Lindsay's Blog

Going into Mountain Day weekend as a Freshman I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Everyone who had previously experienced all of the Mountain Day activities said it was a blast and that freshmen couldn't miss it. However, no one was able to put into words just why it was so vital to attend. The anticipation for Mountain Day weekend began the week before, with The Art Society putting up gorgeous decorations all around campus. The theme for this year’s Mountain Day was Medieval, so there were cardboard knights and tapestries for each hall everywhere. Krannert Lobby was decked out with medieval décor, with fake fire lights, thrones, and streamers everywhere. Class schedules were rearranged the Friday of the Mountain Day Olympics so that everyone was let out by 2:00 PM, the beginning of the Olympic Marches.

My last class for the day ended at 12 PM. After grabbing lunch, I went back to my dorm and began prepping for the Mountain Day Olympics. Each hall has a theme by which they dress up and make signs. My hall’s theme was “Explorers” so everyone dressed up in khakis, bandannas  and binoculars, in an effort to look as explorer-like as possible. We met as a hall at 1:50 outside in front of the dorm and met up with the other halls that make up the Ford complex to march down to main campus, where we would cheer for our hall’s float in the Mountain Day Parade and then later compete in the Mountain Day Olympics.

Me and my hall mates dressed up as explorers!

When we got down to main campus we lined up along the main road and began cheering and chanting for the parade to begin. We saw some of the other halls and their themes, which were all very neat. There were students dressed up as zombies, aliens, warriors, deer, spring-breakers, Americans, explorers and 90's girls. Even Faculty and Staff dressed up! Their theme was The Hunger Games. The parade was really neat to see. All of the dorms had a float and some of them were really cool. My personal favorite was Mountain Campus’ float. Their theme was Spring Break and their float actually had 500 pounds of sand and water in the flatbed of a pickup truck, with beach chairs, inflatable palm trees, and squirt guns—phenomenal.

               After the parade, the Olympics began. The event took place on Evans lawn with everyone gathered in a giant circle. After the lighting of the Olympic torch and the cow kissing-contest, the games began. I competed with some other girls in my hall in Tug-of-war. We won our first match and lost our second. It was really fun to compete and bond with my fellow hall mates and to knock something off of my Berry Bucket list!

Competing in the Olympics!

               After the Olympics I rushed back to my dorm with my roommate to shower and get ready for the Mountain Day Talent Show, in which she and I were competing. At six o’clock we reported for duty at Ford Auditorium, practicing and doing sound checks for the two shows—one at 8 PM and the other at 10. Our adrenaline and excitement were pumping, as both of the shows had sold out. We were more excited than nervous, however, as we didn’t enter the talent show with the intent of winning. We really just wanted to showcase our talents and have fun! The other acts were all really friendly and there was a sense of camaraderie that increased throughout the night as we all hung out, singing and dancing backstage. Everyone was really friendly, super-talented, and amazingly supportive of one another. There was no negativity or hostility and things ran very smoothly the entire night. We didn't place, but it was a fantastic experience and something I am very proud of taking part in.

               The next day was Mountain Day. At 1 PM, all of the freshmen girls in my hall, adorned in the traditionally pink outfits, crammed into a couple of cars and made our way up to Mountain campus. When we arrived there were thousands of people spread out all across the mountain. We first visited all of the tents set up next to the field where we’d have the Grand March. There were some really neat tents, for example the Berry student enterprises had a few tents selling various products like woven bags and Adirondack chairs. The local shop Jandy’s even had a truck for people to buy some of their wonderful frozen yogurt!

Me and my hall mates dressed in our Mountain Day attire!

We then marched down the mountain, first one by one, then two by two, four by four, and so on until we had lines of 16 students each. The first time down the mountain each student puts pennies into a basket at the bottom of the hill we march on—one for each year they’ve been alive as a way of giving back to the school. In Martha Berry’s days, the pennies put into the basket during the Mountain Day March would raise money enough for a scholarship to the school for one student. Albeit strange at first, it was quite enjoyable and something that truly makes Berry unique. The entire Mountain Day March emphasizes the core principles of Berry—the head, heart, and hands and importance of giving and service.

That evening after the march was Marthapalooza. Marthapalooza is a giant carnival held at Berry as the cumulative celebration of Mountain Day weekend and Martha Berry’s birthday. There are carnival rides, games, free snacks, and free drinks. The weather was crisp and chilly—a perfect fall night for running around with your friends and enjoying all that college has to offer. My personal favorite part of Marthapalooza was sitting around the huge bonfire with a couple of my hall mates, drinking warm apple cider, staring at the stars, and sharing life experiences. It was peaceful, beautiful, and loads of fun. Marthapalooza was the perfect way to end the weekend. It instilled within me an overwhelming sense of calm and happiness and solidified once again, that I had chosen the right place to go to school. It is something I look forward to partaking in for many years to come and something that no one who attends Berry should ever miss.

Marthapalooza!

I’m a Maryland girl, born and raised in the Old Line State. When I told people that I wanted to go to school in Rome, Georgia at a school called Berry College I got a lot of weird looks. “Why would you want to do that?” and “How did you even find that place?” were popular questions. Yes, moving south to this school no one back home had heard of in a place foreign to me seemed a bit outlandish to a lot of my friends, but I knew it was the right choice.

