1. You remember getting your “Congratulations! You’re a Spartan!” letter and being pretty damn pumped about it.
2. You got lost at your freshmen orientation because, well, look at this place.
After a couple months, though, you were like…
3. From the get-go, cross-cultural learning was a big freaking deal to everyone around you.
After all, MSU is the best school in the country when it comes to study abroad opportunities
4. You quickly developed a favorite 2:30 a.m. go-to.
“Oooo, dude…a fajita dub from Menna’s sounds soooo good right now!”
“You guys, I’ve got to put something in my stomach. Gumby’s?” (Er, GoombaS, to the youngins.)
“I could go for some sesame chicken, not gonna lie.”
5. You wanted to scream when friends from small schools complained about long walks to class.
Yeah, walk from Brody Complex to South Hubbard in three feet of snow and get back to me
(But secretly you didn’t mind the commutes because your campus is stunning.)
6. You loved getting away for winter break, but loved seeing this on I-69 or I-96 during the drive back even more:
7. Sometimes you could accurately guess where someone lived based on their clothes.
Usually it was residents of Snyder-Phillips
8. You believe in Sparty.
(But then again, so does everybody else.)
9. You had at least one friend from the University of Michigan who turned into this after high school:
And you were just like…
…let’s take a time-out and get some perspective, shall we?
10. You intended to try new Thai, Ethiopian, or Indian restaurants that opened, but inevitably ended up at Noodles & Co.
All hail the Wisconsin Mac and Cheese
11. You had a crazy, annoying cousin who rooted for [any other Big Ten school] and mistook you for caring.
Cousin Johnny constantly reminded you he’s an enormous Indiana Hoosiers fan, even though he had absolutely no reason to be. (Let’s not even start on those good ole Walmart Wolverines.)
12. The worst thing to happen on a Friday night was learning the party is all the way at Chandler freaking Crossings.
“If we leave in the next five minutes, we can catch the 26!”
No, no, NO.
13. You worship Gerard Butler and remain convinced 300 was inspired by your football team.
I mean, he came all the way from Scotland to do this — of course the movie was about us
14. You loved going to a party school, but hated that some people took you less seriously because of it.
Your school wouldn’t be consistently ranked a top 100 global university if it admitted only raging buffoons.
I mean, c’mon. Spartans balance having brains with their boozing habits perfectly.
11 A.M. FRIDAY
15. Even if he didn’t win your vote, you thought it was pretty sweet the soon-to-be first black president visited your campus, basically joined your basketball team…
…and then watched them play on a military aircraft carrier in California (after officially becoming the first black president).
16. Your campus is home to the weirdest, most baffling alien spaceship — er, art museum — in the world, and it’s pretty amazing.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, designed by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid.
17. You weren’t entirely sure what exists west of Brody Complex (besides knowing the Capitol building is down that road).
…until senior year, when you discovered Lansing actually has some spunky bars and restaurants, and a totally BAMF city market, and you felt kind of terrible about never leaving EL the past three years.
18. You went to a school with 45,000 students, yet saw the same 15 every weekend during karaoke at Crunchy’s.
19. Willy the Can Man made Saturday morning tailgates exponentially more interesting.
20. Magic Johnson is so much more than a basketball player to you.
Philanthropist. AIDS activist. Father of the Year. (In addition to one of history’s best basketball players.)
21. You think it’s awesome MSU has a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the world’s best facility for rare isotope research.
A.K.A., the Cyclotron.
…but don’t have any idea what that means.
“Are they building a nuclear weapon in there?”
22. Whenever your roommate suggested going to the MSU Dairy Store, you nodded nonchalantly, but really felt like this:
That damn Buckeye Blitz was so delicious.
