Happy Friday, y’all! I’m doing a new link-up today: Football Friday hosted by Erin over at Love, Fun & Football. This is exciting. 




As many of y’all know (and if you don’t, then you’ll find out now), I am a Hokie. I went to almost every home game during my four years at VT (except for three my freshman year, curse the student ticket lottery) and really developed a passion for Hokie football. It’s kind of hard not to love football at a place like VT. 

Now I’m not at VT anymore, so I’m not immersed in Blacksburg’s football culture every weekend. It already feels different, and kickoff isn’t for another eight days. I visited Blacksburg last weekend, and naturally I drove through campus before I went to Kevin’s apartment. When I turned onto Spring Road to drive by Lane, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day started playing on my radio.




I cried. No biggie. 




Many of my friends moved back to Blacksburg this weekend and have been posting about how excited they are for a new year, and how pumped they are to be back in Lane Stadium for football. And it feels very different to not be there, too. It’s like something is missing. 




To my friends who will be there, especially my senior friends:




Tailgate every weekend. If you don’t host one, join up with your friends. It’s fantastic. 




Jump to “Enter, Sandman” like your life depends on it. Make Blacksburg register on the Richter scale again. 




Bring a rain jacket or something water-resistant for the White-Out game. It rained every single White-Out game in my four years. It just happens. 




Scream and yell so loud that you lose your voice at least once during the season. Lane is prided as being one of the loudest college football venues, and as having one of the best home-field advantages in the country. Make sure it keeps that reputation. Your voice will come back a couple days later with cough drops and tea (trust me, I’ve done this one before). 




And please, for the love of the Hokie Bird, please stay for the entire game. The team needs you there to cheer and jump around and shake your keys. It keeps them going. 




I’m aiming to make it to at least one game this season. It might not be until late in the season, but I swear on Frank that I’ll be there for at least one. I can’t go an entire season without the Lane experience.







Eight days. Go Hokies.