Labor Day Weekend

Football Time in Tennessee

Saturday morning, September 4th, was the first game day of the year for the Volunteers.  Of course all of campus was excitedly anticipating the start of this season, but as freshmen, we were particularly antsy.  Laura (my roommate whom I love and adore) and I awoke to a phone call from Cole (my best friend).

Cole: "Laura! You guys need to get up! It is football time in Tennessee! It is game day and it is beautiful weather out here, so get y'all's butts outta' bed!"

She looked at the clock. It was 12pm. Laura started yelling for me to get up, that we were missing everything! It was our first UT football game and we were MISSING it!!  We hurriedly got ready, she showered quickly, jumping out and leaving the water running for me to get in. 

The guys (Cole and his suitemates) came to our room and watched The Soup as Laura and I finished putting on our make-up.  Just as Laura and I were finishing up, Stephanie (Laura's best friend) and her roommate, Maria, came to our room to head out with us.

The first thing we did was take our picture at The Rock which had been painted appropriately for the game, and we walked down Volunteer Boulevard, checking out all of the games of cornhole and bratts and tailgating tents.

We went to PCB (Presidential Court Buffet) for breakfast.  We ran into an old friend of mine that I haven't seen in years.  She and her boyfriend ended up eating with us and spending the rest of game day with us.
We called Matt and Alex and told them to get out of bed and come eat with us because IT'S GAME DAY!!  They joined us later and we finished breakfast so that we could walk around campus.

We also enjoyed ice cream afterwards :)

After eating, we strolled around campus, past every tailgating tent and family. 

On the way to Circle Park and The Torch, it was so hot that Sarah and I cooled off in the fountain

Right next to the fountain were many booths and activities and organiztions set up.  One of which included a free inflatable obstacle course.  Enough said.

And there were $1 snowcones

And then we went to a shady spot to wait on some friends to go grab some lunch on The Strip.

And when everyone arrived, we went to Wendy's on The Strip, where this crazy old man with a long grey ponytail was walking around with a prescription pill bottle in his hand and waving at random strangers with the other as he shouted at them and sang along to the music on the street.  I decided that I MUST have my picture taken with this man.  And much to everyone else's disapproval and embarrasment, I asked Mr. Peanut for his picture with me.

(Don't you love the bright red shoes?)

(Yes, those ARE two pigs on top of each other

with the tag line "Makin' Bacon."  He also has a picture of Mr. Peanut on his left bicep. A little difficult to make out in this picture, but that's where he gets his "name" I suppose. Nice guy.)

AND THEN WE WENT TO THE GAME!!!

Before 5:30 Saturday evening, I thought that I could not be any more in love with UT.  Well, I was wrong.  The Pride of the Southland Marching Band was amazing.  They performed on the way into the stadium.

And in the stadium they formed the infamous "T"

It was beautiful.

They played fight songs and classics in between plays, such as "Rocky Top" (of course) and "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Sweet Caroline" to which the entire stadium sang along.  The singing of the UT fans was so loud that you could barely hear the music.

The entire stadium did "the wave" which circled around and around the stadium for minutes.  It even continued during game-play..

Our group's seats were on the second row of the second tier (EE) and sometime during the second half, a random drunk guy fell on us from about four rows up.  Fortunately, we were all sitting down or we would have been pitched over the rail.  Then the idiot climbs back up to his seat, apologizing to all of the people ABOVE him, instead of those of us he actually hit.  Then he asked why we were all f-ing staring at him.

The nerve.

And I can't forget to mention the actual football of course!!  The UT-Martin game was incredible to watch.  We were able to enjoy a shut-out for our first UT game as college students.  The crowd was loud and wild, and we were all connected in our spirit and excitement.  I've never been more excited to be a Tennessee Vol.

And for Mr. Gary, this is my proof.

A picture of God shining his love and approval onto Neyland.

Boomsday

On Sunday night, one of UT's most renowned events took place:  Boomsday.  It's a huge fireworks show that takes place on the river every year on the Sunday night before Labor Day. 

We did not get down there early enough to get a good seat for the show.  Everyone in our group left for the show just a little before Kelby and I did, so we couldn't find each other.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people crowding the vendor-lined street, pushing and shoving.  With poor reception, we tried to call the others to find out were they were sitting.

We found Matt and Maria just as the show was starting, and we stood in the middle of the street and watched the fireworks.  I love fireworks, and this was an exceptionally good show. 

We just stood in awe, with Kelby's arms around me, listening to everyone singing along to popular music and  "I'm Proud to be an American" and "Don't Stop Believin'."

At the very end of the show, they played a beautiful version of Amazing Grace.  I've never been so touched.  There were no shouts of protest, no rude and obnoxious movement; just silent, respectful reverence.  It was amazing that such a large university school in this day and age would be willing to play such a "controversial" song.  I've never been more proud to be a member of the University of Tennessee.

Labor Day

On Labor Day, Monday morning, Kelby and I headed back to Wartburg to spend the day with Mom and Nana and Pappy.  When we got home, we went down to Nemo (the river) and spent the rest of the day playing in the water and relaxing watching baseball and football.

The closest to my heart.  Saying goodbye was miserable.

I can't wait to see them again.

