday was a blast!
So many people were dressed up and willing to get their pictures taken, which for me was a plus because I love dressing up AND taking pictures! *audience applauds

Whether you dressed up as a little white bunny, a dead bride, or even a giant pair of boobs (which is very popular in the college atmosphere) Halloween in Bloomsburg was AWESOME!

Here is Ryu from street fighter and a random Ralph in the background.

I couldn't take any more pictures of him for fear of his muscles exploding from sheer awesomeness.

Some first week friends from Elwell being gorgeous!

In front of the Commons looking sweet

Our little white bunny and Mario. Mario kept trying to level up so it was very difficult to get a non-blurry picture of him. I have five photos of a red and blue blur in mid air though so that's something? Modern art some could say.

BAA DUHH DUHHH. BAA DUHH DUHHHH!!

The gloves stay on for pictures

But come off for duels!

I don't know if he wants to arrest me or whip me.

Saw these ladies hanging from the tree and taking goofy pictures and just had to get in and get a shot! So cool!

STAY TUNED FOR A HALLOWEEN TREAT!!!

OFFLINE BUILDING AND EDITING FOR THE NEXT POST!!

~IF YOU'RE WAITING FOR YOUR HALLOWEEN PICTURE TO BE POSTED COME BACK AGAIN LATER♥~

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

-Amber

Welcome to Bloomsburg University

"Whenever you're in a pickle, follow the golden nipple."

-Frat boy giving me advice on how to get home after a party.

First off, when people say Bloom U is a party college they aren't talking about the "Oh, let's have a beer and talk about our ex's." sort of party college but more of a "Let's put these assless chaps on Billy and have him run around the basement in the Elwell dorm with a live turkey in his hand."

I've been sober for my entire stay here at Bloomsburg so far and I still can't remember how long I've been here and how to spell my last name. Okay that last part is sort of a lie. It's like a terrible episode of the Twilight Zone where I can mark down the hours I've been here and count them as seconds.

This is my, "I'm not high, I'm just a little bit strange" look. Gucci put a bid on it so don't steal my vision or I'll sue .

It's a wonderful place full of diversity, events, and events for those who are diverse. Foam parties, open mic night, pep rallies, and lots and lots of Monday night football.

But beneath all of the excitement and constant parties of Bloom U there is this little voice in the back of my head that says, "remember why you're here", and I gently ask back, "free pizza Friday?", and it slaps me in the face with big word documents that have to be written out in a day.

(THROWING THIS IN HERE FOR THE OLD FORGERS ONLY. IF YOU'RE NOT FROM OFSD THEN LEAVE.... OR STAY... I'M JUST A BLOGGER)

If I hear one more person complaining about there being no air conditioning in the high school I'm going to personally rent a bike from the BU office, ride back to Old Forge, buy a giant tray of Revello's pizza, and shove it down someones throat. I know that sounds awesome but trust me it's not. Okay, it is, but that's not the point.

People here have to sleep in unairconditioned rooms with two other people and the smell of farts and sweat wafting through the halls. You worry about the food? College is the same.  Same food every day and you LIVE here so either you're getting a job to order out every night and gain 20 pounds or you're shutting up and eating pizza and salad with curly fries for your entire freshman year.

----

Back to the blog.

I've realized more than anything that I love college not for being a part of the craziness but being around the craziness. Don't get me wrong, if someone barged in my room right now and told me to put on a horse mask, slap him, and call him Sally, I'd do it without question. (You guys better be laughing because when I try to make jokes like this with my new friends they think I'm some really weird kinky person with horse mask fetishes.)

As a writer I'm enjoying all of the characters I meet and all of the stories that come along with them. I've laughed with my professors, sang with my neighbors, danced with the hip-hoppers in the gym, and fell up the stairs so many times that I feel like I've been missing out on life before coming here.

This place is great for small town folks. The campus is big enough to not have any friends in a class but small enough to bump into someone on the walk back to the dorm.

It's also very very clean. Thank the lord for that one because with the amount of vomit these girls hold in them I'm surprised there aren't janitorial carts on every floor 24/7.
My side of the room isn't always as nice as my roommate's is though. I'm a very scattered person and she's a very organized person so it's pretty interesting looking at our dorm room.
COURTNEY, I'M SO SORRY! YOU MUST TRAIN ME !!!

Courtney's set up

And uh....my...uh.   Yeah.

