Most people have posted on spring fling, but I wanted to show you a rather unique perspective. You see, despite being a senior on campus, I’ve only been on campus in the spring my freshman year. Sophomore spring I spent in Scotland (it was glorious), and the spring of my junior year I spent in Belgium (Je parle français).
So when everyone started going on about Spring Fling coming up, I posed the giant question, “Oh yeah spring fling… what happens then?” Lots of shocked faces stared back at me. But the truth was it had been a long time for me, and all I had were vague memories of having a squirt-gun battle through inflatable obstacles. Or maybe there were water-balloons involved. Something along those lines…
As it turns out, Spring Fling is essentially one giant festival where literally everybody on campus decides to take the day off. I felt like campus became one giant carnival and that we all just came for the day to have fun with friends. I had to work early that morning to set some events up on campus (including for spring fling), and then desperately realized I needed to laundry. It was a beautiful sunny day, if a bit chilly- and starting in the morning people were already up, out and about! Unheard of for a typical college Saturday morning. Making breakfast I already saw people walking by in packs of friends. Is this what happens, I wondered?
Yes, yes it is. While I was going back and forth to do my laundry, my neighbors greeted me by saying, “Happy Spring Fling!” “You too!” I answered without thinking. Hmm. Apparently it’s a holiday now, just like saying “Happy Thanksgiving!”I was also told I should not be doing laundry- because it was spring fling! Go have fun they told me! Okay, deal. Soon, everybody was outside, people playing games in the North Village quad: frisbees and small bean bags flying towards their targets, music blasting through the air, and the sun shining down on tens of college students all out side with their friends enjoying the day. Groups of ten people would walk by, headed to another friend’s apartment . I think I even smelled someone grilling. And this was just in North Village by the apartments. After meeting up with some friends myself, we headed over to where the actual Spring Fling event was: the Quad between DMC and ANW and the gym.
What happens at Spring Fling? Tye-dye! A DJ and a band, inflatables! We challenged each other to the inflatable obstacle course race (I won), made some spectacular tye-dye, and watched other crazy student doing some sort of battle with inflatables, in a a huge inflatable arena. After discovering you could get your picture taken and put into a bottle picture-holder for free (just a pirate ship), we couldn’t resist doing that too. It was a lot of fun, and just a wonderful, much-needed break from the stress of senior year to completely take a day off.
So what happens on Spring Fling? A festival, a holiday, friends, games- and a day off!
The Quad during Spring Fling
Tye-dye t-shirts hanging up to dry!
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