University of Richmond
Spider Diaries

Archive for September, 2009

UN-DE-FEA-TED!

If you like football, but you don’t want to be in a school where you have to share a classroom with 300 other people in order to have a good team, then you should definitely come to UR. Coming from Peru, my high school never had a football team and so I never had a passion for this sport. The closest I got to experiencing something similar was being in the rugby team, but nothing had really prepared me for the football experience.

As soon as I got here, the football season began, but I was still not that much into it, until I heard about how good we were. I went to a game against Georgetown and we won 40-0, but it wasn’t until we got to the quarterfinals that I truly became a fan. I woke up one saturday afternoon and turned on the tv to find the Spiders playing against a random team I had never heard of before. I could see some friends on the football field and thought that was the coolest thing ever, so I kept watching. And we won, qualifying to the semifinals of the NCAA Divsion I tournament.

The day of the game against Northern Iowa, I called 6 of my friends and we all watched the game in my room with 3 pizza boxes in front of us. It was an amazing game! Ended up winning 21-20 in the last minute of the game and advanced to the championship game.

We won that one too, against Montana, and became 2008 NCAA Division I National Champions! It was unbelieveable and surreal to be experiencing all of that excitement during my first year at UR, and it was enough for me to not want to miss a single game.

This year, the Spiders have continued to win. After the first two games, at Duke and at Delaware, it was time for our first game home against Hofstra, and I knew there was no way I could miss that game. I started taking pictures of the scoreboard everytime we scored, but after a while I realized that it was pointless.

This was the last picture I took, with two quarters to go!

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We ended up winning the game 48-0. I think even the scorekeepers lost count after a while! But what I was able to get, right before leaving, was this amazing picture of Richmond’s PAT.

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Can you see the football? The kick is up aaaand…IT’S GOOD!

The Spiders have now won 12 consecutive games, dating back from last season!

Published by Pedro on September 28, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Paint IN YOUR FACE!

I’ve never been too into going out to the lodges and the parties organized by the fraternities here at UR. Even though I have many friends who are in frats, I enjoy chilling out much more than partying like crazy. This is probably the reason why I felt identified with FIJI when rushing began, and was even really close to pledging. All the brothers are really close and know how to have fun without having to organize wild parties. They still know how to do the latter, though.

Last year FIJI Blacklight was probably one of the best parties I went to, and nothing similar to any other paint parties I had gone to back home. For that reason, I knew there was no way I could miss Blacklight this year. I got an old white shirt, bought new (but cheap) black shorts and put on the oldest socks and shoes, knowing they would probably be trashed by the end of the night.

And I was right.

I got there at around 11pm and the lodge was completely full and there were almost no paint bottles left. It was almost impossible to walk inside unless you bumped into a dozen people at a time, and the heat was disgusting. At first, the only way I was getting paint on my shirt was from other people, but at that point it was already mixed with their sweat. I was ready to get out. Fortunately, my friend found a couple of paint bottles and gave one to me. Other people started throwing paint from across the room as well, and the fun began.

Dancing and getting hit in the face by random splashes of paint wasn’t quite how I remembered it, probably because the place was packed and it felt like a sauna, but I had a great time nevertheless.

At the end of the night I looked something like this:

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Imagine what it would have been like had I arrived there early. Talk about paint in your face!

Published by Pedro on September 24, 2009 in Random fun. 0 Comments

Hispanic heritage month at UR!

I’ve never really tried to be part of the Hispanic community here at UR. Granted, during my first weeks here I only hung out with other international students, most of them fluent in Spanish, but after I while I started making new friends and finding a new comfort zone. Today, my best friends here are either American or not fluent in Spanish (or both) and I’m having a great time.

The main reason why I’ve become more involved in the Hispanic community is the “Spanish in the Community” class I’m taking this semester (duh). This class offers extra credit if you attend any activity involving latinos and write a summary about your experience. And I know I probably don’t need the extra credit for the class, but I decided to do it anyway…

The opening for the Hispanic Heritage Month here at UR took place in Dhall, where almost 100% of the food was Latin American (and therefore DELICIOUS). It all started with a flag parade, and I must admit I was proud when I saw the Peruvian flag (even though I wasn’t the one carrying it…)

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(Just in case, it’s the one to the left…)

After that, some people in the SALSA club put on a show where they performed in order to show everyone else the multiple dance styles, and invited other people to join them.

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bailaaa.jpg 

I must admit it was a lot of fun watching so many people dancing in the middle of the dining room. It was even better to be able to eat while watching all of them make fools out of themselves!

And I got extra credit for THAT!

Published by Pedro on September 19, 2009 in Random fun. 0 Comments
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