She Said: Alumni still know how to party

As an upperclassman, alumni weekend is a highly anticipated event. From reacquainting with former friends to laughing with past flings, alumni and students alike are ecstatic to reunite and rekindle the old party flame. Literally speaking, I welcomed the alumni with a bang, and after getting into a car accident Friday night with a former coach and alumnus, I was certain the rest of my weekend would be a bust.

When I arrived home from work Saturday night, all I wanted was a hot shower that I knew was not plausible and a drink at the Grape, which I thought was attainable. I had no idea what I was in for.

Upon arriving at the Grape, my foot remained on the brake, and I was royally infuriated. After a diabolical week, my long-awaited evening activity had been postponed because the line of alumni was more extensive than that of a Victoria Secret store ornamented with men on Christmas Eve. Deciding that the Grape was not worth the hour wait, I returned home in my irate state.

Arriving back at the third hump, I was pleasantly surprised when my housemate informed me that her brother and the rest of the ’04 crew were coming over for a reunion. As the 04′ graduates arrived, a sudden regression occurred, and their newly implemented lives of business and bedtimes had suddenly returned to keg stands and all-night binge drinking.

By 10 p.m. the third hump was roaring with alumni, and it felt like our underclassmen years all over again; the only dissimilarity was that we were actually legal, we did not black out, and we were not frantically seeking a ride back to campus.

Despite their post-collegiate achievements, it is an understatement to say that the alumni still knew how to enjoy themselves. From playing dizzy bat with the keg to annihilating our bathroom, it was comforting knowing that they felt as welcomed in our home as we did in theirs two years prior. It was as if they had never left.

What I found to be even more reassuring was witnessing the extraordinary interpersonal unity Fairfield students have with one another. From my car accident to the interaction between former and present students, this small university has proven to create a substantially large social bond that is extremely unordinary but unreservedly enjoyable.