Chapter 64:

 

P.D.I.

 

Not to be confused with the magnetic key-cards that let you into your dorm, this P.D.I. is Pre-determined Dates of Intoxication. Meaning, festive annual events that occur while you’re at school, that no student has any control over rescheduling, as said events are set holidays or what not.

 

Parents Weekend. What the hell is this doing here? Well, I couldn’t find any other place to drop it on this site, so here it is.

 

Perhaps to numb the impact of your “worlds colliding,” you had to do a shot or two before the parents arrived. I certainly understand that. There used to be just a single Parents Weekend, but then it was split, so there became a Freshman Parents Weekend (or Family Weekend), and then one for upperclassmen. I guess is made the crowd control a lot more manageable, both for the university, and the town. Oh wait, update: I think it’s more recently been consolidated into one weekend, like how it used to be.

 

Anyway, here's a nice moment of embarrassment, if I'm remembering it right: Fall of '91, in 116 Dickinson C, my family comes to visit. My sister was thirteen at the time, and walked in on my roommate AB changing, or something. Taught her the need to knock, especially in community living. I think she saw AB’s bare mule.

 

Halloween. Now we’re talkin’. Freshman year -- with the assistance of friends -- I mummified myself with toilet paper, taken out of the Dickinson C first floor Men’s bathroom. I stripped down to my tighty-whities, and everyone just wrapped me with toilet paper. This was before I started wearing contact lenses, so I kept my glasses on, but over the toilet paper. I walked around Dickinson, trick-or-treating with a plastic pumpkin bucket, as the paper gradually unraveled. By the end of the night I was basically walking around in just white underwear...well, and glasses.

 

Flash forward three years later to October 1994, and a classic costume as worn by AB: a six-foot tampon. Yes, with a string. Yes, used. Yes, his girlfriend -- now wife, and mother of his children -- helped him make it. This was for a party on Ritter Street, where a bunch of our friends lived. What a great house that was.

 

Hands down though, the greatest costume I’ve ever seen: Shit with Corn In It. It was simply a brown garbage bag, with some yellow sponges cut into triangles, and glued (or stapled) on. Genius. This was either '92 or '93, and a sensation at the Lacrosse House on East Cleveland.

 

Oh, and almost forgot to mention: The “Halloween Loop” through Wilmington was a big deal for a stretch during the '80s and early '90s, though I personally didn’t know anyone who jumped on those buses. Hey, fun to just stumble around campus in those costumes!

 

Boobs, Butts & Beyond:Getting Lucky on St. Patrick's DaySt. Patty’s Day. The day Blue Hens turn green. And so do the sidewalks. Really, not much more to say. I doubt I can trump out your own personal memories. If you can remember anything, that is.

 

Cinco de Mayo. Landed on a Friday during my senior year. The destination was El Sombrero on Elkton Road to start, and then I think we headed over to the Balloon that night to see The Nerds; I seem to remember them playing “Jarabe Tapatío.” You know it as the “Mexican Hat Dance.” And I only knew the Spanish name, because I looked it up on Wikipedia.

 

Preakness. I don't remember UD kids even talking about it in the early '90s, but maybe I'm way off. But the annual pilgrimage to Baltimore became a huge deal on that third Saturday in May. I didn’t really get what it was, until I looked it up, “Ohhhhhh. It’s a tailgate for a horse race.”

 

Then though in 2009, the racetrack killed it, announcing that, “fans will not be allowed to bring in beverages of any kind to the public infield on race day.” UD kids who were looking forward to going to Preakness, protested that that was a bunch of horseshit. Yes, pun intended. Preakness, over.

 

 

The Gamut

 

“I lurvvvve Halloween! Freshman year I was a '60s style go-go dancer, and embarrassingly enough used most of my own clothes. Went to a party in Towne Court. Sophomore year I was Axl Rose. Again my own clothes, and a boyfriend's flannel and a crucifix. Went to a party in the West Tower. Junior year I was Princess Leia. I used my white high school graduation gown, a white turtleneck, and white leggings. My hair was super long, so with 150 bobby pins I was able to do the cinnamon bun hairdo. Had to go to a mixer. Senior year I was Pocahontas. Bought a tan mini-dress at Goodwill on Main Street, cut in some fringe and wore my birks and braids. I remember a Phi Delt party and maybe a Theta Xi party, but it's fuzzy!”

 

- Melissa, UD '94

 

St. Rodney

 

“One fine St. Patty's Day -- I think it was 1996 -- some friends and I decided to visit the infamous Rodney Dining Hall for some grub. I say ‘grub’ instead of food, because that's what was on the menu at the time. We swiped our cards through the machine on our way into the dining hall, and stepped into the room.

 

Now, we've all seen kegs before. Big, round, heavy, generally silverish colored and full of liquid deliciousness. We did not, however, usually see them in the dining hall. But lo and behold, there were TWO kegs! Yup, that's right! For one brief year, on one aforementioned Irish holiday, the powers-that-be relented and served us up the nectar of the gods. Almost.

 

They were two kegs of O'Doul’s non-alcoholic beer…which, most people don’t realize, actually does still have trace amounts of alcohol in it. Although not exactly our preferred brand, we'd started drinking early that day and this was one of the nicest surprises UD had ever offered. Someone probably got fired over it. We ate our green food and drank our pseudo-beer, and for one brief moment we were free men…like in The Shawshank Redemption.”

 

- David B, UD '98

 

Around the World in 21 Shots

 

“My 21st was May 6th, 2000, so we actually had to celebrate it on Cinco de Mayo at the ‘Around the World’ on North Chapel. I had some of my friends from home come down, and they ended up going to La Tolteca...I remember telling them I would see them later, and that was the last I remember seeing them.”

 

- Harvnutz, UD '01

 

Pride of Preakness

 

“Preakness was a tailgate for something that maybe 75% of the crowd doesn't even know is happening. It was fun because college students from all around the area went, but UD has a huge representation. I have some pretty ridiculous stories from there myself including:

 

Making insane bets on who would win on a three person slip and slide (with no hose, so basically we were sliding in soap and beer), getting lost two or three times in the day, one time asking a random strange guy where my friends were, having him lead me around to find them, then making out with him for an hour in front of all my friends (later on my friends told me he actually was cute, and I ended up going on dates with him), getting stopped from leaving by the cops when the crowd started to get real rowdy and was pegging beers at them…

 

…and finally, getting lost AGAIN at the end of Preakness only to ask a cop to find my friends for me. Instead he said to sit tight, gave me one of the randomly discarded chairs left on the field, a cooler of beer (filled) that was also left at the field, and told me to sit down, drink my beer, and he'd radio the other cops looking for my friends. An hour-and-a-half later my friends walked by looking for me, and I was sitting there getting drunker by myself, hitting on all the cops. Preakness was one of the best days of the year.”

 

- Jen, UD '06

 

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