David Westsmith – Intro

I’m a returning student who was confronted with the reality of the ever changing blue collar job prospects.  I am a licensed contractor and its a fight to maintain that I am truly tired of. So I decided to finish school.  I am an ESP major.  This is an interesting major and to me its a combination of a BA and a BS.  There is more science in the major than I was aware.  I think it is an excellent major.  I collect one specific guitar from only 1 year of manufacture. 1983 Ibanez Roadstar 2’s.  I have 13.  I have the largest collection in the United States which I am proud of.  I have an RS 1100 that was only released in West Germany.  Besides that I have traveled all over the place and lived on and off in the Philippines for 14 years and have a cheap hotel room there that I keep stuff in. Cebu is a great bouncing point.  cheap flights to anywhere asia.  I’ve been to many South East Asian countries. Too many to list.  My first semester at Penn was from that hotel room in Cebu via wi-fi, a toggled nokia E-51, a usb simm gsm stick and sometimes various coffee houses in malls in Cebu.  I can say I am truly a member of the world campus if you get my meaning.  I play music, (drums), and played in a sort of motown/funk/70’s band ala james brown, aretha etc…That was in the Philippines with other expats and a brit.  too much fun!! I made good money too.  Lots to blab about….I better stop.

2 thoughts on “David Westsmith – Intro

  1. Hello David, my name is Dominique and I too am enrolled at Penn State through the World Campus as well as a student of the ESP program. You can find my lesson 1 blog post here: http://sites.psu.edu/engr312/2014/09/02/lesson-1-getting-to-know-dominique-wells/. I think it’s extraordinarily commendable that you’ve returned to school after being so dedicated to a particular field for so long. Although my transition hasn’t been as difficult as some, I understand the hardship of having to work full time as well as being in school part or full time – IT’S NOT EASY! I too love to travel so it’s interesting to hear about your endeavors to Asian countries as I have never been. I look forward to reading more posts from you with hopes that you’ll be able to tie in a few more of your stories!

  2. Hi David, my name is Cindy and I’m also an ESP major. I have been taking part time classes towards this degree for a few years now and I have to say that I just love the curriculum and the people involved! I checked out the guitar that you collect and it is pretty sweet! I play a ukulele and mandolin and some of my favorite songs to cover are motown. I love Funky Friday on XPN, I’m not sure if you listen to that radio station but you might like it!

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