A Spook-tacular Weekend Getaway

Let me start out by saying, I hate scary things. Halloween encompasses two of my favorite things in the world - candy and playing dress-up - but I can't handle the holiday! With that being said, this is the second year in a row that I've gone to Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia for their Howl-O-Scream weekend. AND I remembered to take a few pictures!

Welcome to Howl-O-Scream!

I put away the books and my laptop, said goodbye to Penn's campus and my cohort (who went to an exciting grad student gala this weekend!), and hit the road on a six hour trip from Philly to Williamsburg. I spent some time with my family and best friends and did no homework for three days - I only checked my email twice! The weekend was my perfect definition of "relaxing" - stuffing myself with delicious food and riding roller coasters repeatedly (though not always in that order!)
For those of you who don't know about Busch Gardens, I highly recommend it! It's a little far from Philly, but it's a great weekend trip. The park has been named the world's most beautiful theme park for the past 23 years in a row - that's impressive! It's European themed, with the separate sections of the park each named for and centered around a different country, Germany, Italy, England, Ireland, and France, for examples. The "countries" each have unique foods, performances, rides, and decorations to bring the culture of that nation to the park. A few of my personal favorites are Das Festhaus in Germany where they celebrate Oktoberfest all year round with delicious food and great entertainment, the Abbey Stone Theater in Ireland where they have an incredible Irish Dance show, and the Griffon in France - a floor-less dive coaster that provides a completely unique roller coaster experience from anything you've done before.

Griffon Roller Coaster

One of the other aspects I really like about Busch Gardens is their commitment to conservation and animals. They've partnered with Jack Hanna to open a wildlife reserve right in the middle of the amusement park! It's a great place to go and get away from the crowds and noise of the rest of the park. The reserve houses a huge Gray Wolf habitat where you can see them up close (they have huge teeth!) as well as Eagle Ridge, where Bush Gardens hosts and rehabilitates injured Bald Eagles. The park is also home to many different birds, herds of sheep, and several huge Clydesdale horses!

Grey wolf

The park is gorgeous during the day, but as soon as the sun sets, it turns into a fright fest with Jack the Ripper, evil pirates, vampires, and fiery demons running rampant in the park. I went through one of the six haunted houses and I was too scared to do any more! My friend Maura and I spent the rest of our Howl-o-Scream time trying to avoid the scary stuff in every way possible. It's a shame I was too scared to do a lot of the stuff - they really go all out with the decorations and events so the park looks amazing!

Maura and I "hiding" from the demons in a tree in Ireland!

An amazing weekend ended too soon, and Monday morning I was definitely not ready to come back to work and school! It's amazing how quickly I forgot my regular routine! But now it's time for a busy busy week. Hopefully some of you are joining us for the Prospective Student Web Chat this Thursday, September 26th at 7pm! Or the On-Campus Information Session on Saturday, October 12. Register for all of our upcoming events here!

Hope to see you soon! Have a fantastic week! 

Riding the Struggle Bus

So there's a phrase I've been hearing a lot lately. It's been posted on Facebook, mentioned in text messages, and murmured in the halls of GSE. If you're anything like me, you've never heard this term before: the seemingly ubiquitous "STRUGGLE BUS". When I first heard about this mythical vehicle two weeks ago, I pictured a cute little yellow school bus full of over-worked and over-caffeinated grad students, trying to find enough hours in the day to complete reading assignments, analysis papers, work projects, policy memos, and much more. And then I realized what it was all about - and it's way more than just school and work related! It's a combination of all of life's factors and challenges and obstacles raining on you at once. Some days this week I've felt more like I've been hit by the struggle bus as it flies down Walnut Street instead of a passenger on the bus. Some days it feels like I'm on a runaway struggle-train and I can't slow it down to get off until everything is completed...which never seems to happen.

Those days have been tough, but there are people all around me to keep me calm and sane on the journey until the stress and overwhelming times pass. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone. My cohort and I are in this together, and it's reassuring that when I'm struggling, at least I have company on the bus and we can help each other through things. I think the bus is sometimes unavoidable - it might be the only way to get from Point A to Point B, so the best we can do is accept it, endure the ride, and get off at the next stop!

Tips for an Easier Ride on the Struggle Bus

1. Try to get ahead in your readings and class work. This is often easier said than done, especially if you have more than one class each day. It's easy to let readings wait until right before class, but this often causes a lot more stress and other things inevitably come up during that time! Try to build in time to your schedule to complete your work, and allow yourself to do your homework a few days before class to avoid last minute stress. 

2. If you get ahead, stay ahead! If you're disciplined enough to finish your work early, try to stay on that path! In the long-run, things will be a lot easier on you. 

3. Form study groups. Grad students are always forming groups with classmates to review notes, collaborate and discuss readings, and provide support. Some classes provide a ton of reading and it's unrealistic to expect that one person can read all of it. Reading groups are popular at GSE where students split up the readings and get together in advance of class to provide summaries and share notes with each other. With this, everyone can be prepared to discuss the readings in class, but it alleviates a lot of time that would have been spent suffering through some readings. 

