Like exchange students, but awesomer

Chris' visit took place the third weekend in September - he showed up late Friday evening, sick with something that resembled H1N1 pretty closely. This was right after the Rose swine flu scare and subsequent quarantine, so it wasn't the most opportune time for him to show up sick, but whatever.

After getting his stuff in from the car, we took him on a tour of dorm rooms, starting with the smallest (Jarek's and mine) and moving progressively upwards (to Catherine and Jessica's, then finally to the apartment dorm that Tim shares with his three suitemates Ben, Collin, and Andrew).

By the time we got there, we were all pretty tired of moving, so we settled down for some serious cards and partying. Chris brought down a couple variations on the classic game Kings, and he and I learned the Chicken Hats minigame. Two rounds lasted us well past 2am Saturday morning, whereupon we realized the time and all retired to our respective dorms to crash.

The next morning (or maybe afternoon) we got together again for a breakfast (or maybe lunch) at the Real Hacienda next to the Wal-Mart, where we had one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had in a restaurant: a waiter actually insisting we eat some certain food.

What happened is that Tim had ordered an Enchilada Real (pronounced ray-ahl), and fifteen minutes later the waiter brought out a Taco Salad Real. Tim told him that it was the wrong dish, and the waiter took it away again, only to come back thirty seconds later and say, "This is what you ordered." Not wanting to get into a taco-inspired fight, Tim just relented to eating the thing, but the waiter didn't get tipped that day.

After the Real Hacienda debacle (and the requisite quick Wal-Mart trip after that) ended, we headed back to campus and proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day. Chris and I mostly stayed around in Tim's apartment, while the rest of the gang went back to their respective rooms. Chris left the following morning, but not before making plans with Tim and I to go up to MSU to reciprocate the visit in two weeks. (Jessica was originally supposed to go with me, but she broke up with me in the interval, so she lost out on the opportunity to go.)

Twelve days passed.

Tim and I left for MSU Friday. We had originally planned to leave right after I got out of the Learning Center at 4:15, but Tim was lagging something terrible - I had enough time to repack my stuff, get Subway, and hang around in his apartment being a nuisance for about twenty minutes before we hit the road at about 5:30pm.

Now, I knew going into the drive that it was not going to be pleasant. I had had about twelve different things due for my CSSE courses that Friday, so I wound up being awake until 3am that morning and getting less than four hours of sleep total. However, I discovered a miracle: 5-Hour Energy. Tim happened to have one in his room, which I promptly deprived him of and then chugged right before hitting the road. And it worked like a charm: I wasn't even the least bit tired the entire way up there. The trip itself took almost exactly five hours (a time that wasn't helped by the fact I had to refill my gas tank every 200 miles, a limitation imposed by my faulty tank meter.)

We made it to MSU around 10:30pm. The late arrival destroyed the original plan, which was to get sushi with Chris and friends. Instead, we wound up forming a hookah circle on one of the basketball courts (Kumbaya-style) and just hanging out while listening to guitar music (two people, David and Talya, both played exceptionally well).

After it got too cold to do anything more outside, we headed back inside the dorm where everyone lived and stayed in Chris' room for awhile, watching a truly terrifying Sundance movie called "Teeth." (Hit the link for a description; I don't want to traumatize people by summarizing it here.)

The next day, it turned out, was a huge event on campus: it was the annual MSU vs. University of Michigan (UM) football game. MSU had won last year, and the pressure was on because it had been over forty years since MSU won this particular game two years in a row.

Chris' roommate Shawn and a bunch of other people had managed to procure tickets for the game, but without months of advanced warning and $150 each, Tim and I had no chance. We stayed in Chris' room with him to watch the game on his TV.

Let me sidetrack for a minute here: Chris has an excellent entertainment system in his room. He recently managed to get his speakers magicked up such that they took wireless input from any iTunes-possessing computer on his wireless network as well as wired input from his TV. He also has a pretty big TV; I'd guess at least 35 inches, possibly more, from what I recall.

Anyway, the game was reasonably uneventful for the first few quarters. MSU established an early lead, and held the game at 20-6 over UM until about six minutes were left in the fourth quarter. Not wanting to hand it over that easily, UM managed two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game, tying it 20-20 and forcing it into overtime.

Here I learned something: football overtime apparently works differently than other overtimes. Instead of having an additional timed segment tacked onto the game, each team is given one chance to score. If at any time the first team runs out of downs and turn over the ball, or scores, the other team gets their chance, and then that's it. No more overtime. (Unless it's still tied, in which case there's another round of this.)

MSU won the coin toss and decided to let UM go first. UM failed to score, and MSU proceeded to take a touchdown on a short pass (the guy looked like he was just going to make a first down, but then tore away from the defender on him and sprinted into the endzone.)

There was much rejoicing.

After the game we sat in the dorms and watched more football, followed by naps, then more football, until it got to be about 10:30pm. Then it was party time.

There were, give or take, about a dozen people waiting to go out and party as a group, and we were all waiting on Chris and his mild OCD to find the right pair of shoes (that apparently an RA had stolen). Tim had gone with Chris, so I was hanging out with an otherwise all-Michigan crowd. This is when the game What the F appeared.

This game, for those of you uninformed, has a swearword density that puts South Park to shame. It's a rhythm-based game, and the first person not to string together the right combination of profanities to the beat held by the other players loses (and by the original rules should take a drink, but we weren't drinking).

MSU's campus is apparently quite different from Rose's in that you can show up at a party, know nobody there, and still manage to be completely accepted. Tim and I were slightly surprised, but everyone else took it in stride. The party we chose, however, was reasonably shady (everyone was crammed onto a deck in the backyard, which was terribly lit and had no chairs), so we decided to just bail and head back to the dorms.

Another round of Kings made an appearance here. Tim and I were happy to represent Rose by introducing Chicken Hats to the rest of the MSU crowd, and everyone seemed to enjoy it pretty well. After the round ended, we decided against another game and instead just went straight into Honesty Hour, which is basically everyone sitting around and being honest with each other.

You have to respect Honesty Hour.

That pretty much wrapped up the weekend; we got to sleep at something like 4am, were up by 11am, and left at almost precisely 12:30pm. After another 5-Hour Energy, Tim and I made it back to Rose by 5pm, which was just in time for him to get started on massive amounts of homework.

All in all, this MSU/Rose visiting business is working out pretty well. I believe Tim is going back up to MSU over fall break (a trip which, sadly, I can't join him on), and I fervently hope Chris can come down again before fall quarter ends (and maybe bring some people with him?).

Go Green!