Mom, I know you read these. Don't worry I clean it everyday. This just gets this way throughout the day, okay! I'M A CLEAN WOMAN, MOM! DON'T CALL ME AND YELL AT ME !

Oh! The custodians, who keep Bloomsburg University clean, are amazing and if you ever see one you better stop and chat because they're the best people to talk to when breaking up a long day. Very down the Earth, very hard working, and very lovable.

The people here are just genuinely nice. Don't get me wrong!!! There are assholes! It's just they're easier to steer clear from opposed to high school where if you weren't labeled a certain way people would exert you from a social group.

I know certain people who built up their entire high school social status only to throw it away to impress other people. Now they're in college and have to start all over. This is why it's so important to listen to people when they say BE YOU.

 Because if you're in college now and only post pictures of the good times you had in high school that means you're living in the past. You never had the time to be you because you were always with the same people doing the same things. Get out of that dorm and join a club or met someone who is different than you. It's always interesting that way.

Whiteboard war with my Ramen loving friend, Darrell.

I have met so many amazing people here that it's mind blowing. Where have they all been while I was trapped away in that tiny town!? I could just sit and laugh at all of the crazy things that have been happening. I couldn't be happier. The only times I've ever had an emotional hiccup were the times when I thought of the bad things that went on in Old Forge. High school in particular. UGH. UGHHHH. High school. UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH.

The studying is really kicking my butt though! Here's a book, there's a book. A book there and a book here. Oh look at this I better read it. I love me some articles on the culture of the Nacierma. Yaaaaay.

I wonder how things are back home. I can't say I miss it but I do miss some of the teachers who actually made is possible to stay in school. With certain people in mind I'm itching to get a day to stop by and have a conversation with all of my teachers. I miss them more than anything!!! Now that I'm in college and away from high school I couldn't imagine anyone studying for four years and going BACK. AHHHH!!!

Until next time my readers,
Amber

Why I'm a proud Old Forger.

It's true that I've been called geeky names and made fun of for my preteen pimples. I've had my share of 10 minutes on the fence at recess and was left out of a lot of field trip pictures because I have a shy bladder in the travel buses and most people take pictures outside of the bus at arrival. (I was most likely sprinting to a bathroom).

However, Old Forge was my start. I was born in Scranton, like most people in Old Forge, and raised in Old Forge. Four generations of the Allegrucci family were from Old Forge, my first friends were from Old Forge, my first real crush was from Old Forge, my last crush was from Old Forge, my first night on the town was in Old Forge, and my life was molded and taped up in this little pizza town.

Everyone from this town has imperfections and because of that it makes us terribly unique. The weird thing...we all love each other for it.
Our school had such a small graduating class that even our cliques were confused as to where they belong. Don't most people in high school have somewhere they fit in? Drama kids, jocks, sexual active band geeks, art freaks, goths? Nope not here.

We all love and hate each other equally. Of course there are groups but unlike other high school those groups never stay in place. Five people will leave and go to a different group, eight people will form a new group, and some people are just wandering around in the fourth quarter still trying to figure out their locker combination after a long weekend.

But in a weird way because we don't belong anywhere it makes us belong. As our 2014 graduating president said, "Old Forge is the island of misfit toys."
It's the truth. We are all here so busy laughing, crying, loving, and hating that we don't even realize that time is passing until our name is called on stage to receive our diploma and even then we're still confused as to where we're supposed to pose for pictures or if dad will disapprove the planned hip thrust/middle finger picture while walking out.

In college you don't have school bells, planned lunch, eye check-ups, and hall passes. You can walk out of class and never come back and the professor wouldn't even bat an eye. Back home in Old Forge we can talk to our friends in between the bells, giggle about true loves and break-ups at lunch, and laugh about that one time the substitute teacher sat on the two-legged desk and fell flat on his rear end. FAMILY. We were family, and we are family.

Our system was so unsystematic that it crashed and became a new system. Our loves were so strong that they buried and sunk to the bottom of our hearts unable to ever escape. Our late nights along the railroads tracks and cruising through the streets of the neighboring town just to waste the night away gave us our youth. Our friends were our family and our family was our pride.

There was never a sneeze or laugh unheard and never a story or tale that wasn't exaggerated. Everyone was moving so fast and everyone was smiling to brightly. There was always help when asked. Who could forget the teachers who would do anything and everything to make a students day brighter?