Berry has something most schools back home don’t—spirit. I’m not talking about school pride or ghosts—both of which Berry does have—but rather, I am talking about that feeling you get when you’re here. From the first time I visited Berry I felt at home. I felt welcome, happy, and like I belonged. Berry has this warm hospitable vibe that resonates from everything it touches.

I’ve thought about it a lot and I think a big part of Berry’s homey feel has to do with its location. The world of “Southern Hospitality” is a bit of a culture shock to me. People hold doors, say “hi” to you even if you’re a stranger, and in general have a really friendly demeanor. Everything just seems better in the South.

One other thing that attracted me to Berry was the campus. I don’t think anyone could visit the campus and not be awestruck by its beauty. Aesthetically, Berry has every college campus I’ve ever visited beat. With its sprawling hills, green grass, gorgeous architecture, and Georgia sun, every day spent on campus is a day spent in paradise. The view never gets old.

Where I get to live!

One of the many Gothic-inspired archways and Henry, our outdoor “dorm cat” (Named after Henry Ford who built the Ford Complex)

For example, I live up at the Ford complex, half a mile from the main campus. The idea of walking down to eat breakfast every morning seemed a bit tedious when I first got here but after a couple of days I discovered that I really enjoy it. (Plus I get to live in a castle so I can’t complain!) Walking from Ford to the dining hall, or D-Hall as us Vikings call it, is a daily pleasure. I walk out of my dorm past glittering fountains and the crystal clear reflection pool, under the Gothic inspired arches of the “castle”, onto a super-wide sidewalk down a tree-lined boulevard with fields of cows and green grass to my left and rolling hills, mountains, and herds of deer to my right. It’s quiet and serene with a gentle breeze that softly cools your face…. I couldn’t think of a better way to start my morning.

The view while walking to class in the morning.

Even on rainy days the campus is gorgeous!

But there is so much more to Berry than just the campus and the students. The professors are excellent, all heavily invested in your success and acquisition of knowledge. They are friendly and understanding and overall just lovely people. The staff is kind and generous and always manages to put a smile on my face (yes I’m talking about you Linda from D-Hall!). The facilities are state of the art and kept in excellent condition—everything shines. Plus, there’s the student work program—the best in the country. Every student on campus is guaranteed a job, which looks awesome on resumes and graduate school applications. Plus you get to work with other students and wonderful supervisors which makes work a lot more enjoyable and helps to build a network of people you can trust and rely on.

My work name tag!

Where I like to eat lunch!

Berry is the ultimate package, unrivaled by any other institution in the world…at least in my eyes. The sense of community is stronger, the atmosphere for learning is better, the campus is superior, the people are kinder, and the professors are better…everything about Berry is unique and unparalleled. So when my friends and family ask me why on earth I’d want to move to this little town, at a school unknown to many where I’m from, I’m at a loss for words—there’s just too much to say. Berry is everything a college should be and so much more. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.

If you’ve been at Berry for any period of time, chances are you’ve seen one of the infamous Berry deer. Residents here will tell you the absurd-sounding statistic that there are eight deer for every student and you’ll laugh thinking they’re just being sarcastic or joking around. Well let me tell you something—they’re not.

When I first came to Berry and saw my first Berry deer, I thought, “Oh. Hey this is really neat! They’ve got all sorts of cool wildlife on campus. My friends will be so jealous!” And it was really neat for the first couple of days or so when I had only seen three or four deer together at one time. 

Right now at Berry we’ve got all the little speckled fawns prancing around with their mamas… so cute! But then as I started tallying up days as a resident I began to notice that the “exaggeration” of the current Berry students wasn’t actually a joke. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

You don’t notice them at first. They’re quite sneaky, Berry deer are. You’ll be strolling along in the bright Georgia sun, reveling in the beauty and charm of the Berry campus and then suddenly a deer appears!

I’ve been here at Berry for a short while and I can tell you confidently that deer are sneaky little creatures. You’ll see one and then all of the sudden that number has increased to 10. You do a double take and that number has rapidly increased to 40, right out of the blue!

I’m not sure how or why they do it—whether their sneakiness is purposeful, or if it’s just in their nature. At first I thought that Berry deer were some unique breed of deer that were just more advanced than others because they live on this great big wildlife sanctuary and educational haven.

The deer are also pretty fearless. One student told me a story of his friend who one day thought, “Hey, I’m going to spook the deer. It will be awesome!” He got on his bike and rode into a huge field of deer hootin’ and hollerin.’ The deer did nothing. Needless to say the friend was somewhat disappointed with the lack of skittishness in the deer, but his experience serves as a lesson to the wise—don’t mess with Berry deer. They are fearless.

Another interesting tale I heard about our fearless Berry bucks was about the buck that saw his reflection in the doors of one of the Science building a few years back. Apparently he charged straight through the glass and into a hallway. Fearless or just plain dumb—the world will never know.

Regardless, Berry deer are something else. If the rumor holds true that there are 8 deer for every student, with Berry having roughly 1900 students, that’s a population of 15,200 deer on campus. It’s no wonder they’re everywhere.