"Homecoming is All About Coming Home"

In this blog I will report about my first Homecoming weekend ever!

Homecoming is a really big thing in River Falls and in a lot of other American towns and I didn´t really get what it is about in the first place. Everyone you meet asks you about your plans for Homecoming weekend and as I found out later there is a lot going on; on and off campus.

Homecoming is an annual tradition in the United States. For Americans it is a very old tradition as it has its origin in alumni football games in the 19^th century. A lot of towns, high schools and colleges celebrate on this occasion. It usually takes place in late September or early October and it is all about welcoming alumni back on their old campuses. To cut a long story short: It is all about having a good time with friends and family and celebrating UWRF´s existence.

There are many activities taking place on and off campus and there is one central event like a hockey game, a football game or a banquet in the evening. In River Falls this central event definitely is the football game. When I asked an American friend about who the competitor will be in this game he just answered: “I don´t know but they usually invite other teams that are considerably weaker and then just beat the sh** out of them.” The match is supposed to be an easy win in order to demonstrate strength. Everyone goes there and it all ends up in a big party!

Other events that were part of my first Homecoming experience were the “Falcons got Talent” show on Friday and the parade on Saturday morning. The “Falcons got Talent” show is a chance for artists of all kinds like ballerinas, singers, dancers and so on to present their talent and to be voted number one talented Falcon. It was good fun to watch and the Americans cheered their favorites as if they could win a million dollars. One guy played some famous songs on the bagpipes, others sang a parody of their experiences during their bachelor´s and a friend performed an all-Spanish version of “Despacito”. It´s all about the pride and the fun! On Saturday morning the annual parade took place and a lot of people came to see it even though it was raining and the temperatures dropped the days before. The parade was some strange mix of all kinds of sports teams, circuses, national guards, veterans and most important the president of the university driving in a nice car waving at the visitors. It seemed like the most important thing regarding this parade was to drive in a strange vehicle and have a good time.

After the parade the colleges invite alumni and others who are interested to get together and celebrate the good old times. I met one guy who graduated in the early 70´s. He was so proud to be part of this event and to be a Falcon and he even had German roots as we found out later. It was nice to meet all these people and very interesting to hear their backgrounds and what they have become after graduating.

To complete my nice Homecoming weekend, I hit the road again on Sunday and went to discover some more of the surrounding areas. I went to Afton, a nice rural city with a beautiful marina along St. Croix River. Afton is just a stone´s throw from River Falls and they even have a golf and ski resort there! It is one of the Midwest’s premier winter destinations. During winter you may have fun on up to 300 skiable acres, 48 trails, 18 lifts and four terrain parks. There is enough terrain to challenge experts to beginners, day or night. It is an exceptional destination for boating and fishing during summer and they do have several beaches as well. After visiting Afton, we went to discover the downtown of Hudson as we heard about the nice bars and restaurants. It was true! Downtown Hudson is a lovely place with a lot of Restaurants and other locations to spend some time in after a nice weekend.

As autumn has finally made its way we even got the first frost in River Falls during the nights. During daytime it is still quite warm but the nights really bring some immense temperature drops. It won´t be too long till winter finally arrives!     

To be continued!