Mondays with Madison: BIG MONDAY (1/16/2017)

Welcome back to Madison from Madison! I have spent the last two weeks getting adjusted to my new schedule for this second semester but in the hustle I have missed blogging! As a sort of resolution for 2017 (despite the fact that I already missed one week) I have decided to officially start Mondays with Madison. This is an initiative mostly to hold myself accountable to blogging at least once a week. Posts for Mondays with Madison will cover a wide range of topics, generally whatever is on my mind for that week that I think would be interesting for you, the reader, to read and engage with!

This Monday, I want to reflect on the crazy, amazing experience I had last Monday. At Iowa State, this day was widely and passionately known as "Big Monday" because Iowa State's mens basketball team played Kansas, the team that was currently #2 in the country.

Our adventure to Hilton Coliseum to see this HUGE game began Friday night. Yes, you read that right, three days before the game when a couple of our friends set up our tent. We weren't even the craziest ones, when I arrived back to school on Sunday, January 8th the first tent had already been up for almost a day. By the time we set up our tent we were only about the 15th tent in line.

From Friday to Monday night my friends and I took shifts in the tent. My roommate, Kaitlynn, was my shift buddy and we had fun sleeping, talking, reading, and just relaxing in the tent. Although, it usually took us fifteen minutes minimum to get all layered up since it was freezing cold outside. In all we probably spent about 9 hours outside in the tent/waiting to go in.

On Monday we didn't have school in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we had a two hour shift in the tent from 1-3. At the end of our shift we had to tear down the tent because the rule was that all tents had to be down at least 5 hours before the game started so that the line could begin forming. The night before, there had been an ice storm so it was slippery and the tent was covered in ice. It made for a cold wait! Our friends took the remaining two hour shifts so we could get ready and into our Cyclone apparel.

Tent

Tent

Hilton

We got back out into the line and waited another hour-and-a-half before the doors were finally opened. Because many tents were holding spots for a large group of people, we had been pushed back but WE GOT IN! We made it in to Hilton and got really good spots that were only about 5 rows up from the court.

The crowd for Iowa State basketball games is called "Hilton Magic" and I definitely experienced it at this game. The atmosphere was insane and the day after my throat hurt from yelling and cheering so much. Since we had been waiting for so long, I even treated myself to some souvenir popcorn. The video below shows just some of the moments I captured during this game!

Although the outcome of the game wasn't in our favor, I am so thankful for the amazing memories I made in the tent, while waiting outside, and during the game with my friends. The cold definitely made the situation a little more difficult (and I don't know if I would do it next year), now I can officially say that I camped out for an Iowa State basketball game! That's another item checked off my ISU bucket list!

I hope you had/are having an amazing Monday! Come back next week (or earlier) for another post.

Much love,

Madison

#LIFESTYLE