by Ella McIlvain
It’s that time of year when all the fraternities, At Ole Miss at least, load up one weekend to party in New Orleans. Girls wait in hopeful spirit to get to go with a fun guy for a fun weekend in the big easy. I am a freshman and was lucky enough to be asked to go with a guy friend of mine. I was both excited and nervous. It’s my first year in college and I had no idea what the proper protocol is for these types of functions. So being the little worried gal I am I took to the internet to educate myself. I read on a handful of websites stories and guides about formal and what to expect. They really helped me and I knew postformal I wanted to write one to help girls like me.
First off your supposed to as the date show up to formal with a special designed cooler filled with drinks and treats for the weekend. So once you get your cooler finished and your ready to go here’s what to expect.
Friday: Bus & First night out
It’s time to pack up and load the bus. I was done with classes at 1 and headed to my dorm to pack my bag. We met up to load the buses at 2:30 Friday afternoon. We had 8 buses going and it took a while to get everyone settled but we finally hit the road around 3:30. From Oxford it’s about five hours to NOLA so we all settled in for the ride. The bus ride there is basically a big pre game party all the way there. People are drinking and the speaker is blasting some tunes. The bus is super fun it gets you excited and ready for the weekend. We pulled in the the hotel around 10 and got our room keys. The hotel was super nice and really big, took us some time to find our way. Everybody gets a roommate couple so we all met up in the room. I really loved our roomies they were super funny and a good time. Once we got in the room we dropped our bags and changed real quick before we went out to Bourbon street. Bourbon street night one was a colorful experience. I have been to New Orleans before this but with my family so going there this time was different because it was “college” style. We walked Bourbon and landed at a bar with some other people from our bus. There are beads everywhere and a great view of people watching from the balconies; my favorite place to be. That night we met a group of bachelorette party boys from California. They were loving that we were there for formal and they reminisce their college days with us. After getting a little taste of Bourbon we headed back to the hotel and all crashes.
Saturday Day:
On Saturday during the day you have the whole day to yourself to do whatever you and your date or group would like. We all slept in and took our time getting up. It was absolutely pouring rain and storming all day. We managed to get up and ready and attempt to brave the weather. We went to Cafe du Monde for breakfast and ate their famous beignets. Lighting and thunder sounded like it was shaking the earth and our transition from the uber to the cafe soaked us but when in NOLA you make it work. It was pretty funny just how insane the weather was on our way back to the hotel after breakfast the uber driver was warning us that in the next 30 minutes the streets would be flooded so the next time we uber make sure we choose one with big tires. We were like oh my goodness. We ended up staying in the hotel room until it was time to get ready for dinner and the actual formal. We hung out with our roomies drinking, playing games, and getting to know each other. How we managed to pass the whole day away in the room and have a fun time without being bored down about the weather beats me but we did for sure make it work. Towards the end of the day we took a quick power nap before we got ready for dinner.
Saturday Night:
It is formal dress attire so boys in suits and girls in dresses, so it was fun to get all fancy. We had dinner reservations at a steakhouse downtown and we ate with two other couples. It was absolutely delicious, I am a meat lover so I am bias but us ladies were wined and dined for sure. After dinner we headed back out to Bourbon to go find the bar that was rented out for our formal. It was still raining and we showed up as fizzy and wet as can be. I think I was damp all weekend but we all were, It was funny. We got into the bar and there was an up stairs and a downstairs, food laid out, open bar, and music going. We stayed out on the balcony socializing, people watching and throwing beads. This is the night people get wild and let loose. We headed back to the hotel and I ran into some friends in the street and danced. As we proceeded on we were walking in a wind tunnel I for real thought I was going to be blown away but we were laughing and kept on trekking. When we got back we grabbed our roomies and a drink and went and hung out around the hotel talking until late night. Finally went to sleep and slept hard.
Sunday: Pack up and head home
Sunday morning is rough. You have to get up relatively early and throw all your stuff together. The room is a mess so you have to tidy. You aren’t feeling to hot this morning lots of hungover people. We had to be back on the buses at 11 and we made our way on and the whole bus was damp from rain that had soaked in from the day before. So we all sat in damp seats and it was a fun time. It took an hour for everyone to get on and for us to finally leave. The bus ride back was a struggle for some poor hungover people, sunglasses, throw up, passed out and all. While some were feeling bad some were still trying to keep the party going. I think I liked the ride back better, thought it was more fun. I had met friends for the weekend so we hung out and had fun on the way back. The ride back was super long. We stopped at a gas station and were there for an hour, our total ride took us 7 hours, it was a long day. Despite the ups and downs of the ride we made it back and people dispersed back to their dorms to go sleep, wash off NOLA, and get ready to go back to school on Monday.
Themes of the weekend:
It’s a sprint not a marathon, pace yourself!
When In NOLA …. XYZ.
The best people watching!
People get trashed…..
Over all it was such a fun weekend. You meet great friends, enjoy your date and have fun yourself!