The Rose Bowl Experience

At this point I think everyone in the universe knows that Penn State went to the Rose Bowl this year.  But there's so much more to just the parade and game!  Especially when you're in the Blue Band.

After we won the B1G Championship in Indianapolis on December 3, we pretty much knew we were Rose Bowl bound.  Nevertheless, we all huddled around out televisions on December 4 at noon and anxiously awaited the announcement.  When it was announced, chaos ensued.  Screams, crying, tears, probably lots of champagne.  The first thing the Blue Band did was learn the minstrel turn.  Because the Rose Parade can't have anything less than remarkably extra, when we made a right turn we couldn't simply do a normal right turn, no.  We had to do probably one of the most intricate right turns in the history of movement, which you can view below.

After we learned (sort of) the minstrel turn, we had to relearn the Carnegie Hall show (for the fourth time!).  We came back to State College on December 30 for a short practice with really good food.  As Mr. Drane always says, "If you're with me, you're eating good".

On December 31, we departed for the Harrisburg Airport at 5 am.  From there we flew to Pasadena on two chartered flights with probably enough snack foods to feed all of University Park for a
month.

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

When we got off, we immediately went to In-N-Out Burger (my first experience, 10/10 would highly recommend).  Then, it started to rain.  Imagine that!  California's in a drought for ~4 years, and the minute we get there it starts to pour.  So, in the pouring rain, we performed our show for around twenty unenthusiastic USC fans.

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

After that, we spent NYE in LA!  It honestly felt like a dream, mostly because I got a personal pizza for $8 which is essentially unheard of in LA.

L to R: Amy Winder, Elise Grovanz, Allison Ruman, Rachel Neff

A few of the Blue Band rookies rang in the New Year by walking around downtown LA by trying to find somewhere to eat for breakfast.  We ended up about a block away from Skid Row before we turned back to central downtown.  Most of my friends went to a little French breakfast cafe called Le Pain Quotidien and got beautiful dishes (and paid through the nose for them).  My friend Celeste and I went to IHOP.

Photo credit to Elise Grovanz

Later that day, we played at the Penn State pep rally.  I met up with my father and aunt and uncle at the pep rally and we saw all sorts of cool Penn State alums, like Ki-Jana Carter!

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

Then, the big day.  I couldn't believe I was actually about to march in the Rose Parade.  That's something I had only dreamed about since I was old enough to dream.  We all assembled in the hotel lobby at 4 am and headed to the parade site.

I don't think I can genuinely express how terrible the parade was.  5.5 miles is a lot to march, and we were all half dead about three blocks in.  Between being out of breath, our arms aching from holding our instruments up, and USC fans screaming profanity at us, we were ready for it to be over.  After about 4 miles, people from the Red Cross gave us all cups of water before we finished the parade.

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

As terrible as the parade was, the pictures from my family and friends made it all worth it (and the In-N-Out we got after).

The game itself was incredible!  I mean, barring the fact that we lost, it was an amazing experience. Playing the National Anthem for the country was indescribable.  Not to mention we saw Nick Jonas!  A little bird told me that he put the Blue Band on his Snapchat story, just further proving how big of a deal we are.

Photo credit to Katie Schreckengast

Overall, the experience was unforgettable.  I can't believe that my rookie year led me to playing at the Rose Bowl.  I'm so thankful for the opportunities I've been given, and I'm so happy I got to share them with all of you!

Photo credit to Annemarie Mountz

To view more of Annemarie Mountz's photography, click here

Outside of Practice

Belive it or not, despite around 25 hours per week of practice, the Blue Band does things outside of practice!  And not just recruitment events, either.  Sometimes we do some things for fun!

Some of these things we do during the season.  One example was my first post, the rookie cake bake.  Although it wasn't voluntary, it was still bonding, no matter how painful of an experience it was.

Other things we do throughout the season are voluntary.  One of these was the Mt. Nittany hike.  One Sunday afternoon a good chunk of the Blue Band (I'm talking 150+ people) decided it would be fun to hike up the side of a mountain all at the same time.  Grant it, this idea was much better on paper, but it was still a fun experience!  Plus, we got some amazing pictures out of it.

Another thing we do is Mr. Blue Band.  As the name suggests, Mr. Blue Band is a pageant-esque event in which the nominated men of the Blue Band answer questions and perform a talent.  Of course no scholarship money is awarded to the participants, but they do get the unmatched honor of being named Mr. Blue Band for an entire calendar year.

We also do some things outside of the season, too!  Although we are knee-deep in formal season for Greek life, the Blue Band has a formal too!  It's at different times every year since the vice president is the one who plans it, and this year it was the first Friday of the second semester.  It was pretty cold, but hundreds of members made the trek to Beaver Stadium, where our formal was.  Being in Beaver Stadium in anything but our uniforms was a nice change of pace.

You can think of Blue Band formal as like...awkward middle school dance but with fancy hors d'oeuvres and people are dressed nicely rather than Abercrombie and Fitch shirts and straightener-seared hair.  Of course we snapped some great pictures of ourselves

Some not so great pictures of ourselves

And of course, what's a formal without sucking in as much air as possible in the bathroom and pretending you're pregnant?

And here's a picture of me with my hot date

The best part of formal was definitely the toothpicks in the finger foods that had flags of different countries on them.

Another thing we have is an annual banquet!  My high school did this, but I didn't really think it was a thing outside of that.  But, I couldn't be more wrong!

The banquet was held at the Nittany Lion Inn, which, for those who don't know, is essentially an overrated (albeit very nice) hotel on the very west edge of campus.  It was nice to have an excuse to dress up one fine Sunday afternoon (which just happened to be Superbowl Sunday) and have a nice break from dining hall food for once.  Plus, Von Walker spoke!

Photo credit to Olivia Dowd

At the end of the day, it was great to see so many people that I hadn't seen since the season and celebrate how awesome we are before rushing off to various apartments to eat wings and scream at the Patriots and Falcons and wait for the new Star Wars movie commercial.

Blue Band is a great place to meet some of your best friends in college!  Not only do we suffer through intensely hot practices and frigid cold games, but we climb up mountains and eat cheeses with flags in them.