Note: If formatting is screwed up, I'm posting this from the app as I'm unable to from the computer at the moment.
This past weekend I visited my best friend Vicky at her college in Pennsylvania. I have never even visited a college before so it was totally a new experience for me. This was also my first vacation in over 10 years so it was nice to get away.
This was me before leaving.
I also wore this headband. Halloween is near and it's kawaii so why not?
What even is this facial expression?
On the road!
One thing that really surprised me was when we first pulled onto campus. It had to be 10:30 at night on a Thursday and people were still walking in and out of buildings. There were even some guys playing basketball. I always thought that there was some sort of curfew where everyone had to be in their dorms at a certain time so I was extremely surprised to see this. As time went on I was quite surprised at how late college students do things. We would have dinner around 8/9 at night, some people were even in empty classrooms studying at night.
I stayed with Vicky and her room mates in their on campus apartment. It's basically a dorm room, but they have a kitchen, their own bathroom with a shower, a living room and large bedrooms. It was really nice! Vicky's room is huge, I stayed in her room with her.
On Friday, the first thing we really did was go to the cafeteria for lunch.
Here is me trying to fit in on my first day of college life hehe. I wore a Black Veil Brides T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. A purple baggy beret along with my ouija cameo necklace and a crystal one. I wore brown lipstick with orange and red eyeshadow. I also put my hair in braids halfway through the day because my hair was annoying me. I realize that this hairstyle makes me look like Anna from Frozen.
Funny story, when we were walking from the room to the cafeteria, we got halfway down the hallway of the dorm building when I suddenly realized I was still wearing my slippers and not actual shoes xD. I was extremely embarrassed but Vicky said that it isn't uncommon for that to happen and that people go to class in their PJs quite often.
When we first walked into the cafeteria, I definitely was having flashbacks to high school. No lie I felt like the new kid in class even if just for a few minutes. I certainly was overwhelmed - being an awkward/shy person that doesn't do well in huge crowds.
With this particular school's cafeteria, instead of paying for whatever you buy you just pay with a card that already has the money for your food on it. I was absolutely amazed when I saw what they had to offer. They didn't have the typical "lunch lady" or gross food. Everything looked gourmet. They have a "the grill" which was an area where hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken patties and fries were sold. There was an Italian section, a small deli and 1-2 other areas. They have an ice cream freezer case, a small dessert area and even a cereal bar. They even had vegetarian and gluten free options! Once we exited the restaurant sort of area, they had soda machines and condiments just like from a restaurant and a salad bar. It was all so cool! Even better, you pay once and can eat whatever you want, from wherever, in any combination and as much as you want. I doubt that this is typical for most schools but this one is a private catholic university.
We sat at a table with some of her friends and everyone was so friendly and nice to me. I instantly clicked with this one girl talking about anime and Kpop. Her other friend that was with her was super awesome and welcoming. I honestly was so afraid that Vicky's friends wouldn't like me or that we wouldn't have anything to talk about! I know I can be annoying and awkward around new people.
After lunch Vicky took me on a tour of the campus. It is a beautiful campus with lots of nice and some old buildings.
I got to go in and see the classrooms, the theater and the mail room. I found it really cool that in a few areas of the school there were random pianos that people can just walk up to and play.
We went back to the room and I worked on some writing since Vicky had a meeting. I got so much work done! Then one of Vicky's roommates and another friend came in the room and we talked for a while. When Vicky came back we went to some really awesome shops.
First, being a witch shop. Being a Wiccan and teaching Vicky about it I was most definitely excited for this one. It was a small but nice shop. Surprisingly it was run by a man (there tend to be less men and more women in pagan/Wiccan religions). We talked with the store owner for a good while. He was really nice but intimidating, blunt and opinionated. I'm a pretty shy person around strangers so I bet you guys can tell how that went! Haha! It was great though.
