It was my very first Homecoming Week, and the first year that I actually participated in dressing up each day. I hoped that the experience of Homecoming Week would be different from the lame middle school Color Wars. To say the least, middle school was an utter disappointment in school pride.

Monday was the first day of Spirit Week and Hogwarts Day. It was almost lamer than middle school and a disappointment for my first Spirit Week day. No one really dressed up except the few Harry Potter fanatics and Student Council students who had to dress up. Wearing a Hogwarts shirt seemed to make everyone come to the conclusion that I loved Harry Potter, which is not true.

Monday night, I went to the Powderpuff Game and to be honest it was not a good use of my time. To start off, I have never been an athletic person or even remotely interested in sports or physical activity, so going to the game just consisted of me talking with my friends. Another thing was that it was on a Monday night and for someone as anxious as I am about not finishing schoolwork, it was a nightmare.

That said, having ballistophobia (fear of balls/missiles) and being prone to crying when hit in the face has all contributed to the final decision of how I will not be participating in Powderpuff when I am a senior. The overall sports thing has never been my scene and spending a whole night outside playing flag football sounds like pure torture.

Tuesday was Preppy Day and by far my favorite day. Preppy has always been my personal style preference and I took this as an opportunity to layer to my heart’s desire. Also, seeing a hallway full of students dressed in Ralph Lauren button-downs and sweaters over their shoulders was a dream come true. A lot more people participated in Preppy Day except those few gross boys who wore their basketball shorts and beat up gym shoes. Preppy Day almost made our school seem as classy as Lake Forest. Almost.

Wednesday was Weasley Day and I triplet-ed with my two best friends. Wednesday was barely different because many people don’t have classes together, so there was no way of knowing who was twins with whom. It was a good day to take an Instagram picture and post it, but overall nothing was different.

Thursday was Color Wars Day and not as fun as I expected it to be. I, as a girl who hates color, found this day very tiring on my eyes because all I saw were ugly colors everywhere. It was also one of the weirdest days because some people were very hardcore about it and went full out while others didn’t even try. I think that there was nothing different about this day other than people’s wardrobes’ and all around was pointless. There were no shortened periods or fun events happening, unless you count the morning parade as spirited, but I just viewed it as a bunch of loud people from each class yelling at each other. And don’t even get me started on the chants, “I believe that we will win!” We could have thought of a more interesting chant, but of course we had to pick the least unique statement that didn’t even come out to be true. Color Wars was my least favorite day of all.

Friday was White Out and had me breathing a sigh of relief. Finally, a neutral color that I feel comfortable in. Again, as I repeatedly said, this day was nothing different other than the assembly that we had at the end of the day. I, however, hate assemblies because I’d rather just leave school and go home. I did not attend the games that night because it was freezing outside. Unless, I wanted to show up with a runny nose and cough drop in my mouth to Homecoming; it was a wise decision to stay home with a mud mask on my face.

Overall, I think that Homecoming Week would be a lot more exciting if we actually did other things during the day. Dressing up and taking a few Instagram pictures doesn’t make the week seem any different, and I feel like there should be a clear distinction between Spirit Week and any other week. Also the “award” for Color Wars is pure stupid. If you really want people to go full out for Spirit Week you have to make the students want to win. For example, a day of no homework or even a food award will motivate more people. This was a generally disappointing Spirit Week because my expectations were much higher than what actually happened.