the danya dance

Starting To Feel Like Summer

This weekend was definitely filled with adventure, just the way I like it. On Friday night, my parents and I went out to Turf Valley for the Preakness Balloon Glow. There were a lot of cool balloons including the Purple People Eater. We sat on the field enjoying the balloons and some lemonade until the sun went down. Then, we got to see the balloon glow which was beautiful. We tried this event last year but it was too windy for the hot air balloons to inflate so I was excited to see it this year.

On Saturday, Dad and I went for a brief visit to State College. I spent last week purging all of my belongings already in Maryland in order to make room for the next car load from my apartment. On our way we stopped at the big Harley dealership, something Dad has been wanting to do for years! We spent the rest of the day packing up my apartment and we fit everything but one box in the car. Now it’s time for some more spring cleaning!

This weekend was also one of the big annual events in Columbia, Wine in the Woods. It was originally supposed to storm all day on Sunday but we lucked out with clear weather and a small crowd. Sami, Matt, and I set up camp in Symphony Woods with our Wegmans sushi picnic and spent the day listening to music, tasting wines, and taking home some of our favorites. This was the first year I was able to go to the event and we decided we like it so much, we would love to make it an annual tradition!

After making the rounds to some of these great events I will be sure to keep my eyes peeled for some more unique events in Howard County. Next stop, strawberry picking!

It’s official, I am a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University! Graduation weekend was wonderful. I spent some time with my family, walked in my commencement ceremony, and spent a lot of time at the arboretum.

The week after graduation was full of adventures. In between spurts of packing I went to play mini golf with a few friends, Lindsay and I hiked Mount Nittany, and Susan, Lindsay and I spent an afternoon at Whipple Dam State Park.

On my last night in State College Susan and Lindsay decided to take me to all of the bars I had yet to cross off my list. I (almost) completed the State College bar challenge. The final bar on my list, The Brewery, was shut down unexpectedly a few nights prior to our impromptu bar tour. However, if I add the Rumors Lounge to the list, I still made it to 21 downtown State College bars while I was 21. I deem it a success.

I’ll admit, it feels pretty strange to be a graduate, the time really did fly as fast as they said it would. Even though I had a bumpy start to my college career, I ended up having one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. While I of course am a little glum about letting go of the cushy college lifestyle, I am so excited to join the team at the American Hebrew Academy in the fall.

awesome.

my new Nutribullet (I’ve been making lots of green smoothies)
cool weather
returning to preschool to work with 2-year-olds
sleeping in
new yoga pants
arugula

notsoawesome.

still unpacking
needing some serious “stuff” purging (time to clean out the closet!)
missing my favorite Penn Staters

Yesterday we had great weather for our senior bar tour! I’ve almost made it to all of the bars on my list. We had a really fun day downtown with a great group of people.

Indigo ✔
The Phyrst ✔
Cafe 210 ✔
Mad Mex ✔
Skeller ✔
Z Bar ✔
Saloon ✔
The Gaff ✔
Pickles✔
Bar Bleu
Darkhorse
Kildare’s✔
Lion’s Den✔
G-Man✔
Inferno
Zeno’s✔
The Brewery
Sharkies
The Second (Clover)
Chumley’s✔
Duo✔

Last weekend I had a great time at Susan’s synchronized swimming show. I also got a chance to see a production of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS with a cast of over 300 people. It was interesting to see a production with a cast that large, however, i did not quite follow the story. During the week I had the opportunity to go to a talk with Judy Meisel, a Holocaust survivor from Lithuania. Her talk was so inspiring and her outlook on life is so refreshing. Sarah and I went to see HAIR on campus on Friday night. This was my third time seeing the show and my second time seeing the touring revival and I still love it!

Benefits of studying horticulture. #flowers #spring

(Source: grantacious)

#AgDay

the ketchup.

The past two weekends I’ve had have been really great. Last weekend I got the chance to go home to Columbia for the weekend and visit with friends and family for Passover. Friday night I got home and went to Red Robin for dinner with my parents. I got some much needed sleep Saturday morning then went to Sushi Sono with Andrew and to Pub Dog with Sami, Vince, and some other friends from high school.

Sunday was another relaxing day with some added shopping time with mom. Sunday night Rebecca and I got to try out the new place Ale House Columbia which had a really great blackberry pear hard cider. Of course Monday night was the first night of Passover so I surprised my grandparents when I showed up to my aunt’s house. It was so nice to see everyone, share all of my good news, and spend some quality time with my cousins.