We talked about his views and how he practices more of the old religion that Wicca branched off of. We learned a lot about the history of wicca that I didn't know. We also learned some other cool things, such as why people think wiccans are evil (when actuality we are the most peaceful people). It was really interesting, I had always wondered where this belief stems from. Apparently it stems from Catholicism and the belief that if you worship any sort of horned god, then you must be worshipping the devil. If you guys care, maybe I'll do a post on Wicca in more depth. But in Wicca you can pick and choose deities to work with, some are horned though not evil. Personally, I'm an atheist Wiccan. Meaning I don't believe in or worship gods/goddesses. But I worship nature and the spirit of Mother Nature.
Anyway! We also learned that the Salem witch trials didn't even happen in the town of Salem that we know today but in fact another town.
The shop had a lot of great things though a small selection, such as incense, herbs, candles, jewelry, books, altar tools, ouija boards, runes, tarot cards and crystals. Vicky and I went a little nuts with the crystals. I also got a sage smudge stick. Yes...it looks like a huge ass weird cigar. It isn't something you smoke, it is used to cleanse a home.
From there we went to a rock shop which had a crazy amount of crystals. They also had a lot of beautiful jewelry and cute little animal statues carved from various stones. I got 2 more crystals here - Malachite and Opalite.
After that we went to this oddities shop. I was so excited for this one, I love creepy and obscure things. I'm also a huge fan of the Discovery channel show, Oddities. It is on my bucket list to visit Obscura someday.
I was instantly in love with the oddities shop we went into, literally most of it would be my future home. I wish I had taken my own pictures on the inside but I was afraid I would get yelled at if I did. But I did find the shop's Instagram page and was able to save some pictures from there.
When we first walked in, there was a huge taxidermy lion. Yes, I shit you not a lion!! In the window were skeletons sitting around. They had an entire wall of bat taxidermy, I was spazzing because I LOVE bats.
Honestly that would be the only taxidermy besides butterflies that I would own. BUT I would only want taxidermy where the bats ethically died. Like someone found a dead bat and preserved it. I absolutely do NOT support people killing these beautiful creatures and leaving baby bats orphaned just so we can hang them on our walls.
They had various bug taxidermy, some different animal heads, lots of skulls.
They even had specimen jars which were kind of creepy. One had a kitten in it and another has a pig and a snake together. They sold some awesome Tshirts and tarot cards. But also alligator feet and raccoon penis bones. Yeah you read that right.
I got to see where Vicky works for her field work which was awesome. She loves her field work so much and I was happy I could finally see it. It is a wonderful places called Candie's Place which helps cancer patients cope with their disease. She really is helping people and making a difference which makes me so proud of her. She just beams when she talks about the place! It is non profit and they offer some alternative therapies. They focus more on mental well being there but also physical health as well. My readers should totally check them out and support them.
We went to Dollar General too which was a first for me! It kind of reminds me of Five Below.
After that we went back to the apartment, had dinner and watched cheesy movies to make fun of them.
Oh yeah and they have Loki wearing Dipper Pines' hat in the corner of the living room.
On Saturday we hung around the apartment for most of the day, researching some things and printing them as well as watching a movie. We went out to dinner at an authentic Mexican restaurant. It was really cool, they were all decked out for Halloween. They had a few anematronics including this creepy/awesome zombie holding fake fire. I ordered a chicken quesadilla and had a strawberry daiquiri. It was all delicious!
I wore a My Chemical Romance shirt, jeans and sneakers. I teased my bangs and pinned them back then put my hair in braids. I also wore my red plaid hoodie which I love so dearly. For jewelry I was wearing a small amethyst pendant and my crescent moon/clover necklace. I noticed halfway through the night that I lost a hairtie and was walking around with a braid and a ponytail.
After dinner we had to drop a few people off and then we went to a Halloween store. We had so much fun trying on costumes. I kept trying on little hats.
I found a Jack Skellington one I was particularly in love with. It's so going on my Christmas list.
Vicky tried on this child's sized Hulk costume hoodie xD.
We all tried on Maleficent's horn hat...Vicky was the only one that could work it!
We tried on masks. I ended up being Peter Griffin from Family Guy.
