HAH at U of M

I have been putting off an update from Oxford, MS because, well, nothing really noteworthy has happened since I've been here. I mean, moving in, setting up, orientation, and getting acquainted with Oxford has pretty much been the extent of my almost 2 week long residence. And it has all happened in a blur. I did manage, however, to bake my first loaf of bread. (Thanks Meagan!) But other than that: banality.

BUT! Something very exciting happened today. Let me begin this story by setting up a few starting points:

1. As of Friday morning (maybe Thursday afternoon, but either way), the Ole Miss Ticket office sold out of student tickets. However, they graciously announced that they would be selling 1500 more tickets Monday morning (this morning) at 8:00am.
2. I go to get my tickets Friday afternoon, wonder why there is no line, and find a sign on the door with the above info. No problem, right? I'm free Monday morning.
3. 9:00 Sunday night, my new friend Mary Elizabeth drives past the coliseum to see...people? No. TENTS. People have set up tents to camp in the day before classes start so they can get tickets to this year's Ole Miss football games.

Because I have to get tickets too, I say to Mary Elizabeth, who has already resigned staking out her spot in this line, "I will bring you coffee tomorrow morning, 6:00am sharp." I have class basically all day and all night Monday, so I opted to catch a wink before my first day of classes.

I promptly arrived, 2 large mugs of coffee in hand, to join 2 friends already in line, which has started to stretch all the way around the coliseum. The spectacle was incredible! Here are a few items I saw in tow with the students in line:
-futons
-air mattresses
-a tv, on which some guys were playing video games
-coolers of drinks and food
-an elaborate game kind of like cornhole, but with golf balls on strings and pvc pipe instead of bean bags and particle board.
-laptops and various media devices to occupy oneself. Speaking of which, I also heard a girl say, "I love my Blackberry and my iPhone. I wish I could just put them together!"
-pizza boxes
-dogs. Including Lily, my roommate's miniature dachshund.
-lots of Ugg boots. LOTS of them.

It was truly a religious experience. We were in line to be baptized at the font of the ticket booth, people playing music, chanting (Are...you.....READY!), murmuring about how excited they are and about how long they've waited for this, and celebrating, bursting into fits of excitement because they FINALLY got their tickets, after they've been faithfully devoted to standing in line for 12 hours.

I may have to devote these little reflective moments to the church of the SEC. So, until then, or in the unlikely event that something cooler happens,

Go Team!