When you attend Connecticut College, it's impossible to escape the buzz surrounding Floralia. The crescendo of excitement becomes contagious as the number of days to Floralia decreases. So, what is Floralia? Think of Floralia as Conn College’s Coachella — Connchella, if you will. It is a music festival and a favorite annual tradition. Rain or shine, Floralia looks good on everyone. Students wake up early, set up canopies on the library green to claim their spots, bring out sofas and folding chairs, dress festively, dance and hang out with friends. In other words, Floralia is to Conn students what Christmas is to children. In fact, on the day of Floralia, everyone greets each other with a "Happy Floralia!"

My Floralia experience started on Floralia Eve. I had some friends stay over in my room in Harkness House. I told everyone to arrive at my place with their Floralia regalia so that we could all see what everyone would be wearing for the next day. I smiled at my friends' creativity — a bit of something borrowed, something new and whole lot of Floralia! As I looked around the room, I realized how far I had come from being a transfer student who, just a few month ago, knew no one. Suddenly, the people in my room were friends. As the early Floralia wake-up crept closer, we found ourselves exhausted but excited for the big day.

With only four hours of sleep, I jumped from my bed so that my friends and I could set up our canopy. It was only 7 a.m. when we arrived behind Crozier-Williams, but already there were canopies set up all around us. As we struggled through the embarrassment of not knowing how to set up our canopy's legs and attach its fabric roof, our group’s effort and tenacity prevailed. Lo and behold, we had ourselves a lovely canopy.

Everyone migrated back over to my place to get ready for the busy day. We all dressed up, had breakfast and finally arrived back at our canopy. There was so much happening around us. We stuffed our faces with cotton candy and freshly baked donuts, took rides down the inflatable slides, got ourselves airbrush tattoos, danced by the stage and enjoyed the sun. As the day was expiring, so was our energy. The sun set and the featured performers took the stage. After so much socialization and dancing, I went back to my place and fell quickly asleep.