The day I went back to college

This is how my Friday morning started.

Days that start by waking up at 5:30am and working all day generally end in me going to bed embarrassingly early, but Friday was different. Friday I was going back to college. Instead of rushing home to put sweats on, I rushed home to grab my bags and hop in a rented car with girlfriends and peanut butter M&M's. With KS in the driver seat and AG riding shotgun, I buckled up and we headed out of the city for a 24 hour husker road trip. Though hunger and exhaustion tried to hold me back, adrenaline and top 40 radio persevered and I was in backseat heaven (the G-rated version). We crossed the George Washington Bridge, and I looked back at the city skyline, happy to see it but even happier to be driving away from it, for the night anyway. KS fearlessly drove us out of the city and on our way through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. We pit stopped for some quick food, one very defunct happy meal toy, and a driver change. I slipped off my boots and felt the brake and gas petal on my bare feet, and with free toes on the petals and two hands on the steering wheel, I continued to drive us into the dark night with the shadows of Pennsylvanian foothills surrounding us.

Ok, I obviously stole this photo from the internet.
I was too busy helping look for signs!

When we pulled into State College, we collectively gasped, "CUTE!" at every local shop, decorated Christmas tree, and cobblestone road we passed. Even in the dark, the Penn State campus and State College downtown were SO CUTE! It was like a combined town consisting of the best parts of Lincoln, NE, Vermillion, SD, and Stars Hallow from the Gilmore Girls. After dropping AG off with a football friend, KS and I both agreed that maybe we should leave the whole big city thang behind and go back to school at Penn State. We like red better than blue, but we could make it work. Then we parked our car, and as we applied make-up in a poorly lit rear-view mirrors, we discussed our aliases for the night.  It's not that we were ashamed to be Husker fans, but we also didn't want to get our asses kicked. I told KS it was like when friends and I were backpacking in Europe and people told us to say we were from Canada so we wouldn't get ripped off. We lied only once (to get cheap Northface). So it was settled. KS was from Annapolis, MA, and I was from Westchester, NY. We were cousins visiting our aunt and uncle, Ken and Connie Johnson. I worked in Publishing. Who was Penn State playing in football the next day? We didn't know. I put my boots back on and we headed DT to re-live a night of college life.

I'll summarize the DT scene: boys, lies, vodka, dancing. Ask me about Bruno, the Channing Tatum look-a-like, sometime..

Ok, this is actually a picture of Channing Tatum.
But you get the idea.. 

After the bars closed, we found our way to a Gamma Phi Beta sorority dorm room. (Gamma Phi is the chapter that KS and AG belonged to in Lincoln, so KS arranged our FREE sorority sleepover). I collapsed on a twin bed surrounded by composite pictures and Greek letters. Though they weren't my Greek letters, they were still Greek, and a part of me felt at home. Also, the whole dorm smelled eerily similar to the Beede Hall circa 2004. Though it didn't elicit feelings of comfort necessarily, it did give me a sense of familiarity that I often miss in the city. In the morning, we took shower-shoe-less showers and drank Starbucks while talking 'sorority' and straightening our hair. It was awesome. We put on our red, and headed out into the big blue world to get our tailgate on.

I DIDN'T STEAL THIS ONE!

Normally I don't like taking photos of me without something distracting the background,
but I had to show TB that I'm wearing the shirt she sent me!
I love NY, and I also love the Huskers!

The Penn State campus was even more beautiful in the mid-morning glow, and even though we felt a little bit like star-less sneetches (Dr. Seuss reference), we walked proudly and were met with many greetings of welcome.

Walking into the tailgate area, we searched for red of some sort but instead all we found was a 50-year-old man with braces and a Penn State shirt, hat, and koozie. He insisted that we go over to his tailgate and ask "Jeff" for a some big red. Not knowing what exactly that meant yet trusting his sparkling silver teeth, we did as he requested and were rewarded with Pennsylvania beer and big red gum. And then all his Penn State posse (consisting entirely of other 50-year-old men) proceeded to take pictures with us and ask us about Nebraska, South Dakota, and New York City. We posed and drank and answered. It was a hoot! Braces-guy's wife was in a lawn chair nearby and seemed to be the only person not super psyched we were there. But eventually it was time for the game, so we took our PA beer and walked toward will call to pick up our player's tickets.

Apparently he's a little self-conscious about the braces... 

Jeff with the Big Red

And then it was game time. You can read any number of the articles written about the game and get a better written summary of plays, protests, and pains, but I would summarize the whole experience as somber, proud, silent, loud, and weird. From every angle, the mood of the game was kind of weird. People protested outside the stadium that the game shouldn't be played. People wore JoePa shirts. People wore children abuse shirts. I wore a huskers shirt. It was weird, and everyone was kind of sad. But just like the show, the game must go on, and it did. And we won!

AG and KS (I look weird in the pic of all three of us).

Our rental car had a curfew so we followed the blue crowd to the parking garage and drove out of the CUTE town leaving both the aftermath and the sunset in our rear-view mirror. More top 40, fast food, and one very annoying traffic jam later and suddenly we were on the East side of the George Washington Bridge driving back into the city. The skyline lights welcomed us back, and even though PA had been great, just like college, I was ready to go toward my next big adventure.

Thanks, internet..