The BEST Foam Fight EVER!

The day after Raisin Sunday is Raisin Monday.

After Raisin Sunday, Tiffany and I were exhausted. We were covered in paint, whipped cream, cheese puffs, and sand and we were ready to take a shower. We crawled into our beds and vowed that we would never move again.

Unfortunately, we had to move again. The alarm clock rang on Monday morning. We rolled over and looked at each other. We knew that we were going to have to get out of bed, and neither of us wanted to do it.

Once we did get up (an hour after the alarm rang, shockingly!) things got a whole lot better. The traditions for Raisin Monday are just as interesting for Raisin Sunday at St. Andrews. Every year on Raisin Monday morning, students go over to their mum’s house. The mum can then dress the children as WHATEVER SHE WANTS before sending them off to their dad’s house. The dad then gives them a “raisin receipt” which is usually the most ridiculous item he can think of. All of the dad’s children then carry the receipt off to St. Salvador’s quad, where they turn it in for entrance into a school wide massive foam fight..

Make sense to you? Yeah, me neither! 😛

On Monday morning, Tiff and I went over to our mums’ house to see how they would dress us. They were really sweet and made all of their children a delicious breakfast of bacon rolls and fresh fruit. They then dressed us up! My mum, Elisabeth dressed me up as Donald Duck. My siblings were dressed up in all sorts of random costumes, my favorites were Mario and Shrek! Tiffany’s mum dressed her and all of her siblings as teletubbies. (Tiffa was the yellow one, La-La!)

Elisabeth dressed me as Donald Duck!

After getting dressed we went to our dad’s house (TIff and I have different mums, but the same dad!) James gave all of his children a joint gift: a HUGE block of ice that we had to carry for 20 minutes across towns with our hands! It was very cold, and he put green food dye and sugar in it to make it sticky 😛

A family photo: My mum and her six kids 🙂

Walking to the foam fight was hilarious! Mums dressed up their children as all sorts of things, we saw bees and flowers and monsters and babies wearing only a diaper. We saw one dad who dressed up as Aladdin and made all of his kids carry him along on a huge mattress through town. Most of the mums went ALL OUT on their costumes!

Tiff was a member of the teletubby family! 🙂

Once we got to the foam fight, we got in the queue. My family was the FIRST FAMILY in line for the foam fight! I think that we must have skipped the queue to turn in our receipts, because I know lots of people had been waiting there a lot longer than we had! But when they opened the gates to let us in the quad for the foam fight, we were the first ones in!The foam fight was CRAZY! Imagine everyone you know at Uni running around in a quad wearing Halloween costumes. Then imagine that they all get out cans of shaving cream and start flinging it at each other. EVERYONE was covered in foam and attacking everyone and yelling and running and screaming! This is Scotland, so it was about -100 degrees outside, but it was absolutely hilarious!

Foam Fight!

Family photo AFTER the foam fight! 🙂

After it was all over we went back to our hall for a shower. Our wardens decided to add one extra surprise to the day: before girls could enter the hall they had to have a freezing bucket of water dumped on their heads. The guys had it worse, they had to run a lap, wearing only boxers, around the hall! Once they finally let us inside we made a beeline for the showers. I got warm in my shower, put on my pajamas, and didn’t get out of my bed for the rest of the day! 🙂

I love my mum ❤

A Night to Remember

Nov8 by Bobby Duran

Hello Readers!

I was very blessed the other night to be a part of something amazing. Let me set the stage.

It was the Erskine Men’s Soccer team’s senior night, and it just so happened that we were also playing for the conference championship as well. Not only that, we were playing the dreaded, undefeated Limestone College Saints. It was sure to be an exciting night. It was sure to be a tough game.

Knowing the gravity of the situation there was a major push among the fans for some increased school spirit. This being the case, a group of us painted on ourselves a message for the game. “GO EC FLYIN’ FLEET!” would color the sidelines in Maroon and Gold for the duration of the bout. I am proud to have stood as the 2nd ‘E’ in Fleet. On top of that, we “commandeered” the Erskine plane (big aluminum replica) and rode it down the hill to the field. Needless to say, we were all pumped up and ready for an epic game.