PDM

Monday mornings are a college students' most hated enemy.  Not the last-minute email assignments, not the paper or project that you've been putting off for a month and now have less than 24 hours to complete, not the miserable Saturday morning headaches.  It is Monday mornings that are most dreaded, most despised. 


But this Monday was different.  Even though this Monday marked the beginning of the first full week of classes, campus seemed abuzz with excitement and anticipation.  No, this joy did not stem from the anticipation of acquiring new knowledge, nor from getting a great night's sleep, or even the "easy days" on which professors only review the syllabus.  No, the thing that brightened the faces of most UT students on this particular Monday morning was the anticipation of PDM: Panty Drop Monday.


Now, in order to fully understand what PDM is, you have to understand the process of Sorority and Fraternity Rush.  The sororities rush during Welcome Week, the first week that freshmen are moved in.  During the entire week of rush, the girls who are rushing have a nine o'clock curfue every evening.  They are not allowed to attend any parties, drink, or socialize with guys.  Sunday is the final day of sorority rush, and the grueling process ends for the ladies upon receiving their bid.


The very next day, Monday, is when Fraternity Rush begins.  So Monday night is the night that all of the campus fraternities throw huge parties in order to attract pledges.  This Monday night is also the first night that the newly inducted sorority girls are allowed "out."  They attend these fraternity parties, and having not been able to socialize with the opposite sex for over a week, well... I'm sure you can figure out why it is referred to as "Panty Drop Monday."


As my good guy friend put it:
"Monday is the worst day to get lucky.  Because only the girls who are complete sluts will put out on Monday.  I mean, it's the first day!  What does that say about someone who puts out on the first day?
Tuesday nobody will be out, because everyone is still exhausted from Monday.  Wednesday and Thursday there will be a few people out, but not too many and the parties won't be too crazy, because everyone has classes the next day. But Friday, Friday is the best day to get lucky.  Everyone's out and ready to have fun because there are no classes to worry about.  That's when the girls who think they aren't sluts, but really are, put out."


Anyhow, things can get pretty crazy.  PDM is common knowledge to the public now, so there were a lot of police patrolling the area.  Some frats booked entire bars for their party, while others hosted at their frat house.  A couple of my friends went to one of the frat houses.  Because of the large number of cops, the fraternity was taking every measure possible to ensure that no one would get "caught."  They had designated drivers to take people home (people who even lived within walking distance!)  They also had all of their guests upstairs to minimize the risk of getting into trouble.  Apparently, it was very crowded.  One of my friends even came back early saying, "It was too crowded; you couldn't even move in there.  And it was just a bunch of drunk sorority girls in dresses."


Sounds like a good time to me.


I went to the library with my friend (the one that came back early from the frat house) around 1 to get help finding an article for class.  On our way to and from Hodges we saw many interesting sights, most of which consisted of a completely wasted person being escorted/supported/steered down the sidewalk towards their home as they shouted loudly.


Apparently, now it is not supposed to be reffered to as PDM.  Instead, the sorority girls have insisted that it be called FNO (First Night Out). Something about the name sounding too... unclassy.


But I doubt that the student body will ever even consider referring to this epic holiday as anything other than Panty Drop Monday.

First Friday in Knox

I was much overdue for lunch by the time 2:15 rolled around and my last class of the day finally ended.  I stopped by IHOP and got a stuffed french toast platter (I highly recommend this.  Not only was the french toast delicious, but the eggs and bacon were just right as well.  They were fresh; made-to-order.  Not like the eggs and bacon that have been sitting under a heat lamp for hours in the dining hall.)

After scarfing down my food, I went to my uncle's.  He lives about ten minutes off campus.  I visited a little bit and checked out the bike that I wanted to borrow.  Then I ran to Turkey Creek to pick up some posterboard and orange computer paper for my campaign for MHRA. 

My Nana called me as I was leaving the Walmart parking lot.  She had seen on the news that there have been two reported cases of West Nile in Knoxville and that they're cautioning everyone to wear bugspray.  So I spent the next fifteen minutes assuring her that I would wear insect repellent if I so much as stepped outside for any amount of time, day or night.

When I got back to the dorm, I crashed.  I don't even know how long I was out.  I got back around seven, and I woke up to my ringtone *They climbin' in yo windows, they snatchin' yo people up...* when my roommate called me at nine.

My roommate and her best friend returned to our dorm room so we could have a "Girls' Night" watching Mulan.  Our Girls' Night ended up consisting of five girls and seven boys watching Mulan in a 14x12 ft dorm room.  After the movie, I suggested that we paint The Rock in honor of our friends' birthdays.  My best friend's had been Thursday and my roommate's best friend's was on Saturday.  So we all threw in a few bucks and sent a few of the guys to the store to get spray paint.  Even though they were back by 12am with the paint, we had to wait until 3am to actually leave to paint.  See, if you paint The Rock too early, someone else will come and paint over it.

So we split into three groups for the next two and a half hours.  A few went to grab some food from one of their dorm rooms, a couple others went to play COD (Call of Duty for those of you who aren't gamers), and some of us stayed in my dorm.  By three o'clock, we were all on the elevator, each of us holding our own can of spray paint.

It didn't take us long to get to The Rock and we soon began our masterpiece.  Someone had painted actual graffiti on The Rock earlier though, so we almost felt bad that we were going to cover it up with our scribbles.  We painted a giant cupcake with "Happy Birthday Cole & Steph."  It was a great night.