So I’ve been utterly terrible at updating this blog and I am very sorry for that! I have had so many adventures in America and I promise that I will spend the next couple of weeks writing up and posting the best of them on here.
Eagles win against the Gators
Over the weekend, the Georgia Southern Eagles beat the University of Florida Gators in their home stadium. We were paid $550,000 to play that game and we beat them 26-20. This is such a huge deal, the Gators are one of the best (not so much this season) and most well known teams in the country and an underdog team from a division well below theirs beating them is absolutely huge, it’s the first time the Gators has ever lost to a team like ours. Our win made it on sports and news channels across the country, it even made it into the Los Angeles and New York Times.
That night I went to welcome the Eagles home, hundreds of people were there, some had even driven from three hours away to welcome ours boys back. It was such a great atmosphere, loads of police cars escorted their coaches onto campus and you could see the football players filming the crowd as they pulled up. Everyone was cheering and high-fiving the players as they got off the coaches and the band started playing the fight song as everyone got photos with the coaches and with Freedom the Eagle. It was so perfect, I have never been so proud to be a part of something as I was to be an Eagle that night.
Georgia Souther win against Chattanooga
Georgia Southern fans singing to Chattanooga, jangling their keys and saying goodbye just seconds before we won the game.
Georgia Southern Marching Band- All I Do Is Win
One of my favourite traditions at the home football games is when the Southern Pride Marching Band plays ‘All I Do Is Win’ at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Everyone sings and dances along to it, it’s such a fantastic atmosphere.
Apologies
Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while, I’ve been very busy with tests and deadlines! After this week I should have free time to make lots of posts and write about everything that’s been happening. Thanksgiving is also coming up soon so I will definitely have a lot of free time to post in that week.
Sorry again and I will post as soon as I can.
Imagine Dragons- ‘Radioactive’
Imagine Dragons performing ‘Radioactive’ at Music Midtown 2013.
Skip to 1:45 to see their epic drum solo.
I apologise for the sound quality, my camera was a little waterlogged.
Imagine Dragons- ‘It’s Time’
Imagine Dragons performing ‘It’s Time’ at Music Midtown 2013.
Skip to 4:00 to see lead singer Dan Reynolds come into the crowd.
I apologise for the sound quality, my camera was a little waterlogged.
Music Midtown 2013
When we first arrived here at Southern, our international orientation leader Juan told us about a music festival him and his friends were going to in Atlanta; Music Midtown. He told us that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were headlining and other bands like Imagine Dragons and the Arctic Monkeys would be there, we loved the sound of this and so we all decided to buy tickets, they only cost us $80, which for the amount of big name bands playing, was an amazing price. We really wanted our new American friend Tori to join us, she promised us that if she made enough money in tips during her next shift at work, she would come. A few of us decided to go and eat at the restaurant she works at during that shift, she was a fantastic waitress and the food was amazing, so we decided to tip big.. very big. She came over to us nearly in tears and thanking us; she’d made more than enough money that night and she would definitely be joining us at Midtown.
Tori lives in Atlanta so we were lucky enough to have somewhere to stay without spending lots on hotels, however there were eight of us and only one car.. a VW Beetle. Juan ended up renting a car for half of the group to travel in and we all split the cost of petrol and the rental hire. We went up to Atlanta on Friday 20th September and when we got to Atlanta, we were very far ahead of the other car, so Tori took us to see her old house which was really nice. We then went to Tori’s Mum’s for dinner and margaritas. Tori’s Mum was lovely, she was exactly like Tori and when all the others arrived we had such a great time talking and having a laugh. We went to Tori’s Dad’s house to sleep the night, his house was amazing, such a big, traditional American family home, I loved it so much. We had the basement to ourselves and we cracked out a deck cards for some games, we ended up playing truth or dare which was hilarious.. Tori ended up with a blue arm and we started drawing all over Cameron. 
When we woke up Tori’s step-mum and Dad had made us cinnamon rolls and donuts for breakfast, it was so tasty. It was pouring with rain that morning which made the day very interesting. It was the first time it had rained in weeks. We drove to the city outskirts to get on the Marta (Atlanta’s inner city tram type transport) and while we were on it we met a really nice girl who was also heading to Midtown. When we got off the stop at Midtown, we followed the crowds to where the festival was and it was pouring down with rain, absolutely pouring. We were absolutely soaking wet. Trying to get in to the festival was chaos, we were in a queue, but loads of people were walking straight down the centre of the road and just clustering at the gates, after about two hours of pointlessly waiting we decided to go and see if we could get in this way. We were in the festival 10 minutes later.
It was absolutely packed inside and it was insanely muddy. We split off into groups of four, just because it was easier to keep track of three other people rather than seven. I was with Tori, Juan and Cameron. We went to get food and then went to the first stage where we saw the Arctic Monkeys play. We saw a Georgia Southern flag in front of us in the crowd which was really cool. A lot of people had flags with their university on it. After a while we decided to get a good spot for Imagine Dragons who were playing on the stage next door. When we got to the stage there was a huge gap fairly close to the front, this was due to the massive puddle of water. We went for it anyway and eventually everyone else did too, we were calf deep in muddy water through out the entire thing, but it was so worth it. Imagine Dragons were phenomenal. During my favourite song of theirs (and one of my all time favourites) ‘It’s Time’, the lead singer Dan Reynolds came into the audience and was stood so, so, so close to where we were.
After Imagine Dragons we went to another stage and saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing for a while before going to see Kendrick Lemar at the stage on the opposite side of the festival. We bumped into our other friends briefly and chatted about how they were enjoying it. After Kendrick Lemar, we went to the merchandise tent and spent lots of money before heading back to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. When we arrived it was already packed, the whole festival was there to see them. There were over 50,000 people there. The RHCP were amazing of course, I’ve loved their music for as long as I can remember and they played all my favourite songs, including ‘Snow (hey oh)’. Towards the end Tori, Juan, Cameron and I were all dancing around and singing along, it was awesome.
I had such a fantastic weekend, it’s one I will definitely remember for a very long time. I’m so thankful for the amazing people I’ve met while I’ve been here, it wouldn’t be half as awesome without them.
Alma Mater
The Georgia Southern Football team and Cheerleaders singing the Alma Mater after our win against Savannah State.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Skip to 1:25 to see the Eagles run onto the field, however, I recommend watching the whole video!
Peach State Studies 