No one could ever say they didn't know you were friends or lovers with someone because one conversation and one kiss would be heard throughout the entire school. In an ironic way this would either make us closer with someone in one way or any other.

The tradition in Old Forge is strong. Seniors at the front of the student section and freshman at the back. The bowling ball will be rolling down that hallway until the OFHS is no more. The football players will always huddle together at the prep alleys and howl their battle cries to echoe through the downstairs hall ways. Someone will always be stealing a teacher's chair and rolling it down the hallway with the help of a friend and someone will always be sitting in the principals extremely small office waiting to get busted for more than three tardies or throwing a doughnut in the toilet and clogging it beyond repair.

People come and go in Old Forge but no matter who you are or what you do you will always have your footprint engraved on our soil and because of that we are all Old Forge bound. Don't fight it! Welcome to the family, there is always an open seat.

For the 90 and early 2000 kids. (WARNING SOME DIRTY THINGS ARE AHEAD)

Throwing it back to the classics!

I don't care if you were born in 1990 or 2004 music is music. We were thrown into a generation that jumped through the T.V. screen with MTV, booty shaking, and "shave-my-head" celebrities.

God bless my grandma who thought Eminem's music video for A$$ Like That was some weird puppet porn. I got plenty of ruler-stick smacks for watching MTV back then.

Here is my chance to drop out some of my favorite 90's and early 2000's songs from my Spotify playlist. Enjoy,

***

Eminem - A$$ Like That.

(C) 2005

***

D4L - Laffy Taffy

(C) 2006

***

Shaggy - Boombastic

(C) 1995

***

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

(C) 1997

***

Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch

(C) 1999

***

Weezer - Beverly Hills

(C) 2005

***

Nine Days - Absolute (Story of A Girl)

(C) 2009

***

Barenaked Ladies - One Week

(C) 2005

***

Ini Kamoze - Here Comes The Hotstepper

(C) 1994

***

Smash Mouth - All Star

(C) 2001

Ain't Nothing Wrong With That

(C) 2010

This is a great song to work out to or rip up the field at football practice.

It's not a weave.

It's not a weave.

One of the most used conversation starters among women is about hair.

"I love the color!"

"Are these your real curls?"

"Oh, it's gotten so long!"

"Should I snip it all off?"

This picture was taken from an old journal entry.

It has been edited for private reasons.

Also please ignore the wonky eye. I have no idea how that happened.

It seems that every compliment I ever get is on my hair. I swear I could dress up in the most expensive Gucci attire, wave around 1,000,000 big ones, and drive around in a Bentley and someone will still say "Look at her hair! Is it fake?"

Well I could answer your question right away. No. I have never worn any hair extensions and have never worn a wig (except for that one party but we don't have to talk about that here).


Everything you see is what I have to wrestle with every morning. I've had these locks since pre-school. There was a time when my mom brushed through them and , when they became to much to handle, chopped them off all together. It looked like something straight out of a gender-bending drama!

EPP!! 

My routine is simple,
- Shower at night with curly hair shampoo and conditioner

- Towel dry - NEVER EVER EVER BLOW DRY

- Throw hair into messy bun on top of head (if it's too low on the neck your hair will be flat on the top when it's finished drying. Either look is nice if you know how to work with your volume. I usually stick with it on top though.)

- Let down when damp.

- BED TIME! 

- Wake up and cry in the mirror at how it looks.

- Water in the palms and finger comb a little in the spots that are dry or flat.

- Once it drys the curls are set!

Sometimes there are bad days and sometimes there are great days. Then there are those days in between where I will role out of bed, take a peak in the mirror, and just crawl back under the covers.

For example,

THAT is what happens when I take a shower and jump right into bed afterwards. I wake up singing "It's a hard knock life" and start looking for my long lost parents.

If my sleeping habits weren't terrifying enough! I have this habit of going to bed in full sleep wear and waking up in my frilly tighty-whities. Imagine a half naked bed-head monster crawling down the stairs and demanding her Red Rose tea. (I'm so sorry future husband)

So, just for fun, I decided to uncurl my curls. That's right.... I straightened the little ones and now that it's like this I feel so so SO WEIRD!

Here, take these pictures I don't even want them! *hides in guilt

^BEFORE^

Morning Hair

Sink Water and Greasy Hands.

^AFTER^

Approx. 45 minutes.

No Chemicals. 

Now you could really see that even though I spent nearly an hour straightening I still didn't end up with pin- straight hair. I'm fine with it though. I'm not going to lie, I hate hair that is so straight that my high school math teacher could start an axis on a strand of it.

