I have in the past looked into and attended several student groups on campus, including Hillel. I have also joined events with the campus Association for Computing Machinery, as I have mentioned in previous entries (good speakers! free pizza!). As those in 590 may already know, I also regularly attend OSAs (also known as the Activity formerly known as Beer Club). Thankfully, State College has gone mostly smoke-free, making its bars a better venue for casual conversation.



One student event I have yet to experience...



According to the youtube comments, the video does not do it justice. Honestly, I like watching tennis a lot more than football, but, apparently Penn State football games are mostly an experience in deindividuation in order to affirm a sense of group identity. Or to put it another way, a bonding experience with other students with the occasional tendency to get a little out of control.

Student groups and organizations are useful for a number of reasons, including work-life balance (and pursing *gasp* interests outside of research), but truthfully, researchers are far more likely to collaborate with people they're also willing to grab a beer (or non-alcoholic beverage of choice) with. There is no doubt a psychology study somewhere stating it, but I'll let you google scholar it. Penn State is a big university, with a lot of resources to tap, but those resources are not always well publicized. The best way to find out where to get ice skating lessons, or where you can find a plasma screen TV to borrow for research purposes (or "research purposes") is usually to ask someone. And the more someones you have to ask, the more likely it is you'll find what you're looking for. And the more you can help other people too.