hippyscientist

Hiya, I already have housing sorted but have you checked out the Penn State Housing reddit page? (https://www.reddit.com/r/PennStateHousing/) and Craiglist too. Might get more response there than on these boards. Good luck!

@jlt646 and @rhombusbombus yep I can access elion and lionpath, just no webmail access. Oh well, it's happening the way it should be! In other news, I might have done something bad to my knee in the gym this morning. I was warming up squats and felt a pop, now I can't load bear on my left leg at all. Really not the right time for this to be happening, I really really really hope it's not as bad as it feels.

Yay yay yay - congratulations!!! I am not familiar with Lafayette although I have driven through it and the roads weren't great. They had relatively decent truck stops though... that is of no help I am sorry. Enjoy the freak out stage! @haltheincandescent I don't know how you do it in the humanities. My advisor has been amazing throughout this process. Mad props to you for floating and being zen Other Penn Staters - it says on my international student orientation thing that we get webmail and all set up on campus once we arrive. This seems really odd, does it work this way for non internationals too?

@sjoh197 have you tried taking self-defence classes? Knowing martial arts really helps me feel a little more confident in sketchy situations, although it's certainly not a fix-all approach. So I moan about the pending review thing on my transcript and now it's changed to yes! Yay

@rhombusbombus if you don't like running that much, doing circuit training is awesome, as is the rower (if you're a gym member) and even things like vinyasa yoga are amazing. I used to train people so if you want any advice shoot. I feel more reassured a lot of you haven't heard anything too official yet! It's kinda frustrating not knowing. The graduate class enrolment thing opened 17th March and it just feels wrong to have not even had a discussion about it yet with my PI. But mainly I'm just freaking about the visa situation. The university has to issue a form, then post it via snail mail to me, then once I've received that I can book an appointment at my embassy to have an interview. That will take a minimum of a month, just to get to the booking the interview part, and on the website for international students it says during peak times may take "much longer than 4-8 weeks". I also have to save up for train travel to London to get to the embassy, and then once I've had the interview I have to wait up to 6 weeks for my visa to be returned to me. I just feel like time's running out! The international student orientation day is on August 8th, which means I need to have finished my research here by mid-July. Agh just time slipping away!!! Come on PSU - issue my visa log-in details already.

YES. Big bang theory will be my life I figure out what's going on in my brain by drawing stuff out so a white-board will be invaluable considering I currently have dozens upon dozens of sheets of paper pinned to my wall. Also, the office at my current school has the comfiest chairs and I really want to get one for PhD times. Shame they're like 2 grand or something crazy.

Yay congratulations It's all very exciting. The grad school have my transcript finally but it's been pending review since Thursday. Just say okay and issue the paperwork already. I'm starting to get apprehensive about visa stuff now.

Yeah if I'm still in bed at 7am, I'm sick. But then I'm the grandma of my friends as I can't stay out beyond 11pm. I'll start pathologically yawning at 9.30...

See recently I'll be at my desk at 8am (I'm running late this morning) and stay until like 4pm. Then I'll get home cook middle lunch/dinner and then draw some figures or stuff in bed watching Netflix until 6pm. I don't work late. Brain definitely functions better in the morning haha.

That just sounds like hell. I think the last time I was on campus late it was until 10pm. I honestly cannot imagine staying in that late. I can't remember the last time I saw 3am! Good luck

OUCH. Why?!?!

Jumping in on this. At undergrad group projects ended up with my course friends. They were fun acquaintances but boy did they not have the right brain for our degree. I always ended up doing the work and they sailed along for free. Our course was very cliquey too which made it really challenging to diversify once you got put into a group. My masters course is pretty good - I have a solid group of study buddies who are all serious about the course and we definitely help each other. However there are 2-3 peers (there's only 7-12 of us - it depends if you count the part timers) who ruin it for everyone else. Like @sjoh197 there's one who likes to spread really awful things about the rest of us. Combined these 2-3 peers make life hell - there's sexist comments, backstabbing, sabotage of people's work and really hurtful things said. It's a shame because otherwise I really enjoy my course!

