Picnic Day!!!

So yesterday Dad and I went down to Sacramento so that he could go to the temple and I could go to Davis' Picnic Day.  We left at around seven-thirty in the morning, and by ten Dad had dropped me off at fourth and E, and I walked to the campus.  The moment we got into town I felt so much better than I have in a while.  The best way to describe it is that I felt right.  Walking through downtown and to the campus again was exhilarating.  I called Nikki almost immediately to let her know I was in town and then began to wander through the quad.  It is interesting that with some places, despite any changes (Davis has gone through a few, considering that they are remodeling the CoHo--Coffee House), you can leave and no matter how much time has passed, when you come back it feels like you never left.  Davis was like that for me yesterday.

So while I was wandering and keeping an eye out for people I might know, the Picnic Day parade started and so I just stopped where I was to watch.

While I was there, Christie showed up and we watched the parade together until her friend Liz joined us.  I saw my Aunt Jackie and spoke to her for a few minutes (her daughter, Kara, is now going to UC Davis), then the three of us went to look at the dirt exhibit.  Once we got there, however, we decided to go look at the body exhibit to look at a cadaver, but by the time we reached it, they had given all the tickets away, so we decided to Tye-dye a shirt while we waited for the next showing.  At the Tye-dye station, Nikki and her friend, Jaimie, met up with us.  Only Liz and I Tye-Dyed a shirt, the others just watched us (I had to leave it in the bag for twenty-four hours, so I will post pictures of it later, probably on facebook).  After that we decided to go get some food, and Christie and I bought some Chinese noodles, and I also got a lemonade with jello in it--interesting and good ^.^  The five of us sat on the grass in the quad and just enjoyed being outside.

After that, we headed over to get in line to see the fashion show--Liz really wanted to see it, and none of the rest of us were picky enough to choose something else.  The line was insane, but once we got our tickets, we went to go watch the dachshund races--we only could stay for one race because we had to get back to the fashion show.  It was pretty cute, there were five racers, and when the gates opened, four of them circled around to behind the cages where all the people were, and only one went were he was suppose to and won the race.

So we went back to the fashion show.  Twenty-five UC Davis designers each had four or five outfits to display.  Out of all of them, there were only three designers that I liked--one that had their models dance, and really neat outfits,  another that looked very goth (I LOVED them), and the third had a mid-eastern style (the first outfit from that collection was horrendous! but the other three were neat).  There was also an Origami-styled collection that was interesting to look at, but nothing I would ever wear.  The rest were either hideous, or something that looked good but wouldn't be something I would ever wear.  It was actually kind of interesting to see the different outfits, but fashion is definitely not my thing!

When the fashion show was done, Liz took off, and the rest of us got on the bus.  Nikki and Jaimie had to go back home to do homework, so it left just Christie and I.  We dropped by her friend's house to pick up her car, then went to Dimple, Baskin Robbins (we had a coupon for a free pint), and then to the Grad (Soooooo many drunk people....) where Christie met up with a friend who hooked us up with some chicken strips and fries.  With our strange picnic, we headed to the Battle of the Bands.

Basically, four or five bands (including the UC Davis band) get together and compete.  No one dresses in their uniforms, instead they are encouraged to dress up in costumes and the like (there were many superhero and supervillian costumes, as well as a male cheerleader).  The rules are that the bands must keep playing, meaning that once one band is done, the other starts up right away and they keep going in order.  The second rule is that they cannot play the same song that has previously been played.  Whoever is left standing/playing is the winner.  Last year it was Davis versus Stanford, and they played until around eleven-thirty when a draw was finally called because neither one would stop.  We didn't stay for the entire thing, but it is set to go from two in the afternoon until ten at night.

So, this year the competitors were: UC Irvine, Stanford, UC Davis, UC San Diego, and UC Berkley.  As Christie and I were leaving, so was Berkley.  They did all sorts of fun things, like playing Pink, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Little Mermaid, and Journey.  Some of the bands went up into the crowd.  When we first got there, Davis was among the crowd and they did things like "army crawl" (where they got on their bellies and squirmed across the grass while playing their instruments) and "meet someone in the crowd."  San Diego went up into the crowd several times--at one point running through it, trying not to crash into each other or innocent bystanders.  Irvine was probably the weakest band, as they did not have enough of them to be very loud and they often messed up the songs that they played.  Berkley pretty much stayed in their same position, only going up into the crowd once.  The biggest players were Stanford, Davis, and San Diego.  As Berkley was leaving, the other bands played them away in typical rival fashion: they mocked them.  It was pretty funny.

Overall, it was a fantastic day.  After we left Battle of the Bands, Christie dropped me off at my Grandparents--where we had German Chocolate Cake--and she headed back to Reno.  Dad and I headed back up to Tahoe a few minutes later.  It was really hard to leave, but I am glad that I was able to go, and to stay for as long as I did.

One thing that I discovered is that, for someone who has never really identified herself with a place--nor felt like she belonged--no longer being in Davis has taken away a part of my identity.  For the first time in my life, I chose where I wanted to live--not because I was being transferred, or because someone else was moving there, or so that I could save money--and then it was gone before I really got the chance to experience it.  Davis will always be home to me, and I hope that I can get a similar feeling when we move up to Washington or Oregon.  One day, I would like to again say: "the town does not matter."