Here are some things I learned today.

1. I will never get to brush my hair. I don't brush it when it's curly and when I brush it while it's straight the comb will break. (TRUE)

2. My natural hair color looks like a cheap dollar store dye job. I never knew I had natural Auburn high-lights!!

EW man.

3. As you can see in the picture above, 45 minutes isn't enough.

4. Straighten it all you want. In five minuets the curls will start to take control once again.

In the process of it all I was actually extremely uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable then when I got my hair cut earlier this year. I almost cried !

It really doesn't feel like me. It feels like I'm someone else!

There was a point when I leaned in closer to the mirror to put mascara on and nearly scared myself to death. It looked like someone else was looking through the mirror at me! I even prepared to head-butt the mirror intruder until I saw it was a beautiful Italian girl. 

A lot of people don't realize this because my natural hair hides it in a strange way but I have extremely thin hair. All together it's as light as feather. If someone chopped it all off I bet I wouldn't even notice until I looked in the mirror so straightening it shouldn't have been a problem.

***

A lot of question have come up now that my hair is like this. Straight haired girls and those who straighten their hair often--- I need your help on this!

How the HECK do you pull your hair up? It took me five times to get my hair into a semi-descent ponytail without all of the bumps and ugly frizzy baby hairs popping out of nowhere.

Does your scalp supposed to itch like a son of a *****? Because if it is then I guess I'm doing it right.

What do you do when it rains? Or when it's too humid? Or in the snow? Or in any weather....

***

Welp.... this has been a new experience. I'm going to go jump in the shower because I'm so uncomfortable!

Watch your mouth!

A Guide to Surviving High School

I don't think people realize how easy it is to say something that offends someone else.
While it might not seem offensive to one person it could be highly offense to another because everyone takes things in a different way. We all don't think and react in the same way!

Someone just has to open their mouth and blurt out something in a heated moment. A certain mesh of vowels and consonants that create a certain sound that hits a certain nerve that makes me want to hit a certain area that you CERTAINLY don't want me to hit.

Let's break it apart.

Has anyone ever gotten into an argument with you? No, not even an argument but a simple disagreement?
Then that certain person runs off and tells others a bunch of white lies and secrets to other people in hopes that now those people will "take his/her" side against you?

Of course this has happened to you ! You go to school don't you?

Sometimes things surprise me. I'm a very excitable person but because of that I'm also very anxious. I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about going to New York city but then have a sudden anxiety attack thinking about getting hit by a flying trolley from Mars. I'm not lying.... I fall asleep to the SciFi channel every once in a while.
I could tell you first hand people will surprise you in the most unusual ways.

One day you find out by your crushes friend that the feeling might be mutual and then another day you find out it's some stupid prank. I've seen this way too many times to count on ten fingers.

 Take this for example,

I was terribly ill when swine flu came out. A friend and I caught the bug while we were on a trip to the big apple. (I didn't die. At least not that I know of.)
I was out for an entire week and when I came back I was pregnant with twins, run over by a car, and moved to New Jersey. SURPRISE! News to me....

These things. These times in which people prowl on stupid rumors and feed off of them adding more and more until you have a girl with snakes as hair and farts you can turn into cherry blossoms.

I can't tell you how many times I've had some stupid lie spread around my high school that was so bizarre that I just couldn't help but laugh.
And let me tell you, I was not the student that everyone looked up to with the Gucci bags and bad tans. No, I was pasty white Amber with the frizzy hair and comic book obsession. There was no reason for their to be rumors about me because no one should've cared. I guess that's what living in a small town does.


Just this year I found out I was a
1. drug addict
2. jealous maniac
3. emotionally distressed suicidal pig (can't make this stuff up)
4. botched boob job
5. shop lifter
6. STD holder (Worded just like that. Makes it sound like something you'd put on a drivers license doesn't it? Squeeze it on right next to organ donor)


I'm appalled! My boob job doesn't look that bad! Kidding guys....jesus.


So for all of new and shinny high schools (or middle schoolers!) just know that you can survive it. Just throw your head back and laugh because in all honesty it's bizarre.

As soon as Junior year rolls around people stop paying attention and the bullies start drowning out of that "OH LOOK AT ME AHHHHH PUBERTY RAGE" stage and start worrying about keeping their grades for college.

