St Olaf College

On Saturday the 19th, we appeared at St. Olaf College after a long but beautiful drive through the Iowa/Minnesota countryside. There are a couple of things worth talking about at this school the first of which is the venue. It was a rock-and-roll club with a sunken dance pit, balcony, and unexpected light trusses. At the college! Complete with tech booth! It was by far the most rock n' roll venue we have ever performed!

The other thing I have to mention is the students, who were dressed in ridiculous costumes. Aparently the St. Olaf swim team is known for being a little wild, and this day was a shining example of that. Parading through campus were cereal boxes, cows, and other various food related items, because on this day the swim team was dressing as their favorite foods. One of the more subtle costumes was the group dressed up as members of their rival schools. St. Olaf is also home to a band of Live Action Role Playing gamers (aka LARPers). Not only do these kids run around school grounds attacking each other with padded sticks (swards), they dress in full geek costumes depicting characters reminiscent of Final Fantasy. Peering out the window of the dining hall, I saw members of both groups begin to face off in the school's quad, and for a second, it seemed as if they would re-enact a fight scene from West Side Story, but instead they all lined up for a group picture. I'm disappointed I didn't have my camera to catch the goings- on; maybe next time.

St. Olaf is a wild place: we loved it there!

Oh yeah-and they had a Ms. Pac Man arcade game in the lounge, which Jonathan loves with an unholy passion.