Kickin' It Ivy-League Style

So this weekend I went down to Princeton to visit Nicole and Matthew for the weekend.  It was really fun and it was nice to get out of the city and get some fresh air for a few days after being a little under the weather at the end of last week.

I got there in the early afternoon yesterday and Nicole picked me up from the train station.  We went shopping for some running shoes for Nicole so she can be a badass fencer/badminton player.  This hilarious guy named Daniel helped us find the right shoes for her "very narrow heels" and it was the most fun I've had shoe shopping since, well, pretty much ever.

We did some laundry, then Matthew and Nicole had to get ready for/go to their marching band thing for the football game, so I got passed off to Nicole's friends Mo and Joey.  They were pretty cool, very outgoing people.  They took me to the football game, and I discovered how awesome the Princeton marching band really is.  First of all, they have the best uniforms I've ever seen:

Also, they don't march like a traditional band, they're a "whistle/scramble" band, which means the drum major (or possibly the conductor, I couldn't 100% tell) blows a whistle, they just run around and do awesome weird stuff (like an impromptu game of Chicken) and then get into formation and play something.  The people in the band are mostly nuts, too, which is fun.  Their and president wears a kilt (by tradition) and has a mohawk (by awesomeness), and the conductor looks like an awesome old-school magician.  And they have a "trash section," which is a section of people who play "instruments" such as a stop sign, a drum set made up of four plastic flamingos, and, in Nicole's case, a cowbell (I know, I know, MORE COWBELL joke here).  It was pretty awesome.  And Princeton won the game, so clearly I am their lucky charm.  But it was rainy and wet so sitting on wet football stadium benches... not so awesome.

Then the three of us went to dinner at PJ's Pancake House, which is this awesome place just off campus, and we were all SO hungry it was a pretty quiet but VERY delightful meal.  Grilled cheese has possibly never tasted so good.

Then we all went back to Nicole's room, had a cute little slumber party (floor = not so delightful, but not that bad), and slept very well.  We had brunch in a dorm called Forbes, which had absolutely delicious Sunday brunch.  It was pretty crazy for college cafeteria food, not gonna lie.  Although I've realized a new reason to be terrified of going to college -- I will live on fruit punch and it will not be so great for me in the long run.

Then I took the train back to the city and now I'm just chillin in my apartment.  Yep.