How to survive PA weather

Never forget your umbrella. If you don’t have one, invest in one at once! Don’t even think about leaving your dorm without one. If there is anything that I have learned from Penn State it’s that the weather can change in a matter of seconds. It will probably only rain when you’re walking in between classes, not when you’re actually in class. Speaking from experience, I cannot stress it enough how important an umbrella is!

My first year, I checked the weather and it said that there was only a 40% chance of rain and 73 degrees so I wore shorts and a t shirt and left my umbrella in my room… What a mistake! On my way back from class the weather took a turn and started to downpour torrentially. To make matters worse, I was wearing a white t shirt that day. Learning from my mistake, I have not left my room without my umbrella since.

If you’re wondering what kind of umbrella to buy, I would recommend the $10 ones from Target. They aren’t too expensive and are durable enough to survive college. When I first came to school I brought a cheap Pittsburgh Pirates one I had sitting at home. Not my best option, but I thought it would do the trick. On the first heavy rainfall of the year I went to open up the umbrella and as soon as I pressed the button the whole top of the umbrella launched 10 ft. right into the storm! I had to use the small top of the umbrella and try to hold it over my head. It was only slightly complicated to hold on to a 4 inch wet rod with a weight at the end, so I never realized how luxurious umbrellas with nice handles were until it broke in half. As an engineer you would think I could fix it…. Nope. Turns out Industrial Engineering is not so relatable to umbrella engineering! I had no clue how to fix it or prevent the problem. Needless to say I only used it one more time and then switched to my Target umbrella – it hasn’t let me down in 2 years!

By: Claire Weiland (Mentor Team H)