For May Weekend, an unofficial Quinnipiac holiday, it’s essential that you stay well-rested, ready to bring your game face and get your T-shirt on. Students here seem to take personalized T-shirts extremely seriously, next to perfecting the art of day drinking. Some people won’t be caught dead in May Weekend shirts, not wanting to give in to any cliché that may be attached to wearing one. But for the most part, the race to have the best May Weekend-wear becomes pretty clear once Friday afternoon hits. The guys seem to be fans of the lacrosse pinnies, but it’s the girls who get really creative. This year, being a York Hill resident, I gave in to purchasing my very own May Weekend T-shirt.

The shirt I wore was pretty simple compared to the designs some other girls wore. However, other girls who had purchased the same shirt as me spiced them up on their own (which actually made me pretty jealous). They cut and frayed the bottom of their shirts and added beads to the strands, creating an appropriate hippie effect. Seriously, it was the coolest thing to come out of Jo-Ann Fabrics, which makes me pretty sure I have now found a summer craft project to occupy my time with.

I can’t seem to shake the image of a pack of sorority girls who wore black tank tops with the infamous Ke$ha quote “Hot and Dangerous” in pink, blue and yellow neon colors with matching fanny packs to boot. These pink fanny packs seemed pretty practical, and these girls only matched each other in bright colors, but were smart enough to take it that extra mile. Not only did they create festive T-shirts, but they added May Weekend accessories. I have to give credit where credit is due, as I would have never thought to have taken that extra step for the weekend celebration.

Another design that caught my eye came from a friend of mine, who wore neon-colored shirts with her friends that read “#getatme,” a play on Twitter hash tags. There were no references to May Weekend whatsoever, but the girls were uniform and played on a pop culture reference, which always seems to catch my attention. Plus, you could probably wear a shirt like that on a daily basis and still look pretty cool.

Of course there were the shirts that emblazoned the catchy quotes, but it was also an important time to wear everything we’ve been stowing away in our closets for these long months. I for one took advantage of the weather and wore the Italian leather sandals I bought while on spring break, and the jean shorts that hadn’t seen the sunlight since the beginning of the fall semester. This year’s May Weekend seemed to bring out everything Quinnipiac students have been waiting for: warm weather and an excuse to make a T-shirt. It’s the simple things in life that make us college kids happy.

Photo credit: Lenny Neslin