Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame!

Those are the only words that I actually learned of the fight song. I didn't catch on as quickly as you might expect. The weekend was very, very fun and I'm so glad that I went. It was not nearly as drunken as I thought it would be, but I suppose that is good because it means that I remember more of why it was so fun in the first place.

Friday night I got into South Bend around 11:00 after stopping at home in Dayton to pick up my Dad's car, which he kindly lent me for the weekend so that I could save my car the mileage (I have a lease and I'm getting reeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyyyy close on my allowed miles). I went straight to this guy Kyle's house where I met up with Lori and Matt/Grecco.

I was standing on the back porch after having just met the three or four people there and was admiring the little pug dog peeking out through the screen door when an energetic guy jumps down behind the dog and pretended to hump it. Noticing me, his face slowly drained of color, his eyes widened and he said, "Oh, um, hello. I don't know you."

And that is how I met my groomsman and future husband.

John is the one I'm paired with in Lori and Grecco's wedding next year because we're both short and because they thought John and I would would just be a good, fun match. Turns out, we totally are. His personality and sense of humor complements mine perfectly. I do not remember another person who has made me laugh so much or so hard in one weekend. Too bad he lives in Lake Tahoe.

Anyway, we went from Kyle's house out to downtown South Bend to check the bar scene. It was INSANE. As we were driving around trying to decide whether to stop and go into one of the bars or just go home, I suggested that we all buy 40s and sit on the curb and watch all of the people go by. This suggestion led to proposal #1 by John. The proposals continued all weekend, by the way, leading to the joke that he is my future husband.

We ended up going to a bar for a little bit and then heading home because we had a big day of tailgating ahead of us. To get the party started right, Grecco woke Lori and I up at 7:30 on Saturday morning and we got all ready to go down to the game.

There weren't that many people when we got there, I guess maybe only 100-150 cars. Of course, to me that was a lot. I didn't go to a college where football was a big, popular thing to do on the weekends, so tailgating is totally foreign to me!

We had a little breakfast and then Grecco and Lori took me on a campus tour. The following photos were taken of the administration building. You can go up onto the second floor and look all the way up to the rotunda, which has this great fresco painted onto it. It's beautiful and my photography doesn't do it justice.


Following the campus tour, we went back to the tailgate and started drinking. Eventually we met up with another group of Lori and Grecco's friends at the "recent alumni" part of the tailgate. Oh. My. God. I have never seen anything like it. Tens of thousands of people drinking, partying, shotgunning beers, blasting music. A total party scene. That's where the following two photos were taken. That's me and Lori on the left and John and I on the right.

The game, if any of you saw it, was a total blow out. A 41-17 win against Penn State. We were sitting one section and about 45 rows up from the goal line where all of the scoring took place. Here are a couple of pictures of the stadium - that's Touchdown Jesus in the distance in the second picture, which was taken before everyone got there - taken from my seats, as well as of Lori and I again and the scoreboard. Oh, and the most beautiful Billy Ray Cyrus mullet I've ever seen.

After the game, we all went back to Grecco's house and pretty much crashed. Then on Sunday we had brunch with the wedding party, or at least the party that was there. Grecco's mom made a ton of food and everything was delicious. But it was all over too soon! And now it is back to the real world!!

Anyway, that was my super fun weekend in South Bend. I'm a total Notre Dame fan now and have a crush on a guy nicknamed Hog, so you know the weekend must have been a winner!