One of the most important aspects of study abroad is how it allows us to experience so many new things. This week, I went to my first ever homecoming. Let’s have a look at how it felt to experience this college holiday:What is homecoming?
So first things first: homecoming is when alumni students return to their alma mater. The event usually takes places in autumn (or fall, as they would say) for a week and is typically heavily sports-based. And just like in the movies, they crown a homecoming king and queen.The Sports
Even though the college I go to is more of an academic college than a sports one, we do still have the big sports events. We went to football (the real kind!) and American football games on homecoming. Football games in Europe have a tendency to become rowdy or at least attract some drama, but none of that happened here!
Our group of international students were doing chants and Mexican waves whilst the rest of the crowd stayed a little bit quieter. The crowd in the American football game was a little bit louder, probably since we had the marching band and cheerleaders there! We went against Montclair State University for our American football game. Like I said, we aren’t a big sports uni and so our American football team isn’t that great. When we won the game, many were saying it was a miracle. Movies, I guess, don’t always show the college students who are less enthusiastic when it comes to sports.
Tailgating
In the weeks leading up to homecoming, all I heard people talking about was how excited they were for tailgating. No, tailgating doesn’t mean when a car is driving too close! In the US, tailgating is a party held in a car park (usually of an arena or a stadium) where people drink and eat and dance to music! There was definitely a lot of this going on:The Verdict
Homecoming is definitely one of my best and favourite memories so far on my year abroad. It was so much more than just a dance and crowning a homecoming king and queen. College homecoming is different from high school homecoming, as films have often shown.
Edited by Naomi Upton
Image sources:
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