Every-thing I need to know in life, I've learned at Penn State.

The lessons aren't things that I've learned in the classroom or out of a textbook. They're simply lessons that I could have only been taught while living the last four years of my life in the happiest valley on earth -- Happy Valley.

I was tempted to write in a sappy, nostalgic tone to better help me come to terms with graduating, but I'll be doing enough crying at graduation.

So I'll conserve my emotions for the time being. And, as they say, your college years are supposed to be the best years of your life, so there is no reason for me to get all sentimental here.

Since I always strive to be different and original -- and that is one of the personality traits that my college experience has helped me develop -- I feel that it is only appropriate that I take a different route. So, with that disclaimer, I give you my list of Penn State proverbs - all based on my experience here in State College.

I hope these words of wisdom can serve as a reference for current Penn Staters as well as those that are passing on to the real world. Never look back and live only for the present. If you turn around, as I once did at a football game my freshman year, you could find yourself getting smacked in the face with a shower of plastic cups or half-eaten, ketchup-smeared hot dog buns. Maybe even chewing tobacco (Yes, that really happened to me).

Always look where you're walking in the path of life.

You may never know when a rampant squirrel will run into your leg or scurry incessantly back and forth in front of you while you're walking to class.

Try to take the road least traveled. I have learned that if few use a path at Penn State, there's a good chance it might be one of the only ones that isn't haphazardly blocked by yellow "Do Not Cross" tape and orange-and-white construction barriers.

A penny saved is a penny earned. Or it's a penny that can be thrown in a large plastic container and be saved for the fun things in life -- such as bar hopping or treating yourself to a dinner other than ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese.

When it rains, it pours. But, that makes the sunnier days even more worthwhile.

Take Penn State as an example. The sun comes out and it would seem as if everyone is living the day as if it were their last.

Freshmen frolic throughout the East Halls quad, others play frisbee or soccer for hours on Old Main lawn. Yet others soak up the rays relentlessly -- so much that you fall asleep and almost miss class. Oops.

Follow the rules. Trying to walk in the wrong door of the Creamery or attempting to mix Peachy Paterno and vanilla ice cream on the same cone won't get you served and it could send you back to the beginning of the line.

Learn good time-management skills. Bad time-management skills and false assumptions lead to big problems. Never again will I leave my car overnight in a lot that is monitored starting at 9 a.m. Getting there at 9:10 clearly wasn't good enough for the witty parking cops that were probably there at 8:59 waiting to put a ticket on my Volkswagen Golf.

Almost always, the early bird gets the worm.

Too bad I hate worms. My 8 a.m. introductory meteorology class was in Walker Building, and I lived in East Halls. Enough said.

But as I also learned, persistence pays off. I stuck with the class and the major long enough to realize that being an on-TV weather woman wasn't quite what I had imagined. Of course, this was after I made barely passing grades in two semesters of calculus.

And the last lesson I will be taught here at Penn State -- all good things do, unfortunately, come to an end.

This makes me sad to leave. But, I'm also optimistic because new and good beginnings are coming my way.