They had a small Nightmare on Elm Street section and I was jumping and pointing at it xD. Vicky found this Freddy lawn gnome. It is so beautiful! *^*
We saw this teddy bear at the checkout area. It's so cute!
I guess someone was a little horny when creating this... (Bada-tsss). Seriously it isn't what it looks like xD, it's supposed to be a unicorn headpiece. I guess you could wear it if you wanted to look like a dick head (*nudge nudge* get it, dick head?. Okay, okay I'll stop with the bad jokes! XD).
After the Halloween store we went to Walmart to look at some things. I was so disappointed by their Halloween section. One of Vicky's roommates took a bike out of the bike displays and rode it around xD. We approached the garden section and I wanted to hide in a corner and cry...why you may ask? There was a fucking Christmas wonderland in there. If I see anything Christmas before Halloween I get really annoyed. Like no, it's too early and not even Halloween yet!! UGHHHHH. I'm slowly turning into the grinch because of Christmas coming earlier and earlier every year.
There was a creepy santa animatronic that scared the shit out of Vicky. In that area I found a huge stuffed Hello Kitty and got so excited I was jumping. I hugged the shit out of it. I love Hello Kitty, I don't care how old I am!
After Walmart we went back to the apartment. We got a little lost because of road work. But we found our way back! We just hung out for the rest of the night.
Sunday was the day I left. I did most of my packing the night before so we woke up and got ready to go.
No pictures of what I wore because I was too lazy to really dress up. I just wore jeans, my Expecto Patronum shirt, sneakers and my black and white bat infinity scarf. You guys sense a pattern? Jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt is like my uniform. I like to dress comfy and in things I like.
We had extra time before we had to be on the road so I had Vicky bring me to a Cemetery to take pictures. There are a lot of cemeteries in the area of her school. On 3 sides it's surrounded by them. She thought it was funny that I kept going "Dead people!!" In the car whenever we passed one. Oh how goth girl of me. Although I'm not technically goth, I think of myself as an honorary goth because I love gothy things....and because I used to be full on "I shit spiderwebs" goth.
I love cemeteries. I think they're beautiful. And I love old tombstones. I love the history of them and reading the dates. It's fascinating to me to see really old birth dates like in the 1800s and to imagine what type of life they had.
I had such a fun weekend and I'm so glad that I went. It was a great opportunity. I definitely went past my comfort zone and realized that I still have a ways to go with my anxiety problems because I had some issues throughout my trip. But I got through it and had a fun time! Thank you so much for everything again Vicky!! <3 I'm so happy I could finally see your school, your field work and meet your friends.
I did get some souvenirs while I was gone on my mini vacation.
I got these crystals from the witch shop and the rock shop:
I got this sage smudge stick from the witch shop:
I got this cup from Dollar General:
I absolutely had to get it. I can't say no to Halloween cups.
I got some pens, erasers and a lighter. Ok, not souvenirs...I actually really needed to get those things. I know, I'm a weirdo for grabbing random shit I needed while on vacation. I didn't even need them during my trip.
I also got these awesome posters and art from Vicky. She got them at New York Comic Con. And her cosplays were amazing!! She was Rose from Steven Universe
And Greg from Over The Garden Wall.
The girl dressed as Wirt is Sam, I met her over the weekend and we totally bonded. They both did such a fantastic job!! These cosplays are spot on. Vicky even had the rock and have out rock facts!
Here are closeups of the posters. This is a poster from Naruto The Last:
A Sailor Moon Crystal poster:
and a Kakashi drawing. I love it so much!!!
All of which now resides on the weeb wall:
I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures!! I'm sorry this is so late, I have been really tired this week since getting back home. I've also had a really shitty couple of days and I haven't had any motivation to write.
I also literally just got this in the mail (like 20 minutes ago at time of writing)! My very first Tarot deck and Sailor Moon season 2 part 2.
Anyway I hope you all have a lovely day.
As always,
Xoxo
Stay creepy ^__~
