April 15, 2012, by Mark

Sports & Secret Societies

Yet another busy week across the pond here at the University of Virginia as the semester approaches the home straight. Last weekend was my Mother’s birthday, which meant a special day out to one of the well renowned local wineries and it did not disappoint. A special Easter brunch with some exceptional company was followed by a private tasting tour of the winery. I should point out the name of the room where my parents stayed for the night at the winery…Nottingham.


The following week has been yet another intense plethora of work and classes broken up by a sorority date function midweek. This means dressing in fraternity brother attire (Brown shoes, khaki trousers (pants), shirt & tie and a blazer) and then socialising in thus attire.

Apart from vast quantities of assignments and work this weekend, I have managed to fit in a day of sport. Beginning with a rugby match, ‘rugby in American?!’ I hear you cry. Yes the University of Virginia has two rugby teams and they are rather good I might add as surprising as that sounds. Following this the vast Scott Stadium called my name, this being the arena for American football, where this spring warm up game was being played. It was Blue v Orange, in other words UVA vs. UVA, not quite the theatrical experience of an actual match but at least I got to experience some American football. Finally as dusk grew nearer another of the many stadiums was host to my first ever baseball game that I thoroughly enjoyed, especially once I started understanding what was actually going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I thought I would tell you about something that I and very few others no barely anything about here at UVA, secret societies. Friday saw the marking of Thomas Jefferson’s 269th birthday, the founder of the University of Virginia. On this occasion each year it is tradition that the Society of the Purple Shadows come out and honour Jefferson’s birthday in the hours of darkness. I won’t tell you more as like most, I don’t know much more. But here’s some information on the other secret societies…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_societies_at_the_University_of_Virginia

– Mark J Richardson

Posted in 2011-Mark