The game was one of attrition with each team running, shooting, and fighting for every opportunity to score. At the end of the first half, Limestone was ahead by one beautiful (no matter how unfortunate) goal. The second half was gruelling as Erskine tried to even the score. At one point it looked like the Saints had asserted their lead when our keeper found himself on the far end of an opportunistic shot. But the eyes of one of our mid-fielders were keen, and he put a head on what would have been an open goal, saving the day. As the play clock drew near to an end, it was beginning to look desperate when Erskine finally capitalized on a well placed shot, tying the score and sending the game into sudden death overtime.

Overtime saw an increase in the electric atmosphere of regular play and just when half of the ten minute period was spent, it happened. Our keeper dropkicked the ball from the edge of his box, and it sailed across the field (as it always does). It touched down at the furthest Limestone defender who let the ball go awry. At that one of our forwards struck. It was a beautiful kick, but just a tad too high, and it bounced off of the crossbar and into the space in front of the goal. Fortunately there are more than one set of keen eyes on the Erskine soccer team and another member of the Fleet found the ball and, using his head, ended the game.

The net rippled, and the crowd erupted in proud exclamation. In an instant, the field was filled with Fleet fanatics who joined their team in chanting “E-C! E-C!” into the brisk Autumn air. My voice has never been more lost, and I’ve never been prouder to be a member of the Erskine family.

And people say that nothing exciting happens in small towns…

God bless,

-BD

homecoming 2013

Nov7 by ChristineD

Erskine’s Homecoming, the last of my undergraduate career, was 26 October. I do not think that finality sank in until just now, as I write this. Does anyone know where the homecoming tradition came from? I was on Skype with Aaron, my best friend from St Andrews, the morning of homecoming and in the process of telling him about the day’s events, he asked me what homecoming is.

How do you describe such an American tradition to one who has never experienced it? Apparently I did a sufficient job, but he still laughed at our odd ways here on the other side of the Pond. That was an interesting cultural realisation for me: something which I have always sort of innately understood is an alien concept to most of the world. But I digress.

This year, Erskine combined Homecoming with our Fall Fest–organised and sponsored by the Erskine Entertainment Board–and parent’s day. Between the families, friends, students, faculty, and alumni present, it was the busiest I have ever seen the campus. Breaking character for a day, this quiet little academic village was buzzing from dawn well past dusk. Also a big deal this year: 2014 marks the 175th anniversary of Erskine College, in case you didn’t know. On the 24th, we were lucky enough to get to hear about life as a member of the centennial class from Mrs. Dot Simpson Wise, Erskine class of 1939, in a special convocation ceremony. After the interview, Erskine gave us free 175th anniversary t-shirts, which you will see in a few of the photos below. Anyone who has been to college understands the excitement of a free t-shirt. I think I could go a month wearing only Erskine shirts. This is not a complaint.

classic car, classic shoes, classic Erskine. and the free t-shirt. I love my college. (and my mum-she let me borrow her old saddle shoes!)

this year’s homecoming theme was 1950s; classic car, classic shoes, classic Erskine. and a free t-shirt. I love my college. (and my mum–she let me borrow her old saddle shoes!) [photo by Evan Gursky]

Traditionally, Erskine holds an event called Fleet-o-Rama the night before. This involves music, food (often including fire for roasting marshmallows! s’mores, anyone?), float decorating, and other activities. Despite the chilly weather, it was a fantastic time.

The day itself featured the homecoming parade, an auction, performances by the Choraleers and Gospel Choir, an athletic banquet, exhibition games by various athletic teams, the soccer games and homecoming court, and the concert that evening. If you are anything like me, you get tired just reading that sentence. I think we all slept well that night! The concert featured a band called Air Dubai, preceded by Shane Sniteman, the talented son of one of our professors.

I love seeing the school spirit and pride that everyone shows on days like this. As stressed out as we may get sometimes, and despite the frustrations that inevitably arise sometimes being in such a small community, I really do love this place and the people here. I cannot think of another college that supports every student the way Erskine does. Few outside of Due West know what in the world a “Flying Fleet” is, yet we are fiercely proud of it.