My week was spent catching up on work and getting back into the habit of going to class. I also worked in the dining hall serving kosher for Passover food during the week. Friday night after Shabbat, Susan, Lindsay and I went to the HUB to see a professional drag show and do some painting crafts. I have to say my favorite QUEEN was All Beef Patty—a Jewish drag queen from NYC who was also featured on America’s Got Talent.

On Saturday we had such beautiful weather, the three of us decided to spend the afternoon walking around town. Susan finally picked up her cap and gown and we both got our official alumni t-shirts. On Sunday Susan and I went to work at Hebrew School and afterwards attempted to go walk around the mall since it was too rainy to be outside but it was closed for Easter so we defaulted to Walmart followed by movies and crafting in the apartment. I also picked up some beautiful tulips to brighten up my room and try to reassure myself that spring is coming. This week I’m looking forward to Susan’s synchronized swimming show and possibly an impromptu senior photo shoot!

I was not dreaming of a white Passover but it looks like we’re getting one anyway.

si-robertsons-tea-glass:

angelastjoan:

Duck Commander/Buck Commander Harlem shake

OH MY GOD YES I LOVE THIS

Best thing I’ve seen all day

Last week I had the opportunity to go on an amazing alternative spring break trip. I went to New Orleans to do community service work with Penn State Hillel and the Jewish Farm School. We spent the week learning about food justice and sustainable agriculture through a Jewish lens while lending a hand at several urban farm/garden initiatives. We had four amazing trip leaders and some great students from both Penn State and Northeastern University. Great people, great food, great music, great time.

Most mornings on this trip we woke up early for avodat lev (service of the heart) and breakfast prepared by our peers. We packed lunches with local ingredients and headed off to whatever site we were working at that day. We harvested micro greens at Sheaux Fresh Sustainable Foods, built a fence and a chicken coop at Our NOLA Garden, witnessed a shehitah (kosher slaughter), weeded and harvested at Lutz Farms, and set up irrigation systems at Grow Dat Youth Farm.

We also worked through the Jewish Food Justice Service Learning Curriculum which covered topics such as food access, workers rights, seed sovereignty, and food systems. We cooked amazing vegetarian meals together all week. I got a chance to see some of the city when we went to Wednesday at the Square in the business district, a night out on Bourbon Street on Saturday (including visiting Cafe Du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait!), a walk through the garden district, and the market in the French quarter before we left on Sunday.

Our shabbat on this trip was also really special. We cooked an amazing meal of matzo ball soup, tzimmes, arugala salad, and pasta. We also had a beautiful service, wrote each other shabbatagrams, slept in/relaxed, had an Israeli folk dance session, ate lunch at the synagogue with the local congregation, and had a havdallah service with some incredible music.

Overall, this was a great experience. I got to explore a new place, meet new people, get in some manual labor, and remind myself of how important it is to continue questioning where our food comes from and how we can continue to improve our food system. Is your food sustainable, healthy, fair, and just? Remember that there are more questions than just “what am I eating today?”

My Pre-Spring Break Update

The past few weeks have been crazy here at Penn State! Visitors from UMD, THON, job interviews, midterms, Purim, and I’m growing 600 plants in the greenhouse for one of my classes.

I saw two shows recently for my theatre class. One was a production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and the other was a production of the musical The Last Five Years. I’m not a huge Shakespeare fan and the play was really long, but their updated take on it made it a little more interesting. They chose to set the play in New England in the early 1900s. Though they did not alter the script, the actresses were able to use much more body language since they weren’t in those bulky Elizabethan costumes.

I went to see The Last Five Years without any knowledge about the show. After seeing it I am now obsessed! The show is a musical with a cast of only two people, a man and a woman. The show tells the story of the five years of their relationship from meeting to divorce but their timelines go in reverse order. Cathy’s story goes from the divorce backwards while Jamie’s story goes from their meeting forward and the actors only interact with each other when they cross timelines at their wedding. The show is really clever, the music is great, and the cast was incredible! I went to see the show with several other Jewish students who are in my class and it was humorous for us when we were the only ones understanding and laughing at the Jewish jokes like the songs “Shiksa Goddess” and “The Schmuel Song”. I would love to see this show again some time and I hear it’s going to be made into a movie soon!

Now that I’ve worked through some really difficult exams and assignments, I am SO ready for spring break. Tomorrow I leave for an amazing community service trip with Hillel and the Jewish Farm School. We are spending a week in New Orleans working on urban farming/garden projects. I am looking forward to seeing the city for the first time and working with great people on amazing projects. Thank you to my grandparents for making it possible for me to go on this trip!