Spent too much money your first weekend back at Penn State? How about this Friday through Sunday you try some of these fun, FREE things:

1. Make up a scavenger hunt. Our tips...first make teams (there's nothing like a little bit of healthy competition). Second, find random objects about town. Fun things to gather in the hunt:
- movie ticket stub
- Hooter's application
- a piece of fruit
- a shoelace
- a tootsie roll

2. Have game night! Come on, we all know people love Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, Cards, even charades. Sometimes we forget how much fun these things can be (especially if you include a 12-pack with the whole ordeal).

3. Catch up on that list of movies you've been saying for years you have to watch. Add some popcorn and friends and bam! by the end of the night, you'll be more cultured and you'll be able to check off some of that list.

4. Throw a dance party. I know, I know ... we're not 12 and we're not trying to start a rave. But why not? Good tunes and good company make for a great recipe. Move some furniture out of the way, sweat it out, and do what you'd never do at the bar. (Leave the cameras at home).

Hey alllll, this is Nikki Sciotto writing, Venues Chief at The Daily Collegian. Jill and I will both be frequently updating this Get A Nightlife blog. When I'm not hovered over a computer keyboard in the Collegian office at 123 S. Burrowes St., I'm usually out getting a night life, or something along those lines.
I'm sorry that I can't describe a booty shaking night at Indigo at the moment or table wars at the Phyrst; those will come. But this weekend, none of that seems appealing. There is only one thing I want to do. And that's sleep.
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF, yes, it exists), women need more sleep then men, but they often don't get it. That's not encouraging being that I'm a woman and this past week and week prior, I've slept an average of three hours a night. It seems like every night, I'm up late at The Collegian or catching up on school work. That doesn't even bother me so much as being abruptly wakened by a ridiculous thunderstorm i.e. the one that came rolling through earlier this week, or my neighbors blasting Led Zeppelin at 9 a.m. and playing beer pong. Sleep and I just haven't been able to get together lately and it makes me as cranky as a 7-year old pre-nap time.
Fortunately, there is proof that it is physically possible to catch up on lost sleep. Everyone's body requires roughly an average of 8 hours of sleep per night (depending on your body type and its needs), but if you begin to fall behind on your clocked hours of sleep, sleeping in and/or naps can get you up to speed.

According to NSF, short sleep duration can cause:
* Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
* Increase in body mass index - a greater likelihood of obesity due to an increased appetite caused by sleep deprivation
* Increased risk of diabetes and heart problems
* Increased risk for psychiatric conditions including depression and substance abuse
* Decreased ability to pay attention, react to signals or remember new information

I don't care to become obese, depressed, forget everything, or get into a vehicular accident. So, with that being said, I'm not hitting the town this Thursday through Saturday night, which may be my usual routine. Instead, I'll be in my room, curtains drawn and blacked out, but not from alcohol.

Last year, I found myself sitting between an elderly couple at a scholarship reception dinner. Out of good will, the pair had graciously formed an award for a student who worked at the Daily Collegian while balancing a full load of schoolwork; the majority of the Collegian staff was (and still is) more than qualified for this award, but last fall semester I was grateful to have been chosen as one of the recipients. As we talked over under seasoned chicken and potatoes, I learned that they had met at The Collegian; the husband was the sports editor, the wife the arts editor. They married after graduation and remained so after some 60 years of happy matrimony.

This is clearly the newspaper version of the star football player and cheerleader captain falling in love and living happily ever after. And they were very happy, forming scholarship awards together through the College of Communications and holding football season tickets with prime parking spots for tailgating. Now a senior and still single with no prospects in visible sight, I am still mystified over how they did it. Fate? The right place at the right time?

It seems to me that for past generations of Penn Staters, and colleges throughout the nation in general, it was highly likely to find that supposed soul mate during the four years. Every football weekend, I'm reminded of this by parents who flash around children who sport the blue and white football or cheerleader uniforms. I'm not saying that I want to spend the rest of my life together with someone just because we share blue and white as a common denominator, I'm just stating that it seems ultimately impossible in the valley where Natural Light and Vladimir vodka reign and partying hard takes high priority over dating.

Obviously, it has to be taken into consideration that our generation is deliberately slower when it comes to serious relationships and instead opts to put careers first, dissimilar to our parents and parents generations. This more than often than not takes college dating right out of the picture.

I believe, however, that there's no denying our highly single and very lively student population that has put us at the #3 spot for top party schools; ti's undeniable that everyone here just wants some ass before graduation and future relationships are hardly ever given a second thought. Maybe its only after our four years here and living outside of the Happy Valley do we allow something to flourish with a significant other, Penn State alum or not. There's just too many great bar specials and good times to be had to worry about "looking."

Half a century later, would my scholarship donors still find each other today, surrounded by endless temptations and an undying fervor for partying? One can only guess.

---Nikki