I took very few photos over the weekend, but my talented fellow student, Katie Putnam, took many for the school. I share some of them below. There are many more on the Erskine Flickr page. Enjoy!

The Choraleers singing, directed by the wonderful Dr. Nabholz. It’s never easy to sing outside but we were wonderful. Not that I am biased or anything. (I am the one on the front row who isn’t wearing jeans like everyone else.)

At the banquet, six Erskine alumni were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame

The freshmen court: Kristen Craft, Amanda Strickland, and Anna Raquel Robinson.

The sophomore court: Hayley Rogers, Miranda Guthrie, and Elinor Griffin.

The junior court: Rachel Talbot, Mika Goyette, and Chelsea Ball.

The senior court: Cate Cardinale, Corin Hallman, Leslie McGill, and April Horne.

Cate Cardinale was crowned the 2013 homecoming queen. To her left and right are student body VP Hannah Collins and student body President Daniel Prohaska.

Shane Sniteman opening for Air Dubai

The lead singer of Air Dubai singing his heart out

Paint Fight on the BEACH! (Raisin Sunday)

Nov6 by Holly Kat

Last weekend I completed a photo scavenger hunt around town while tied to five other people, had a paint fight on the beach, was thrown into the sea, ate an almost an entire chocolate bar in two minutes (and had to drink an entire wineglass full of random kitchen ingredients because I did not finish on time!), and dressed up as Donald Duck to participate in a school wide shaving cream fight.

When I saw everyone participated in this foam fight, I mean EVERYONE!

Before you start wondering if I have gone mad and need to be rescued from this foreign land, let me remind you that this past weekend was Raisin Weekend at St. Andrews: one of the best and most fun traditions of the 600 year old university. The tradition goes something like this: every year new students are adopted by older (usually third year) students who become their “academic parents.” Academic dads and mums usually are not married and may have anywhere from two to fifteen children. These “academic families” usually meet several times per semester with their children to spend time hanging out, eating, and playing games. Academic families are not only fun, but a great way to make new friends! Keen students will even go around and find/meet their academic uncles/aunts/cousins/grandparents/etc. in order to build up their family tree!

I wrote a better explanation of academic families and St. Andrews traditions in this blog post 🙂

The biggest responsibility academic families have to their children to help them have a fabulous Raisin weekend. (The weekend is rumored to be called “Raisin Weekend’ because academic children would thank their parents for their hospitality by bringing them a pound of raisins.) Raisin Sunday starts as all of the academic children go over their mum’s house in the morning or early afternoon for a party. Usually they play games and have to complete challenges in order to avoid “forfeits.” (If, at any time, during Raisin weekend your parents decide you are not behaving to their standards or did not successfully complete a challenge, they can give you a drink called a forfeit which you MUST drink and can contain anything the parents decide sounds good.) After their mum’s party, children go over to their dad’s house for another party and more challenges (and forfeits!)

On Raisin Sunday we all had to be at our mum’s house at 1:11 pm. A minute early or a minute late, and we would have to drink a forfeit. Like total dorks we stood outside of their house right around the corner until exactly 1:11 (we didn’t want to start the day with a forfeit!) My academic mum, Elisabeth, had adopted five other children so she could have a family of six. She and four of her friends held their parties together so that we would all be sure to have plenty of siblings AND extended family at the party!

We started with a relay race. Members of the team had to complete challenges (eating a donut off of a string, carrying an egg around on a spoon with your mouth, smashing an egg on your forehead, etc.) Our parents then surprised us by dividing us into three teams and tying us together! Each team was given a list of fourteen things they had to find around town and photograph or film. We had to propose to strangers, dance in front of strangers, and plank in the most interesting places. After completing the checklist we had to rush back to the beach in time for a version of twister and a gigantic paint fight on the beach! After a little rest and warming up from being thrown into the sea, Tiffany and I started the process all over again with games and challenges at our academic dad’s house!

I could try to tell you all about these experiences, and how much fun they were, but everyone knows that a picture is worth a thousand words! I definitely do not think I could have asked for a better academic family, or a better Raisin Sunday!