UMW Homecoming

Nostalgia [no-stal-juh]
- Noun.  Meaning a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

Last weekend, Sarah (the newly minted Mrs.) and I ventured down to Fredericksburg for Mary Washington's homecoming.  It's a tradition for us to return to our alma mater in the fall, and even though we don't have a football team, everyone seems to rally around our soccer and rugby teams and drink like we do. 

While we didn't see many familiar faces, it was comforting to be in a place that makes me reflect back on what I remember as a really happy time in my life (I probably would have argued that if you would have asked the 20 year old me, but we live and we learn).  The school is definitely in expansion and revamp mode, and everything is much more squeaky clean than what I remember.  But at the heart of it, it's still MWC.  Or UMW.  Mdub.

This year's homecoming shirts read "RUN UMW" as a play off the RUN DMC logo.  Sarah and I got the RUN DMC connection but didn't really get the whole point of it.  Apparently, neither did the undergrads, because we passed a group talking about the shirts and overheard "Yeah, we don't really know, but I guess there's this group called RUN DMC that were rappers or something."  Crap, I'm officially old.

We wandered down campus walk, which brought a flood of emotions my way.  I kept telling Sarah that I didn't know whether to smile or start crying.  I'm a mess!  Any who, I held it together, and just enjoyed wandering around and thinking back on the good old days....the days when we actually had time to treat friends like friends, and there was always of circle of people around to turn to when shit hit the fan.  Sigh.  Sometimes I just want to go back to those simpler days, and to appreciate the close-knit community that I took for granted for so long.

The foliage was ridiculously pretty.  I love fall!

In 2004, our beloved Mary Washington College turned into the University of Mary Washington.  One of the only standing MWC symbols is on the front gate:

This clock tower was added after we graduated (2007?).  It adds a bit of prestige, I suppose.

Then we passed Trinkle Hall.  It was one of the only buildings that stayed open 24 hours.  Quite a few memories of all-nighter exhaustedness.

And a stop at the student bulletin, where we discovered that WALE (a popular rapper from the DC area) was the homecoming concert performer!  We didn't stay for it, but that's pretty legit.

Sarah checking things out (and being ridiculously photogenic, as usual).

And last, but not least, Lee Hall.  The home to our bookstore, the charming ballroom, and a ton of other student services.  The place has been overhauled, and the book store now takes up almost the entire first floor and has a ton more stuff that we used to have.  And the ballroom?  It's gone, and now broken up into offices and meeting rooms.  A little bit sad.  The building still looks the same from the outside though (sorry for the shadows, I'm still grasping the whole metering concept).

After wandering around downtown for a bit, we headed to Carrabba's for dinner (yum).  All in all, I had a fabulous day, and it was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and back to my "roots".  :)