I was never one to say "oh it gets better" but it really does.
If I could say that then trust me you can too.
Good luck and have fun!

Hello, my name is LOST

    

    With college move-in swinging around the corner like a bat out of hell I'll be running here and there and buying this and that with very little time to drop in and say "hey look at me!". *dances to get attention*

 My blog will be blowing up once I'm settled in and starting class because "small-town Bloomsburg" still seems to be a very big difference compared to "small-town Old Forge".

Here's something interesting for all of the Old Forgers reading this. NO ONE AT BLOOMSBURG KNOWS WHERE OLD FORGE IS. That's right, regardless of our advances in Varsity Football and our Lady Devils we are virtually off the map for these Bloomsburgers.<----- hehe Bloomsburgers.

The only way the students and faculty know Old Forge is as, "Oh, that place ten minutes from Scranton."

They don't even know about our pizza! Trust me... I tried.

Apparently round, white pizza is equivalent to the great dinosaur extinction.

My Italian heritage was like the little devil on my shoulder that said, "they don't know about our culture give them a swift crack to the jugular and run away!", but the angle on my shoulder said, "Don't do that because then you won't be able to eat the pulled pork and beans they have set out for lunch."

I'm still trying to figure Bloomsburg out so everything you hear from me is an outsiders opinion. 

Today was my scheduled orientation day.

Here was my expected over-all anxiety scale. 

But in reality it was only nerve-wracking when I first arrived. Mom and Dad were tired, I was a walking zombie, and we didn't know what was going to happen or who we were going to meet next. New places, new faces, new everything. Everything was all very different for little miss Amber Allegrucci who thinks walking up the road to buy ice cream is a wild safari adventure in itself.

I waited in line and received a name tag in one of the many older but beautiful buildings. Bloomsburg is very good with windows. Big, bright, and open windows made me feel a little less dead from the four hours of sleep I got the previous night. (I'm a mid-night writer leave me alone!)

After check-in we took pictures for our soon-to-be Bloom I.D.

The girl in front of me was much more prepared than I was for those pictures, I could tell you that for sure. I thought they were going to bring the fan out to woosh her hair around a bit. 

(Yo check out my artistic talent.)

Breakfast was full of doughnuts and fruit which are my favorite things so bonus points to the servers and organizers for that. I love you even though I don't know you.

The event that stuck out the most in the day was the opening/ kick-off of the day. The very first speaker was one of the most helpful and down-to-earth people I have ever heard speak. She was super nice and super informative on my part. Her name was Mrs. Kristen Austin and she made me feel very at home in my new surroundings.

She is the Assistant Director and Coordinator of New Student Orientation and you can find her contact information by clicking  here. If you are a new student or need a little help to get in the swing of things I recommend calling her 100%. She will work with you as will the rest of the Bloomsburg staff to find out what is most comfortable to you and your needs.

Then it was off to here and there. I learned about my major and what I will be studying which was interesting. I shook hands with the Dean of my department and talked to my professor, who was also extremely helpful.

I met a lot of new people who were mostly from different parts of the east coast which was pretty cool. Not too far from home but far enough to be different and exciting.

The community surrounding Bloomsburg is my only complaint but only because I'm a city girl. I like big and shocking tehe while Bloomsburg is more small and grassland-y.

However! New York is just about an hour away so hopping in a car with the friends and taking off to the city for the day wouldn't be a bad idea!

Please keep this is mind though. You will find more trees in Bloomsburg than people. It's very calming and serene so studying and meeting new people wouldn't be a problem but don't expect flashing lights and Broadway scenes.

This will be my new home for a while so I guess it's time for me to get used to it but do expect me to be a sobbing mess about a month in when the laundry starts piling up and I miss Mommy and Daddy. That will be me without a doubt.

Let's go on an adventure to Old Forge!

Today was pretty....well, boring.

I'm not the kind of person who sits around on a slow day so I grabbed my camera and headed up town where I took a bunch of pictures and even some videos!

You can see some clips on my Vlog which I'll post somewhere on here. Enjoy the pictures below! :D
(I give full permission for my readers to share this blog/vlog on social media websites! If you would like to use any of pictures below please contact me ahead of time at Asideoftape@ymail.com Thank you! Enjoy!!!)

The new bridge on South Main Street.

Seen on Main Street. Ace hardware to left.

Arcaro and Genell's pizza on South Main Street.

Posted May 25th 2014 - Memorial Day.

AND FINALLY THE VIDEO!