Elections! SPINNEY TESTS?? Wait...they dance here?

If you ever thought that voting in presidential elections was a big deal, clearly you have never experienced the PHC senate elections. It’s impossible to walk anywhere on campus without someone stopping you and accosting you with the overused phrase, “WHO ARE YOU VOTING FOR?” I quickly learned the easy fix to this problem that kept everyone semi happy. “Sorry, I don’t vote.” It disappointed many, but at least I didn’t have to pick and choose between different people and risk getting hazed if y decision didn’t satisfy absolutely everyone. Chrabby did, however, endorse someone for Senate. The lucky recipient of our fabulous recommendation was none other than Brodi. DUTY, HONOR, JUSTICE!!!!

The best part came later, though. We were coming back from dinner, look up onto the wall of our lobby and realize that our fabulously kissed-up poster has disappeared. We were at a completely loss as to who would have been as cruel to remove our trophy from our very own dorm. The nerve! And to add insult to injury, a new, clean poster was put up later the same day. We mourned the loss.

But wait! A few days later, I find out that no, our poster had not been cruelly stolen. It hadn’t been censored. Our blatant endorsement had not disappeared forever from us. It now hangs on the door of its rightful owner J Say hello to the freshman legends, thank yaaa.

                Freshman dance? Well that sounds….incredibly homeschooled. Swing dancing?.......NO HOUSE MUSIC? – My thoughts before the famous Freshman Dance of PHC. Not going to lie, I was FRIGHTENED. But I was determined to face the challenge head on. I donned my highest heels, and Chrabby set off for the dance. And who would have thought? We had a GREAT time. Never in my life have I experienced a dancing event where the guys were better dancers than the girls. But hey, I’m thankful for it. (terrible dancer right here.)

When people told me that freshman year was going to be a whirlwind, I don’t think they knew how right they were. Having the freshman dance and a Spinney test in the space of three days was kind of a crazy idea. That weekend contained very little sleep, and a lot of coffee, but as far as I know, our class didn’t suffer any casualties.

A little background: For the past two or three years, I can remember periodically seeing facebook statuses from my PHC friends that contained some combination of the words “Spinney, death, caffeine, and fml.” Not planning on going to PHC, I’d never really paid them much attention. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I feel like I’ve always just innately known that Spinney tests are a big deal.

Flash forward to this week: I never thought that I would be the one posting the desperate Spinney status, and frantically calling my parents the night before to tell them to pray for me. Wow – what a cliché PHC kid I’ve become in the space of a month. (But at least I never succumbed to the whole ‘white board’ craze. I’d say that will never happen, but seeing as I’m here right now, I don’t have much success with statements like that.) The one amazing thing about Spinney tests is that everyone on campus knows what you’re going through. It was a weekend of hugs, prayers, encouraging text messages, coffee from RAs, and chocolate from wing-mates.

When the day of the test finally arrived it was almost surreal. Everyone kind of walked around in a daze that morning, unable to believe that test day was finally here, and muttering about the differences between Spanish and British colonies to themselves under their breath. Normally the whole business casual thing is pretty fun; it forces you to look good at school, instead of throwing on sweats and a baseball cap and looking like a total slob like I tended to do at community college. But some days…specifically the ones with 8am tests, it would just be way easier to wear jeans and a hoodie than to try to put together some kind of outfit. Another great thing about Spinney tests is that when you show up in slacks, a sweater, and a ponytail, people understand. Desperate times call for desperate measures, people. That may or may not include showering the night before, and not doing anything with your hair. To the people who managed to look cute on Monday, I can’t decide whether to hate you or worship you.

In the end, we all survived, and are probably better for the experience. And I think for the most part, it wasn’t as bad as we all thought it was going to be. Congrats everyone, we made it! Time to go outline next week’s Spinney lecture. The next one will be here before we know it, and we’ll get to do it all over again. If I start outlining on a whiteboard, someone please have an intervention.

Don't forget to check for updates on the Spinneyism/Favelism/Chrabby ism pages frequently! And also, if you have a funny story, cool picture, Favelism/Spinneyism of your own, request -- send it to keepcalmandstudyspinney@gmail.com and we'll do what we can to get it on the blog for you :)

I hope you all are doing your homework and studying for that LOGIC TEST! (and not spending all your time reading and cracking up over a new My Hair Is Dress Code post ^__^ )

-- <3 Chrabby