Indiana, PA

Well...we made it to my new "home." Let me fill you in on the last 2 days before I launch into what my new home area is like.
Saturday was family day. Honestly, it was fun. Met a ton of family members from my mom's side of the family. What was really cool for me, was that my mom's uncle's family is Irish, so I heard lots of stories about Ireland and his family coming here. Plus he knew stories of my mom's grandparents coming here, so I learned more about my heritage. Uncle Marty is 86 and Aunt Dolores is 80, and they've been married 61 years. How crazy is that? And uncle Marty is a funny old guy, and he's quick with the jokes. They all wished me luck and invited me to spend the holidays or weekends with them. So I'm thinking perhaps Easter I'll go to Cleveland. We even saw my great grandmother's old house. Oh and who knew there was such a huge population of Irish people in Cleveland? And it really is beautiful. So very green with so many trees!
Saturday night we were so exhausted. I talk to Pops and he started crying on the phone about how he missed me. Even Todd said it was weird without me around. Pops ulcer is acting up he thinks, and I worry that it's because he's worried about me.
Today we got up and went to breakfast with Uncle Marty, Aunt Dolores and Patty, and we were 20 minutes from the place they love with is around the corner from them, and we STILL beat them there! We heard the story of their wedding, and how Mimi's friend's sister let Aunt Dolores borrow her dress and they pieced her together by borrowing things. Even heard about the tradition European custom of the money dance.
My mom is so happy to have gone. She cried thinking it would be the last time she saw them, but I told her she may be back sooner then she thinks. You never know.
We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was so awesome! I'm so happy we got to go there. It's amazing to see the costumes these people wore, they were so thin! And so many guitars. I kept wishing pops was there. He would love it. Of course, we'd never get him out of there and he'd talk our ears off and probably annoy the crap out of everyone around him drooling over the guitars...but he would love it. Bought my mom a tie-dyed shirt since she wouldn't buy it for herself and has only bought herself magnets on this trip. Then we were off to Indiana.
Uncle Marty had told us Pennsylvania is a lot like Ohio, only hillier. He was so right. We didn't get to drive through Pittsburgh, so I'll have to try to do that once I get a car and hopefully before school. It will suck not having Cliff to navigate me though.
The whole drive out along this windy, hilly road, Ryan kept saying things like, "there's your house!" as he pointed out a leaning shack, or how date night is at the Lick 'n Putt ice cream/golf course. I wasn't too hopeful about my new home as we kept driving and saw tractors and cars on blocks and nothing but trees. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and I had grabbed some menus from the lobby. At one of the local chinese food places you can get "comblination dinners" and "beveryas." No joke, that's what the menu says and I'm so sending a copy to Ned's for Pete to see, he'll love it.
So we got back in the car and drove to my new place, and saw the actual town. We found my townhouse first. It's yellow, and I think my apartment number is number 5, and the address I have right now is wrong. My neighbors all came out though, so it could be good that they are noisey enough to watch out for who is coming and going, but they were old. Went down to the college. I have to say, as soon as I saw the campus I felt more at home and at ease. It is such a beautiful campus. 10,000 times more beautiful than CSUSB. It has been a dream of mine to go to an old school where the campus was old and brick...and that's IUP. We found where I'm supposed to go for orientation, and we found the bookstore and the library and I have a general idea where my building is. Saw the oak grove that i've been watching online for months. Really beautiful.
We ended up eating at the Ponderosa Steakhouse, which is a lot like sizzlers...or at least Sizzlers back in the day. Then we went to Walmart. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that just about everything is closed on Sundays, or closes super early. So I'm thinking, no excuses for not doing my homework. Even the waitress told Ryan, oh she'll have plenty of time to do homework.
Remind me to kick Tibbetts for getting me into this. Just kidding....like I said, school makes me feel comfortable and I'm looking forward to shopping tomorrow for stuff for my very own place. But tomorrow will be busy. I sign my lease, have to find a bed and a couch and a car. The car might be tough, however we saw a 4 runner for $3800 just behind the park behind my place, that Ryan says a mass murderer probably lives in. So as long as I find my checkbook, it's all good.
Have I mentioned that mother nature is really loud here? I mean like...I'll be calling you all back in Cali and telling you how I can't sleep because mother nature is too loud! It's a little scary. But you know, it's almost like living in Crestline, so it shouldn't be too bad. Ask me how bad it is once it snows though. ;)