It's Florida Time

Alpha Tau, University of Florida

UF was my first non-recruitment visit of the year so I was looking forward to just spending time with the chapter, without the added hectic activities of recruitment. My visit started off great when the new member educator, Dani, picked me up at the airport. After giving me a driving tour of campus, I spent most the afternoon with her and meeting more Phis.

On Thursday and Friday I got to see pieces of campus, like the Reitz Union. I found the closest Starbucks and I saw the rows of scooters parked on campus. Yes, at UF tons of students drive scooters around campus, only they call it scooting, as in "I can scoot you to class." I don't know if it's just me, but I found this pretty funny. But it does make for an easy way to get around campus!

AEPhi had Father/Daughter Weekend during my visit so I was looking forward to the fun events, on top of game day! Friday all the dads (and some families) came into town and AEPhi hosted a light buffet. Meeting the dads was fun and I loved seeing that so many of them were fraternity brothers!

Saturday was my first SEC game day! UF is our only AEPhi chapter at an SEC school so I definitely got lucky getting to attend. The first thing that was different for me was seeing girls in dresses to tailgate and attend a football game. I obviously knew that existed, but had just never been to a game in a place where that was the culture. There was definitely a combination of dresses, rompers and shorts/t-shirts in the sorority community. One thing I loved to see was all the Jack Rogers and cowboy boots! And of course I loved all the men in their blue and orange polos and visors. 👌

I found Rachel (an AEPhi @ UCF) before the game!

After the AEPhi barbecue with the families, I headed out with some Phis to see the tailgates. It was so fun to see the alumni tailgates and all the wild parties going on throughout campus!

Something I was certainly not used to on game day was the heat and insane humidity. I literally started sweating the second we stepped outside. I drank so much water all day and into the evening and I still felt dehydrated.

Great view at my first SEC and Gator Game! 

It was still so humid at 8pm with the sun down but that didn't stop me from enjoying the game. It started off a bit slow but picked up in the second half. I slowly learned some of the cheers and the chomp and I liked the song they sing at the end of third quarter. But the end of the game was when it got really interesting. UF and Kentucky went into three overtimes before the Gators finally won! It was quite the long game but staying the whole way through was so worth it!

We stayed for all three overtimes!

Father/Daughter Weekend ended with a nice bagel brunch for all the families. The desserts were amazing (especially the pumpkin bread) and the chapter sold tons of old shirts as a fundraiser! It was such a successful weekend and I was so proud to see the committee feel so great about their event!

After such an amazing weekend with these ladies, I didn't want to leave! I could get used to the 90% humidity and really move into the study room. But I left with some fun merch and a new home in Florida!


Florida Time by Bob Seger