My favorite IU memory from this past year did not actually take place in Bloomington. Instead, when I think about my favorite memory from this past year, I think about Florida in December. As a member of the Marching Hundred at IU, nothing is more exciting than when the football team reaches the six-win threshold. When this happens, it not only means that our football team is good and gets to go into post-season play, but it also means the band gets a paid trip to travel with the team and support them wherever they end up traveling to. This year, we were lucky enough to be able to travel to Jacksonville, Florida for the Gator Bowl as the Hoosiers took on the Vols from the University of Tennessee.
This entire trip was incredible. We ended up taking a bus from Bloomington to Jacksonville which made for a long trip full of amazing memories made with my friends. Once we arrived, we played at pep rallies for fans, traveled to Saint Augustine, and got to support the team at the game itself! I don’t think I could pinpoint a specific moment that became my favorite memory because there are so many: from playing the fight song and singing the alma mater on the beach or sitting with my closest friend and reading our books by the pool in the middle of December. Or maybe that the bus ride back to Bloomington ended up being 18 hours instead of 12, so we had to keep each other positive and entertained for those long hours. Or possibly that we were able to root on the team and perform our halftime show in an NFL sized stadium. I think all of these combined created an experience that I will not soon forget.
As a junior with the future uncertain, I am not sure what my final year in the Marching Hundred will ultimately look like and whether I will get another experience like this. I take great comfort, however, in the memories that I made on this trip, and I will carry them with me forever no matter what the future brings.
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