Oh, the places you'll go...: September 2010

Monday, September 20, 2010

Raise the curtains

So, since school has begun I haven't been feeling much excitement towards my classes or work what so ever, until now. I have recently landed an internship with the Hershey Theatre and M.S. Hershey Foundation under the community relations department.
I absolutely love this theatre and I even did my graduation project here back in high school. This place isn't just a theatre, though, it serves as a community center as well. It's just one location in which M. Hershey has provided for central Pa.
I admire all that Milton has done for this community from providing jobs, education, homes and culture, and it has only grown from there. This is why I am looking forward to learning more about non-profit management.
My first project is helping work with the Apollo Awards. This program was created recently to recognize outstanding achievement by local high school students in their musical and play productions (somewhat like the tony awards). It got its name from the Greek god (Apollo) and was the patron God of music, poetry, and the arts. In the past two years, this scholarship program gave away over $25,000 to students. I am really looking forward to working here and seeing what all it has in store for me.

Gettysburg Get-away

This past weekend I had an awesome little get away to ole Gettysburg, Pa. I've always loved coming here to visit because I learn/experience something new every time, plus I look at myself as a bit of a history nerd so it gets me excited.
Friday night my good friends Patrick and Tori joined me in part of this excursion. We gathered up our courage and joined the Gettysburg Paranormal Association(http://gettysburgparanormalinvestigations.com/) in hunting for some ghosts! This was by far one of the most daunting things I have done. Being outside in the dark is scary enough, but visiting places where we know are haunted just sends shivers down my spine. Earlier in the night we did a small haunted walking tour which got our adrenaline pumping. I could talk for a long time on the history I learned just from this, but this is something you'll have to come and enjoy. Later in the night, the 3 of us were introduced to some of the ghost hunting instruments that are often used in the show 'Ghost Hunters' such as the shadow detecting laser, EMF meter, K2 meter, laser thermometer and dosing rods. Our first stop was to one of the most haunted locations in Gettysburg, Sachs covered bridge. I was told a little bit about the bridge, such as it was used by both the confederates and union soldiers and also as Robert E. Lee's troops were withdrawing from the field, three Rebel soldiers were found to be spies. A speedy trial on the spot found them guilty and they were hanged from beams in the covered bridge. Their bodies were discovered by Union soldiers patrolling the area. We had a little experience with the spirits that our tools detected and it was very eerie. Our real exhilarating experience was later when we went into one of the old houses by ourselves and met General G. Reynolds who was the first general to die in the Gettysburg battle and was left in this house dead for 3 days. Tori was actually using the dosing rods in communicating with him and the rods would cross and uncross during their conversing (they were talking about drinking whiskey =] It was quite an exciting night and I only peed myself once =p...

The next day, my parents and I returned for another day in the 'burg. We started our afternoon by eating at the Farnsworth House (http://www.farnsworthhouseinn.com/) (supposedly the 2nd most haunted bed and breakfast in the world!!) which also has a lot of interesting history behind it. We sat outside surrounded by a quaint garden and water fall and enjoyed an awesome meal with ale. Afterwards, we traveled to some winerys and had our way with them =p one in specific is the Adams County Winery. I absolutely loved being out in the country side enjoying the amazing weather and delicious local wines. We all had a great time and plan on coming back fairly soon for the apple/halloween festivities.