The truth is, that it looks more like this...
It is an event filled with spirit, dancing, yelling, and strolling. When my team was being prepared for the event, they told us it was going to be on the same level as cheer camp. Being a former cheerleader, I thought there was no way a group of college students could be as crazy and loud as a group of a thousand teenage girls. Oh man was I wrong. Never have I seen so many people this excited to rep their school.
The first event we participated in upon our arrival was a sticker swap. This is exactly what it sounds like. All of the schools meet up and stick their stickers on students from other schools. We were told to pull our hair up for this event because it can get serious. I am glad I had that piece of advice, because it did indeed turn into an intense event.
The next event was the SROWLL call. This meant all of the schools stood up and did a quick introduction when their name was called. My school brought the biggest team, so it goes without saying that our intro was completely awesome. The schools did anything from a step to singing their fight song. Ironically, my large team was sitting next to a new team of only four members. They were just checking SROW out for the first time and didn't want to embarrass themselves by doing a super quiet chant. Alaina and I told our whole team to join in so their chant would be extra loud. They became great friends and we hung out with them the rest of the trip!
The next event was the song/skit/dance competition. My school participated in the dance portion of the competition. This meant we competed number 37 out of 45 teams. We were ironically sitting next to one of our rival SEC schools. I had a feeling that we might have a little tension just because of our rich football rivalry, but I was completely wrong! I met and became friends with a gentleman named Alfredo. The school was the University of Florida, and by the end of the night they were yelling Roll Tide and we were doing the gator chomp. Never again will I do the gator chomp, but in the spirit of SROW it just seemed right.
The next morning, we woke up to a breakfast on the go and a day full of educational sessions. These sessions taught us anything from how to come up with ice breakers to how to read body language. We were allowed to pick the sessions we wanted to be involved in and it just so happens Alaina and I ended up in the same one. We sat next to the most precious guy ever from Clemson University. He became a great friend, and even joined us for the next session!
During a break in the educational sessions, we had a t-shirt swap. This is where you trade "swag" from your school for "swag" from another school. It was really awesome! Of course the U of A "swag" was a hot commodity since we are the national champs. I decided to trade the shirts I had for Clemson, NC State and Mississippi State.
The last event was a SROWcial which involved a dance party, photo booth, and food. I enjoyed getting my groove on with my fellow team members. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend full of new friends and school spirit. The next morning we attended the closing ceremony and hopped on a bus for a nine our ride back to Tuscaloosa! That is where I decided to catch up on some much needed sleep and my wonderful friends decided to take pictures of me.
All in all, it was a great weekend. I am so glad I had the opportunity to have such an awesome experience where I made new friends from all over the southeast, represented my school, learned new things, and made memories with my best friend!
