Sunday, February 21, 2010, I, along with two other Student Ambassadors (Yolande & Rob) flew back from Oxford, Mississippi!
The three of us traveled to the University of Mississippi for a CASE ASAP District 3 Conference which is basically a conference where Student Ambassadors/Alumni Ambassadors get together and share ideas and ways in which to make the Student Ambassador experience better for you and the prospective students, etc…
When I found out this conference was going to be in Mississippi the first thing I thought was, “are there black people down there.” No lie, I kid you not, that was literally the first thing that came to my mind. I quickly learned, however, that Mississippi is not all the stereotypical things you hear.
We flew from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) to Memphis International Airport and THEN drove a rental car like 60 miles to Oxford, MS!!! I also have to point out that we made the drive from Memphis, TN to Oxford, MS without the aid of a Global Positioning System (GPS), instead we used a good ol’ map!
Anyway, so once we arrived at the school and found The Inn at Ole Miss, which was where we would be staying for 3 days and nights, we registered for the conference, received our packets, and went to inspect the rooms. We reserved two rooms since we had a guy with us and sharing would definitely be a no no. So, the first thing I notice in my room is that there is only one bed! Ahh which meant I had to share with Yolande, good thing she’s my sorority sister otherwise we would have had a problem. (Just Kidding)
Ok, so the weekend events were to include sessions and sessions and more sessions in addition to breakfast every morning, lunch, and an awards banquet and social event on the last day.
Before big things started to happen we decided to drive our rental car, a really nice Nissan Versa, around the campus (by the end of the trip we could navigate the entire campus and the Oxford area).
That Thursday after the opening session which included a full on lip syncing contest (we did not participate) we decided to find the night life being that we are all very social people. At Ole Miss, students mostly go to an area called ‘The Square’ which has restaurants, shopping,bars et… We decided to go to the “hotspot” they call ‘The Library’, (conveniently named because if your parents call you and ask what your up to you can simply respond I’m at the Library without them knowing your really at a bar…smart)
I digress.
So, we get to ‘The Library’ and immediately the bouncer hits on Yolande! Rightfully so since we all looked quite stunning if I do say so myself but he was most definitely not going to get any digits of the sort at all!
We finally go in and the DJ is playing some hits here and there but mostly music in which there were coordinated line dances… 😐 I tried to learn but with no success…#EpicFail Ultimately, we ended up enjoying ourselves. Saturday night would be the next time we went to ‘The Library’ which had been transformed into a bar and bull riding arena! Bull riding in the MIDDLE of the Dance floor…Only in Mississippi. I would like to see Club Love in DC put a bull riding square in the middle of the floor! HILARIOUS! Yolande rode but I was definitely NOT going to, #nothankyou.
Ok, first official day of sessions and it all began with the most important meal of the day! BREAKFAST! Let me say that Southern Food is INTENSE and here is why. We walked into the tantalizing aroma of eggs, sizzling bacon, butter biscuits, and grits (but I despise grits with a passion) but that bacon…ooooooo that bacon….I fell in love at first bite. The bacon would become our gateway drug to the world of fried foods as lunch included fried catfish among other things!
Fried Fried & more FRIED...heaven!
Therefore, it is pretty good to say that I gained some pounds on this trip!
Aside from the sessions and the food one thing that was super funny was me and Yolande’s quest to find our sorors at Ole Miss…but to no avail =(
BUT we did find a soror who was attending the conference from SCAD! And it turned out that the Keynote speaker was a soror, Mrs. Rose J. Flenorl.
What can I say? Those ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Innnnnnnnnnnnncorportated are just too much! Skeeeeeeeee Weeeeeeeee =)
Oh AND we went to author William Faulkner’s house at Rowan Oak! I was uber excited but I practically had to drag Rob and Yolande to go!
We all pretty much had a GREAT time in Mississippi and appreciated the ADMISSIONS OFFICE for sending us…alone…and unsupervised =D
(If your ever thinking of where to work on campus, definitely apply to the Admissions Office!)
Hotty Totty, ya’ll!!!! (FYI the chant for Ole Miss is quite hilarious you should google it…I thought someone was cussing me out at first? ha )
Rocking those conference Tees, ya'll!
xoxo
A. Marie
A. Marie 