The mumblings and musings of an English Literature student from the University of Warwick on a year abroad at the University of Connecticut, USA. The excitements, misunderstandings, confessions, confusions and adventures that are part and parcel of a year in a very foreign country.
"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything." — Bill Bryson
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Game Day
This weekend saw a big day in the UConn calendar: Game Day. ESPN, one of the biggest national sports channels was right here on campus and filming from Gampel Pavilion, the basketball stadium. The event? A basketball game against our biggest rivals, Syracuse. And because the UConn huskies were national champions last year this biggest rivalry was also a national event. It was huge.
The beginnings of Tent City outside Gampel Pavilion
Game Day basically meant that on the morning of the game there was a massive pep rally inside the pavilion. People camped outside in the sub zero temperatures in order to make sure they were inside the following morning as it was done on a first come first served basis! This is apparently a yearly occurrence with the site of all the tents being known as tent city. I, of course, stayed inside tucked up in my nice toasty bed with the heating on, a cup of tea and a good book! You would have done the same people!!!
The following evening wasn't quite as boring however. Remember when I watched my first basketball game back in November? Well this game was even better! Tickets were selling for extortionate amounts so I settled with watching with some friends on their TV. It was incredible. Despite a dramatic and painful loss in the last 13 seconds of the game the UConn huskies put up an amazing fight and I once again found myself yelling and screaming at the TV because of a sport! My dad will be so proud. It was amazing the rivalry and the competition between the two teams and all over campus. It's something that I've never witnessed at school or university level in England. We're missing out.
On top of all the basketball excitement I also discovered that the amazing UConn fans had performed a flash mob in half time...
No comments:
Post a Comment