This time of year, there's more than just spring in the air. During these last few weeks of school, Locust Walk is jam-packed with performance groups yelling, dancing and blasting music - all for the sake of advertising their spring shows. Just walking to recitation involves having at least fifteen different fliers shoved in your face.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College junior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

One of the most rewarding parts of running for president is meeting the young, smart and passionate people across this country. You are standing up and taking part in our nation's history. We all saw your activism on display after September 11. President Bush called on Americans to draw on our wallets and go shopping.

Like all professions, engineering is becoming increasingly global. Luckily, more and more Engineering students are finding time in their education here at Penn to study abroad. But despite increased participation rates, many students still feel that studying abroad is too much of a hassle or just isn't worth it.

The Colbert Nation has become the Colbert Campus, as Stephen Colbert, the Emmy award-winning comedy host, has descended upon Penn's Zellerbach Theatre for the week. Colbert arrived at Penn last weekend to begin a special filming of his show, The Colbert Report, in anticipation of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

Wharton may be facing stiffer competition from its European counterparts for quality MBA candidates. European business schools - offering a shorter and cheaper MBA program - are becoming an increasingly popular option for students seeking a higher business degree.

There's no denying that Penn students are a diverse bunch. About 13 percent of current freshmen are international students. Additionally, many students who are U.S. residents immigrated here from another country. Bridges For Integration is a new organization devoted to helping immigrant students assimilate into American culture.

Around 9 p.m. on Saturday, I left the raging Carnival and impossibly long lines on College Green to make a quick pit stop at the 34th Street food court. Literally 30 seconds after I had joined my friends in line, someone informed us that Stephen Colbert and his wife were checking out at CVS.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering junior from Houston, TX. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Penn's 8-5 loss to No. 14 Brown last Saturday was the end of Ivy League play. It was not, however, the end of the world. While the Quakers were visibly (and understandably) dejected immediately after becoming the Bears' seventh straight victim, they have since taken the game - and season, for that matter - in stride.

From Ludacris to Gym Class Hereos, the musical acts on campus this past week have been anything but "ordinary." But yesterday's campus visit from five-time Grammy winner and 1999 College graduate John Legend had a political touch to it. Coming just before next Tuesday's Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, Legend was on campus to help rally for Senator Barack Obama Looking to strike the right chord with newly registered voters, Legend performed seven songs, including his signature hit "Ordinary People," at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

The Undergraduate Assembly adjourned for the year last Sunday night after wrapping up several pieces of legislation from this past year. Members voted to pass the Blood Donor Policy Proposal, which will replace the controversial, recently-passed Blood Donor Discrimination Proposal as the position of the UA.

Which Greek god sprang from the head of Zeus? Who makes more money, MBAs or geologists? These are not the typical questions asked of Penn students, but during yesterday's College Palooza on the Green, visitors were quizzed with such trivia. If you're curious - the answers are Athena and geologists, respectively.

Football coach Al Bagnoli paced the Palestra floor just after noon on Sunday and told members of his team to rouse classmates from their collective hangover. "You guys gonna call some people?" he said to a group of chatting players. "Drag 'em down here." Soon enough, a smattering of students filtered in, and by the end of the day the team had helped to add around 150 names to the National Marrow Donor Program's registry, said Yvette Torres, the NMDP's point person on the project.

After a disappointing stretch of eight straight losses over the past week, the Penn softball team is looking to recover. Yet the struggling Quakers (18-16, 5-7 Ivy) won't get much of a reprieve with a doubleheader today against the Wildcats. "I don't know a lot about Villanova," Penn coach Leslie King said.

Senior societies are all about big names - big-name leaders on campus and their own big names scrawled all over Locust Walk. With three of the oldest senior societies at Penn - the Sphinx Senior Society, the Friar Senior Society and the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society - admitting their new classes this past week, each claims to have snatched up the best and brightest campus leaders around.

The Penn Interfraternity Council is urging the Greek community to write letters telling their congressmen to support the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, a bill which permits tax-deductible donations to Greek chapter housing corporations. The proposal will make it easier for many chapters to increase alumni donations for these important upgrades.