The final boxes were unpacked and the final T-shirts were neatly put into the smallish closet of my 406 Stuart Hall room.
But that was 1,332 days ago.
A lot has changed, especially in the last year while covering Penn State football.
Before that I was just Robert Spruck, a Daily Collegian reporter who covered basketball, wrestling and women's soccer to name a few beats. And no one knew who I was.
That has all changed.
For me, I was still the same kid who worked diligently to cover the team on a daily basis. For the readers, it all changed.
No one ever remembers the positive articles that are written about the beloved Nittany Lions.
I have made mistakes. I never claimed I was perfect.
But the job of a reporter is to report on the team and what is happening. That's exactly what I feel I did. It's hard to be optimistic when the team is enduring a 3-9 season, and it's my opinion. I am allowed to have my opinion.
Listening to all the readers' opinions has been enjoyable throughout, but has also made be wonder sometimes.
Scott McMullen, Craig Krenzel's back up, through a fade pass to the corner of the endzone to the 6-foot-4 Michael Jenkins, giving the Ohio State Buckeyes the lead.
So I walk down the sideline to where the Lions were going to receive the ball. Midway through my walk, I look into the packed stands to the see the reaction of the fans.
Then, out of nowhere, appears this angered student screaming, "Spruck, f%*# you. Joe Paterno is better than you."
The security guard, if he could even be called that, put up his hand and told the enraged fan who was reaching over the railing, "Please stop." I felt like that loner freshman student trying to get into a fraternity party and the eight fraternity boys pushing him down the stairs. Worried.
And to this fan, I say, "Great. Thanks."
Or following the Indiana football game in November, the Lions finally won a game, and did so easily, 52-7, but instead of celebrating the victory, a group of 20 or 30 student supporters chanted, "Spruck Sucks."
Then, one night while with my friends at the G-Man, I hear the chant again, "Spruck Sucks."
I turn around and this girl walks up to me and says, "We were the students who chanted at the football games." Then she tried to convince her friends to come talk to me.
They didn't want to. Probably scared of the overbearing size and stature.
And to them, I say, "Great. Thanks."
But even with the face-to-face encounters, most reporters only receive e-mail messages. There have been a few, or many, e-mail messages in the last year.
"Are you a Notre Dame fan? I was just wondering because you have been a lot more than critical of Penn State and of Joe Paterno this year," a Penn State senior wrote me late in the season.
No, I'm not a Notre Dame fan. I want Penn State to do well and win football games. Even though there's a strong possibility of the men's basketball team returning to dominance before the football team does, neither will happen soon.
It's just easier to turn around a basketball team because all a team needs is one good recruiting year.
"Why don't you do us all a favor, yourself included. Find another team to write about," an alumnus wrote toward season's end.
Congratulations. As of today, you finally have your wish. It might have taken more than five months, but I'm heading to the Midwest, even if only for the summer.
And to him I say, "Great. Thanks."
"This is an avid Kelly Mazzante fan. Dude, you didn't have to diss her that bad. She had a couple of off games, but her career was awesome and that's all there is to it," a sixth-grader wrote.
I respect that. I am glad that you have enjoyed watching women's basketball and Mazzante.
"Good luck with the rest of your senior year or whatever. I'm in the sixth grade, but I know that I'm going to PSU," the youngster concluded.
And to this young fan, I say, "Thanks."
I hope so, as Penn State has been amazing. There isn't another school at which I would have rather spent the last 1,332 days.
