Getting Set...

I write this from the Paterno Library at PSU. The Library is very (guess what...) big and very useful. There's plenty of quite places to study which is nice because my dorm room is very small and is full of distractions. Paterno is the coach of the Penn State football team here, apparently he is 80+ and slightly "past his prime" but is idolised here because he has coached them for 30 years or something. I went to the Penn State bookstore and there are all these biographies of his.

I got a job too; at the Bryce Jordan Centre. It's a concert venue and an indoor basketball stadium. They have framed photos of all the famous artists who have played here recently in the halls downstairs. They've had Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Billy Joel, Weird Al Yankovic, and about four billion more. My job is to show up an hour before the concert/game, show people to their seats, and then stand in the aisles and watch the show. Also because they have such a big staff list, you don't have to work ever if you don't want. If you see an event you'd like to work (i.e. watch), you call and tell them in advance, they put you on the list, and if you're high enough on the list, you work it.

The pay is shit ($7.15/hour), which is pretty standard for on-campus work, which is all I'm allowed to do as a J1 student, but obviously I'm not doing it for the money.

I moved into my dorm room yesterday, wrote a list, did a big Walmart blitz and am now procrastinating from setting my room up. I should really get to it because my roommate should be arriving tomorrow and my stuff is all over his half of the dorm. I found the world's nicest guitar here for $US1000 so I'm going to buy it as soon as I get my US banking set up (stand by Mum).

I also joined the gym here for $50 a semester (!) which is incredibly cheap, and it's a very nice facility. I'm going to go every morning. No really.

The "college" thing is just starting to sink in. It's going to be very weird when I have to go to lectures and do assignments after my 10 month hiatus but I'm looking forward to starting.

Hope everything is good in Perth, I miss you guys.

Renan.

P.S. Facebook is now the official photo place, so if you don't have it, get someone who does to show you my photos.

---

---