Wednesday, August 11, 2010

College Flashback...

Because it's "Back to School" time and because I have nothing better to talk about, I thought a flashback to Athenstown was in order today!

I sure do miss that place...

I went to ABAC my freshman year of college. I was bitter about it and did not want to live at home. But live at home I did and I couldn't be more happy about it in hindsight. My mama cooked my supper most nights, I didn't have to share a washer and dryer with strangers, and best of all it was FREE (sort of...).

In August of 2003 I loaded up the back of my Explorer plus my mama's car and a U-Haul...


and I moved into this pretty little apartment...

Oh Moose Club Condominiums, how we loved you! (Sidenote, we didn't know any better! Who knew those teensy little rooms were the teensiest in Athens? Who knew that you could live in fancy-schmancy apartments over on the East Side? Too bad the SMELL went with those! Yuck!)
 
The first year I lived with roomie Rebecca in an upstairs townhouse above Mary Jane and Cara.


Looking back, that was a really fun year in Athens. We weren't "typical" college students, but we had a lot of fun times!!!

Moose Club was right next to the Bi-Lo in Athens and we walked to the grocery store all the time. It was not Publix, but it was definitely mighty convenient to get to walk out my backdoor and right to the grocery store!

I rode the school bus or Athens Transit to class every day. I didn't even own a parking permit until my third year in Athens. I got to ride good 'ole Family Housing most days if I wanted to walk across Bi-Lo's parking lot, across the street, and through a shady-looking apartment complex. If I rode Athens Transit it picked up right outside of Bi-Lo. It was free to students but I had to be deliberate about getting out the door at a certain time each day. Family Housing ran every 15-20 minutes so if I missed one, I could catch the next.

My second year in Athens I lived in Moose Club again...in a downstairs "garden" apartment all by my lonesome. A friend was supposed to move in with me in the spring but that fell through so I was left all alone. It wasn't a bad time, it just wasn't nearly as much fun!

My third year in Athens I lived at River Oaks, which is really just a teeny bit down the road from good 'ole Moose Club.


I lived with two girls, Mary Beth and Megan. I met Mary Beth when I was in first grade and she was in second. Megan was a sorority sister of Mary Beth's from Mercer. They were both graduate students in Athens. MB was in the School of Social Work and Megan was in Psychology. They were lots of fun to live with but I was super busy with student teaching and I missed out on a lot of time with them. Stupid commute to Lawrenceville every day!

My favorite parts about Athens were these...

We lived for the football games. Tailgating was serious business. I tailgated with a crowd that put out their tents by 7AM. Maybe a little later if it was a night game. We tailgated near the Forestry Building. I loved every single second of spending time with those people before and after those games. It was lots and lots of fun!



The picture above is cheating. We weren't in Athens. We were sitting in the top of the Georgia Tech stadium freezing our fannies off with Anna and John. It was the coldest I think I've EVER been. After the game we took Marta back to where we'd parked someone and we saw someone lose their Frosted Orange. It was disgusting.


Above and below are some of my fellow English-Edders. We had SO much fun that year. I wish all four years of college had been spent with all of them. I can't wait for a reunion with all of them.


Not pictured are the many, many Kinchafoonee Cowboys concerts, the movie nights at my various apartments, the fun spend-the-night-parties-before-tailgating-at-6-am, the various road trips here or there, the walks with friends, Moe's, heart-to-hearts, and so many, many more memories!

It was with sadness (and lots of excitement as well...) that we said goodbye in May 2006.



The real world is fantastic, but those few years were so, so much fun. I would love to visit again very, very soon!

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