I feel this so much! I only have to pass my masters and I'm currently on track for a 4.0 so I've been taking my foot off the pressure a little bit. There's so much other stuff to organise, as long as my work gets done and to a reasonable standard I don't really care too much. Really looking forward to getting rid of some of my coursemates too.

DO IT! But that's awesome - one box and you can go all sorts of colours I pulled a muscle training today, I now can't walk without pain or lie down. stupid cardio.

I've had my flute since I was 7. I played religiously from 7 -16, then sporadically since. I'm scared to get my flute out - it's been sat in its case for the past 3 years. I love that stupid thing but it needs a massive clean and new pads for sure. That's the issue with wind instruments (and brass) - all the spit that goes into them! Ugh.

What app do you use for notating and drawing on graphs on the iPad? I feel like this could be incredibly useful!

I used to play (in order of proficiency) flute, sing, guitar and piano. It's been a while since I stopped playing - now it's just general jamming sessions with friends but I will not be bringing any of my instruments with me. Sometimes I miss my orchestra days but then I think of the work that went into it and I am much happier with a few extra minutes in bed and an extra gym session!

I'm definitely going to train, I just wondered about the undergraduate/potential teacher scenario. In my current clubs none of the TAs are part of them so I was curious about the dynamic in the US. My masters advisor is the man! He's seriously awesome. He wants me to present, publish and possibly get funding from my current research. I'm so excited!!!! I mean, there's a lot of work to go into it but YAY!

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny I LOVE IT!!! Moving the topic away from hair, what's the deal with sports clubs? I want to keep training but is it going to be weird joining a club with potential students in? Anyone else feeling similarly? My PI is awesome and basically said as long as I get my work done he doesn't care where or when so I'm flexible with regards to timings (other than classes and TA responsibilities).

Yay someone else with tattoos! I will be getting 2 in the near future - one before I leave and one probably shortly after I arrive. I have a stupidly long list of ones I want but there isn't a good studio near me to get inked. I fear I'm a little ruined for machine tattoos - I got a bamboo one done a few years ago and it was the best experience ever. Don't really want to go back to hand guns. I've been researching the studios in State College but can't seem to figure it out online. Will definitely have to be a walk in and feel the atmosphere deal. Hair stuff is frustrating - I'm so envious of you boys (and girls) who get it cut short and don't worry. I had my hair cut to like an inch long when I was 14 but mean people at school said I looked too butch and kept teasing me. I've been wary to go above my shoulders ever since.

I know. I used to wear a hat, but when you're in the water for 8 hours a day anything you do ends up washing off. I always wear sunscreen though, and used to put zinc on my scalp. Hair care and beauty stuff in general is really alien to me. My mum never taught me, and I was never into it growing up, so here I am early 20s still figuring out things like what shampoo works best for me. I'm with you on the hairdressers wanting to go complicated. I rarely style my hair - if I do it's because of an important event or my friends have handcuffed me to a bed and decided to give me a makeover (happened) - and I love my current hairdresser. In and out under an hour a minor miracle!

Awesome! That's gotta be a pain to look after though. Mine is just super wavy and gets kinked easily, plus lots of working in the sun and sea for years means it's got all sorts of UV damage, salt damage and general ugh. I've tried hair masks and essential oils once in a blue moon but seeing as beach bum hair was in vogue for a while I've gotten out of the habit of looking after it. I miss the days of being able to go straight from work to the bar and people would think I'd put effort in to the blonde nest on my head!

These words. I have no idea what they are!! I am the worst excuse for a girl ever. Dying my hair and fake tanning are literally the only girly things I do. Everything else...umm I need help! I will use google but thanks for the suggestions

Oooohhh salons. That's a point. Ehh I'll figure it out when I've moved, I only get my hair cut twice a year as is. But I would like someone who could actually make it look decent. I'm fed up with the puffball that's on my head at the minute.

Oh trust me I have some absolute horror stories. Typically if I'm lightening from really dark I'll go to the salon but if I just need to sort my roots out I'll bleach it at home. Bright orange hair is remarkably frustrating and I've had it more times than I can count!