4. Find your "person" (or "people"). Even if you try to stay on top of everything, you will at some point need to vent or cry or scream or complain (or all of the above) and it's more satisfying to have someone to listen. That "person" could be a parent, sibling, partner/significant other, friend, colleague, or even better - another member of the cohort! Having someone to listen and understand more of what you're going through is super-helpful. 

Sorry for the sad and stress-filled post today. I just wanted to address what my cohort-mates and I are going through. It's not always sunshine and rainbows, but it's all going to be worth it, and I'm glad that even though I'm riding the struggle bus, I'm riding it here at Penn GSE!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Grad School Tornado

Wow! That's all I can say about this past week...or two weeks...I can't remember how long it's been. I feel like I'm caught up in a whirlwind. A grad school tornado. A revolving door of reading, class, homework, GA work, and as always - lots of coffee! It's crazy to think that we've only been here for a few weeks. The work we've been doing and the comfort and friendship levels in the cohort would suggest we've been at it much longer! But that's what's great about grad school, and GSE in particular - we've fallen into place right away and we're making the most out of our nine months here at Penn!

But "getting the most out of this experience" comes with a price - the reading, papers, work at my GA, and other miscellaneous tasks have really piled up. Every time I feel like I'm being productive and check something off my list, three more things get added to it.

This picture really spoke to me today. I can totally relate - but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! I absolutely love my GA in admissions, I'm meeting tons of new people, and homework is the same old struggle, but I feel like I'm really going to learn a lot and develop my opinions and passions this semester.

This is my new motto for the upcoming year - keep breathing!

I want to end my posts on a positive note, so I'll share some things I'm excited about!

- I'll be providing the current student perspective and chatting online with prospective students at GSE's virtual information session taking place next Wednesday, September 18th! If you haven't already registered you can sign up here.

- Next week I get to see my family and take a weekend mini-vacation to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA - one of my favorite theme parks/places on Earth (second only to Disney World!) I can't wait to ride my favorite roller coaster - Apollo's Chariot and see the Halloween-themed shows and decorations! Spooky!

- I was having a tough morning today, but the friendly barista at Starbucks down the street drew a little smiley face on my coffee! I love the little things like this that can cheer me up instantly!

Have a fantastic day! And as always, feel free to reach out with questions or comments through the blog or email (colburna@gse.upenn.edu).

- Amanda

Good Morning, World!

Hi all! Welcome to the wonderful world of Penn GSE! My name is Amanda Colburn and I will be your guide to all things “grad school” during the next 9 months (assuming you continue reading this blog…) Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have  I’ll try to address anything and everything in the blog and I’m 100% accessible by email - just send me a message in the box on the bottom left of this screen!

I just began my journey as a master’s student at Penn GSE this summer (I took two accelerated summer classes) and I absolutely LOVE it! I’m part of the M.S.Ed. Higher Education cohort and it’s hard to believe that even though I just started, I’ll be graduating in May! There are pros and cons to doing a one-year graduate program which I’ll definitely cover in another post soon! I know it’s an influential piece of the program for many people - it was for me!

With my degree in higher ed, I would love to work directly with students as an academic advisor, program manager, admissions officer, or somewhere in student life. Hopefully this year helps me narrow my focus and discover which aspect of higher education I’m really passionate about. Throughout the year I’ll try to give you some insight and reflections about my courses and how I’m thinking about a career in higher education. Again, please contact me if you want to ask a question or share anything!

Another significant piece of my life here in the higher ed program is my Graduate Assistantship, regularly called a “GA”. Basically it’s an internship in the higher ed world where I work for about 20 hours each week. As part of the higher education program we all do a GA, but other programs can accommodate them as well (check with your program manager!). My GA is working in the Admissions and Financial Aid office here at Penn GSE. It’s been a fantastic two weeks so far, and I get to communicate with fantastic prospective students each day, answering questions and facilitating campus visits and meetings!

So that was your introduction to “Amanda-the-Penn-GSE-Student” and you’ll hear a lot more from me this year, but here's a crash course in my biography and who I am so you have some background.

• I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland (specifically the Towson area if you’re familiar with Baltimore - it’s more suburban, not like what you see if you watch “The Wire”!)
• I just completed my undergraduate degree at Drexel University (2 blocks from Penn in Philadelphia!) I have a B.S. in Teacher Education.
• I have been living in Philly now for 4 years (and LOVE it!), so if you have any questions about visiting or living in the city, please ask! Which brings be to the next point…
• I get really excited about things and I LOVE to share them with people! I also use A LOT of words so I’m sorry if this blog is a lot of reading!
• Some of my (random) favorite things include: American football, specifically the Baltimore Ravens (hometown team and reigning Super Bowl champs!), any kind of coffee beverage, things that are purple, Disney World, pumpkin flavor, jazz and contemporary dance, laughing, exploring a new city, and really good food!

If you made it this far in the post - congratulations! You now know a little bit about me and have some ideas of what my life is like here at Penn. I’m really going to try to keep this blog interesting but informative for all of you future-GSE students (hopefully!) but just to reiterate for the last time - please reach out! I would love to write about your interests and questions and make you as excited as possible about Penn GSE!

Don’t like my blog? Can’t get enough and want to read more? Check out the blogs by other GSE students! Links are on the upper right side of my page!

Have a fantastic day!

- Amanda