Tailgating during the game is a big tradition on the Hill! Sororities and fraternities traditionally paint their letters on the grass prior to games.
I’m a senior this year, so I knew that I had to make the most of my last Homecoming as a current student on the Hill. (Plenty more Homecomings await me as an alum!) I went to McDaniel’s Homecoming my freshman and sophomore year here, and they were okay. I only stayed for part of the game, and things were cold–my first year, it even snowed!
However, the weather was picture-perfect this weekend, with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s. I mosied on down to the football field a little after kickoff happened at 1:00. McDaniel is famous for tailgating, and once I got to the stadium, I joined my friends at the Gamma Sigma Sigma and Alpha Psi Omega tents. I’m not a member of Gamma Sig, a service sorority, or Alpha Psi, a theater honor society, but both the groups, with tents set up close to each other, gladly let me hang out and watch the game with them.
The game was a close one. McDaniel lost 33-28, but it was exciting to watch. When I wasn’t watching the game, I was chatting with friends, meeting new people, and trying to find friends of mine who are now alumni.
After the game ended, I nearly left, but I ran into a couple of my friends who are alumni, and I joined them in scouting out other alums. With their help, I was able to find a few people I had worked closely with through the Free Press and the Writing Center. I was thrilled to get to see them! I was most excited to get to see my friend Amber, who graduated in May and is now getting her master’s degree at DePaul in Chicago. We were both genuinely happy to see each other and catch up. I was so glad I didn’t go back to my house right after the game was over, because otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten to see her!
Once I left the tailgating area, I went back to my house to take a breather before meeting up with my friend Emily, an alumna, at 5:00 at the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs’ Homecoming Reception in the lobby of the gym. There, we chatted, and an hour later, we went with another friend to Denny’s for a reunion dinner. I love going to Denny’s this time of year because their pumpkin pancakes are delicious; I always order a Grand Slam breakfast so I can eat some at the restaurant and save some for later.
After Denny’s, we went to go see Danger Sauce perform in Decker Auditorium. Danger Sauce, our improv troupe on the Hill, does a Homecoming show every year for Danger Sauce alumni to participate in. I’d never been to one of the alumni shows before, and it was a treat to get to see Danger Sauce performers who had graduated, regardless of whether our time at McDaniel had overlapped.
I finished up the evening hanging out with my friends in North Village, McDaniel’s on-campus apartment complex. We chatted, enjoyed some snacks, and played a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity.
It’s not often that I get to pack so much fun into one day and see so many people I love all at once. This was truly a Homecoming to remember, and I hope I’ll create more fabulous Homecoming memories in the future!
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