Thursday 13 v. 31

Thirteen Things about Carmen and the University of Virginia

1. Some of my earliest memories include me watching UVA games on TV with my dad. The Univeristy of Virginia's colors are orange and blue, and our mascot is a Cavalier. At one point, in 1990, the team was #1 in the country for 3 weeks in a row.
2. UVA, designed by Thomas Jefferson, was my first choice of colleges. It was by far the hardest application to fill out - I had to write 8 essays. I was wait-listed, which was highly traumatic. But they did accept me not long after and I was so happy!
3. I hated my first year. I was home-sick and my suite-mates were evil.
4. But at the end of my first year (at UVA, we're called First-Years, Second-Years, etc.) I rushed and joined a sorority - Alpha Xi Delta (the XI is pronounced "Z"). It was less expensive to pay dues and live in the sorority house than to live off-campus, and all the sisters were my fast friends, so it solved some problems. As an interesting side note, Jim Hensons' wife was an Alpha Xi Delta, and Fozzie Bear (Alpha "Z") was named after us.
5. In order to be a member-in-good-standing at AXiD, we had to participate in another extracurricular activity. I chose to work with one of the two daily school papers, the University Journal.
6. I became the only female sports writer at the University Journal. (This was before ESPN had female commentators.) It was good, though, because if you were a football player, who would you rather talk to - me or some bald guy? ;)
7. I started out life at UVA in the Architecture school, until one stupid professor told me that in order to be a woman in that field, I'd have to be an A++++ student, and I was a B+ student. Turns out, he was A) Wrong and B) Gay, but I let him influence me. The one regret of my life.
8. But then again, maybe I don't regret it. Because I then became a double major in History and Rhetoric and Communication Studies, and honed my writing skills.

9. My best bud Irish pledged my sorority in my second year, and I became her sorority big sister, and then roomate in the sorority house in our third year.
10. UVA tradition has the students dressing up in dresses and navy blazers with orange and blue ties to cheer on the Wahoos (a fish that can drink twice it's weight in water, from our Playboy Top 10 Party School days). Because in the past (and sometimes the present) the team sucked, so it was like a social. To this day, the smell of whiskey reminds me of football.
11. Excerpts from a poem called The Honor Men "The University of Virginia writes her highest degree on the souls of her sons (or daughters, now that women are allowed to attend -C). . . Remembering the purple shadows of the lawn, the majesty of the colonnades, and the dream of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness: I have worn the honor of honors, I graduated from the University of Virginia"
12. When you're a UVA grad, I think it's a requirement that you always be a UVA nut/fan. Irish and I will head to a football game in 2 weeks and yell with the best of them. :)
13. My favorite place in maybe the whole wide world is sitting on the Lawn looking at the Rotunda. (see pic at right)

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