Class of 1998... GO BRONCOS!!!

14 years after first leaving Yuba City for college, and 10 years after graduating from Santa Clara University, I went back for my college reunion. I have a lot of really fond memories of college, especially my junior and senior years living in a house across the street from campus with 10 other girls. I don't know how we survived AND actually graduated!

I was a little nervous about going back for the reunion. While some of my old roommates have remained really good friends, I really hadn't seen many of them for a few years. I was nervous about how it'd be being back together, and also worried that some of the other people I'd see would actually remember me! Well, it ended up that I had nothing to worry about and I'm REALLY glad that I went. It was so nice to see the campus again, reconnect with some old friends, and relive a little bit of our college experience. :D

After the run on Saturday I came home, got ready and headed down to the South Bay. My old roomie Viv lives at Santana Row and her place was the party hub for the weekend. Everyone was meeting up at her place for a little pre-partying before we headed to the reunion dinner. I got to Santa Clara a little early, and decided to take a drive around campus, since I didn't think I'd have a chance to see much of it later. A lot of the campus looks the same... all the old hang outs I remember are still there... but there are a lot of new things too, including a GORGEOUS new library!

After a quick drive around (it's a small campus) I headed over to Santana Row to meet up with everyone else. The pre-partying had already started and I came just in time to jump in on a game of King's (an old card game we used to play in college). We spent some time hanging out and catching up more and then all got prettied for the reunion.

The reunion was held in the new Leavey athletic building. They had us one one side of the big gym area, and the 5 year reunion peeps on the other. They had tables set up, a bar, a dj and dance floor. The minute we walked up to the building we saw some old classmates that we recognized. Pretty much the rest of the night was spent hanging out by the bar catching up with people. There were some people there that I hadn't seen since my freshman year, and some that I'd seen a little more recently. Despite how long it had been since the last time I saw them, it seemed like just yesterday that we were all in school together! We joked, we laughed, and we basically fell into our old friendships. I was really surprised at how easy it was to do that!

Towards the end of the night we started hearing about a party that some of our guy classmates were having at a house nearby. Because Santa Clara is a pretty small town (even though it's right next door to San Jose) the party scene consists of mainly house parties. Most all Juniors and Seniors live off campus is houses around the school. Every weekend (well, almost every night actually) someone was throwing a party at their house. It was also a Santa Clara tradition to name the houses... some names change every year with the new residents but some house names have been around for years. The house I lived in was generally called Old Theta Chi because for years before we moved in it had been the Theta Chi fraternity house.

Whoops, I got sidetracked a little... So some of the guys had "rented" (basically paid the current residents to get lost for the night) their old house, Clubhouse, and were hosting a party there. Ahhh, just like old times. We all walked across campus in search of Clubhouse (none of us could remember where exactly it was). Along the way we walked by our old house on Market Street and had to stop and take a picture on the porch. We spent a lot of time on that porch, and took a lot of pictures there to commemorate dances, parent weekends, graduation. Of course we had to take a pic to commemorate the reunion. I don't think we made the current residences very happy... one girl came out to tell us that people were sleeping (ummm, it was only midnight... what college student is sleeping then!) and then slammed the door! Oh well, we got a cute picture. :D

Once we got to Clubhouse we only spent a little bit of time there. I think were are all getting a little tired, and hungry, so after awhile we called a cab and headed back to Viv's place. She fed us and offered to let me stay the night on her couch (a VERY good idea :D). I conked out in my dress, and then woke up about 6:00am the next morning, got up and drove home so I could get some more sleep in my bed :D

All in all it was a fantastic reunion and I'm really glad that I went. Hopefully it won't be another 10 years before I see everyone again!! I'll add some more pictures once people send them to me :D