Homecoming week!

Homecoming week on campus was crazy with so many different events going on before the actual weekend. The sororities and fraternities on campus teamed up and competed through the week on all of these different events.
Chi Omega joined with Theta Chi (a fraternity) to become Team Skyline. The first event was called Ram Rhythm, were all the teams make an elaborate dance routine and perform them on the basketball court for judges to score. I really wanted to be involved, but sadly the rehearsal schedules clashed with the other stuff I had going on. Eager to support, Caragh and I went to watch, and I can say this because it was my team, but we blew everyone out of the water. Sadly, the judges scored us joint second, but it was a great start to our team. We couldn't help but laugh at how eager the frat guys were to perform and how much they got into the dances, something that definitely wouldn't happen back home!!

We had to leave early because Caragh's friend Jess was taking us, along with Leif, to Sundance. It's a saloon that plays country music and everyone line dances and swing dances.
We went with open minds, however I don't think we've all felt as British as we did when we first walked in. Nothing makes you feel like an outsider like everyone wearing cowboys boots, hats and a wagon above the dance floor to complete the saloon vibe. It took us a while to get into it, especially since everyone already seemed to know what they were doing. After our fair few attempts at the line dancing, we were happy to hear the random "normal" music breakdown which made us revert back to our usual SU antics.
Leif and I managed to get a little swing routine going which we're planning to use every time we go, meanwhile Caragh got ambushed for a dance by a cowboy. Maybe that's where I'm going wrong. Instead of playing the "I'm a dainty British girl card" like her, I proceeded to dance the Inbetweeners dance and gallop around the dance floor, much to Leif's amusement/disapproval... I couldn't really tell.

Another way to earn points for homecoming was to go to Starbucks. Being the "basic white bitches" the Chi O girls claim to be, they went all out ordering pumpkin spice lattes and Team Skyline won that part of the competition too. Other events were chalking the plaza and a game of capturing the flag of other teams around the campus, but I couldn't go to either... yay for my class schedule!
It was announced the other day that Team Skyline actually won the entire of homecoming :D However, I have no idea what that actually means so you'll have to bear with me on that.

Friday marked the beginning of parents weekend, which seemed a little weird having so many families on campus. The Chi O house was open for parents to tour which was annoying since I won't be able to do that until mine visit in November, but it's making more excited to show them it.
It couldn't have been a better weekend for this, as all the trees were starting to change and it's definitely the prettiest campus has looked by far. The homecoming parade began in the late afternoon and we headed to watch all the floats go by at the Oval. My highlight from the 100th homecoming parade was getting the chance to embarrass my roommate Olivia while she was representing her Chinese class float. It was a little annoying that a lot of the events overlapped each other, so Leif, Caragh and I actually missed the bonfire and fireworks display because we were at the concert in Moby Arena. Compared to Macklemore last year, the acts weren't as great, but we were front row and joined the Americans in their rowdiness while listening to Splyt, Mike Posner and Nico & Vinz.

Saturday was time for the homecoming football game, but since we were knackered from the week Leif, Caragh and I decided to trade the first half for wings and wine. Good choice, as when we got there the game had apparently been nothing to write home about. We met up with the Australians and stayed for the rest of the game, leaving 3 minutes before the end. We missed a drop-goal in the final seconds and the crowd flooding the pitch in celebration... typical.
All in all, homecoming was a fun, typically American experience, one that sadly marks the halfway point of my study abroad experience! Two months down, two more to go.