Heads up, freshmen. Drinking gets a lot tougher when you get older.

Your classes - much harder. Your hangovers - much longer. Your tolerance - improves to an embarrassing level, where the normal reactions of passing out/worshiping the porcelain god are replaced with more drinking, less memories, and a lot more falling over.

When I tell you that this weekend was fun, I want you to understand that my travels this semester have taken me to Miami, Tuscaloosa, Starkville, Tallahassee, Charlottesville, NASHVILLE ON HALLOWEEN, and finally, Chapel Hill immediately preceding Durham, NC. Each of these stops was more entertaining than the previous, and this past weekend was really just amazing. The only down part was about 15 minutes of football where we trailed Duke by ten points (apparently). Winfield's already mentioned how much fun the Duke tailgate was... but really, it was amazing. At one point, I was soaked in beer. As I said in the very long car ride home my hair had been triple hop brewed for about 2 hours before the game started on Saturday. And I laughed and smiled about it the entire time.

I don't know if this post is supposed to be a form of self-chastisement or celebration, because I'm a little embarrassed to admit the hedonism that has occurred this semester. I think everyone in our road-tripping group has completely agreed that we will never, ever, ever subject ourselves to this kind of punishment ever again. It's been an incredible year, and while I would never travel and carouse as much as I have ever again, it's been totally worth it. And to everyone who actually reads this blog it is probably very obvious why it was so fun.

College football is the greatest because tickets are cheap, beer are plentiful, and the friends are unforgettable (even after they've challenged you to a case worth of shotguns). I've spent more hours in a car with my friends in the past three months than I could have ever hoped for. I've spent what seems like too much money, but I do understand that a few years down the road I'll be willing to pay every penny five times over for this experience. I've made friends I only see about ten days out of the year, but when I do see them we hug and laugh and have a great time. I won't forget the games I've watched on the road, but even  more so, I won't forget the time I've spent with my friends while doing so.

Heed my words, freshmen. Yes, it does get harder to drink. Your classes get harder and you get busier and you need a senior design project and you need a job and you need a sandwich or a girlfriend and you need to do this and that and whatever and you have to like graduate and all this crap and it gets tough to enjoy things. There will be times where you will be tempted to ignore a very fun situation, just because you want to sit in your room for just one single Saturday and enjoy not abusing your body with crappy road food, lack of sleep, and a few too many cans of beer. Nobody wants to go to Duke to watch a football game. It's Duke, its far, and you think you have better things to do. And you know that if you do go your 2-day hangover will probably leave you wishing either for an IV drip or death, whichever one doesn't require you to get out of bed.

However, if you do go you'll have a lot of fun. And somehow, you'll manage to get everything else done too. I guarantee it.