It’s a rainy day here in Oswego, like most of the days in April usually are here. So what is there to do around here anyways? Well let me share with you my top 3 favorite places to go have fun in Oswego!

• Oswego 7 Cinemas – The best movie theater ever for two great reasons. #1 – THE CHAIRS ARE THE MOST MAGICAL CHAIRS IN ALL OF THE LAND. Yes, that was tad bit dramatic, but you must experience these chairs. They are large, soft, and they freaking recline people! Okay, again I’ll calm down… but seriously, go sit in one of these chairs. #2 – The movies are cheap. Like, college student budget affordable.
  • Early bird special (before noon) tickets are only $5.00!
  • Matinee showings (12:01pm-5:59pm) tickets are only $6.50!
  • After 6pm tickets are only $8.50!
  • Bonus: on Tuesday’s they have a bargain day where all movie tickets are only $6.50 and on Wednesdays, small popcorn is only $1.00.

• Lighthouse Lanes – I love to go bowling with my friends at Lighthouse Lanes. They have several open lanes and great deals for college students. They also food to order, because who doesn’t want pizza and beer (21+) while bowling?! Cosmic bowling runs from 9:30pm-2am on Fridays and Saturdays. The college specials are:
  • Sunday’s, Monday’s and Wednesday’s (9:30pm-12am) – $1.99 games and $1 shoe rental
  • Tuesday’s and Thursday’s (9:30pm-12am) – $6.99 all you can bowl, shoe rental included

• Greene’s Team Trivia – Every Wednesday at 10pm at Greene’s, they host a team trivia night. It’s a lot of fun, and if you are 21+ you can win prizes! They put the categories out on their social media platforms around 1pm every Wednesday, so you can know what to expect. The categories always start with trending on social media and end with movies but the middle categories are always randomly chosen. It’s a fun weekday activity to do with your friends and their food is really good! (My recommendation is the buffalo chicken tenders)

The Phi Sigma Sigma Epsilon Nu chapter will be hosting our first ‘Mr. Phi-Significant’ Pageant. All proceeds will be going towards the Jennifer Knighton Scholarship Fund and The Kids in Need Foundation.

Jennifer received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Oswego State University in May of 2009. She was also a sister of Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority. Jennifer turned 22 years old on July 15, 2009 and passed away in an alcohol related accident in July 19th, 2009. Jennifer’s Dad will be in attendance at the event and wants you all there! The main purpose of this event is to emphasize moderation when you drink. While Jen was of legal age to drink she drank too much.

Mr. Phi Significant is a male beauty pageant where the contestants will compete in four rounds (introductions, swimsuit, talent, and formalwear)

We will be pre selling tickets from March 20th to March 23rd in the Marano Campus Center from 10-3pm for $3. Tickets will also be sold at the door the day of the event for $5!
The event will be held in the Hewitt Ballroom

To learn more about Jen and her story please go to http://moderationjeneration.com

Last week eight friends and I decided to take on Bali, Indonesia for our Spring Break. We step off the plane to be greeted with a wall of hot, heavy, and humid air; none of us have ever been this close to the equator before. Our driver, Bobby, packed our luggage into the van and took us to our awaiting villa of paradise for the week.

The first day we trekked through Bali a few hours North to Ubud’s jungles and an elephant oasis. Mary, the elephant I was paired with, showed me around the local village, rice patty and forest. Riding an elephant was definitely terrifying at first. They are so tall and strong; you can’t help but feel vulnerable. But after a few minutes I was comfortable and amazed with the beautiful creatures power. After feeding the elephants and playing with the babies we were lead to a beautiful three-course Balinese lunch.

Day two we had a few adrenaline packed activities planned – white water rafting and ATVing through the jungle. I felt like I was apart of a Hollywood film while gliding down the Ayung River. The valley was filled with natural waterfalls and bright green vines – the scene was picturesque and serene when we weren’t tumbling through the roaring rapids. Afterwards, we were able to blow off some steam and let loose on the ATV course through the jungle and nearby village.

The third day my roommates had an early pick-up call of 2am to hike up Mount Batur, an active volcano, for the sunrise. Unfortunately, I had to decline this exciting excursion due to my recent injury but I knew it was for the best. Instead, my friend Emma and I found a spa a few blocks away from our villa to receive some luxurious Balinese treatments. Since our money is worth so much in Bali, we were able to treat ourselves like queens in the tranquil environment. Later that day our group found the Monkey Forrest and made a few furry friends. I was surprised at how terrified I became after the larger-than-expected marsupials were jumping on and off all of us. However, I did end up making a furry little friend that hung out on my hand for a while.

Spending a few days in a low-income country was an eye-opening experience. Being in the tourist area of Bali was a very different experience than being up north in the villages filled with locals. The Balinese that lived in the tourist areas lived off the tourists’ money. We couldn’t walk down the street without every taxicab beeping at us to see if we needed a ride. Similarly, every salon, spa and restaurant had employees waiting outside to inform and hopefully drive customers inside. We walked through a few markets during some evenings and the vendors would sometimes trap you into their booth and beg you to name a good price. I would bargain for a good price, as we were told to do so, but sometimes I left feeling unsatisfied – knowing they needed the minimal amount of money I saved more than I did.

After leaving Bali, I can’t help but feel extremely grateful for the life that has been given to me. There are many less fortunate than us that we tend to ‘forget’ about. Not necessarily in the sense of money, but the opportunities and resources we have access to and often take for granted – like clean water and a higher education.

In the end, spring break was a success! The food was delicious, the people were friendly and the views were incredible. This week I’ll be headed to New Zealand for a long weekend. Thanks for reading – stay tuned for more adventures!

Hello Oswego, and welcome to the Spring 2017 semester!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Matt Seymour, a sophomore meteorology major here at SUNY Oswego. Some may know me as the “Sassy Weatherman.” (plug: follow my Twitter @SassyWeatherman and you’ll eventually figure out why). I am active in the school’s meteorology club, and I enjoy being outdoors and taking photographs.

And what a start it has been to the semester, weather-wise. Two significant lake effect snow events have occurred in the past two weeks. Neither produced huge snow accumulation in Oswego, but the Tug Hill Plateau (northeast of Oswego) has been hammered. Redfield, NY, a small town on the southern Tug Hill, has picked up 120″ (10 FEET) of snow since January 26. Videos have been posted of people literally jumping into the snow and being buried head to toe instantly. Now that’s some powder!!!

Here in Oswego, we have been missed by the majority of these snows. I’d estimate that campus has picked up around 20-25″ of snow in that same timeframe. Why’s this? Blame the lake effect. A single band of lake effect snow often isn’t more than a few miles wide, so it is capable of highly localized snowfall. It literally could be sunny in one location, and then a mile down the road it’s snowing and blowing with drifts waist deep. In a nutshell, this is what happened to Oswego during this past week. The snow band set up (on several occasions) just to the north or south of campus. Locations on either side picked up 2-4 times as much snow as campus. However, when it did snow here, it came down fast and furious. There were even two instances of thundersnow! (For those who keep track, we have now had 8 instances of thundersnow this winter in Oswego.)

This week, a mid-week warm up looks to bring rain, wind, mild temps and melting snow. Lake effect is once again possible Thursday. Will it hit campus, that remains to be seen. Regardless, have a great week all!!!