A sea of Orange

Lets start with a bit of background. In June 1940, Syracuse officially adopted orange to be their official college colour after a ‘class of 1890 reunion’ where Frank J. Marion who felt he was responsible for the change in school colours from pink and blue, to Orange! This decision came around after they had attended a track meet with Hamilton college and they were wearing their college colours to represent themselves and felt that it didn't suit their reputation. They met with the Chancellor of the school after their meet who agreed that blue and pink wasn't suitable either. They decided on orange and olive green originally, however these colours had already been claimed along with orange and blue although Orange itself hadn’t, until Syracuse University claimed it and made it their official college colour (the blue we use is for lettering purposes only). 

As a student from the United Kingdom, sports teams and colours are only a big deal when it comes to the games being shown or you, yourself attending a game. Especially not University teams anyway, barely any of them in the UK have their own colours that people wear and parade around in. So when I arrived in Syracuse, moved all my things into my dorm and visited the bookstore - which at a first glance, doesn't look like it sells many books! - I was mesmerised by how many people were actually wearing orange and how much of a big deal it was here! I mean, I knew before I got here that ‘orange wear’ was the thing for Syracuse, and I did know that it was a big deal, but I wasn't prepared for how much of a big deal it actually was. It seemed that if you didn't have at least something orange in your wardrobe or even on your person, it was time to question yourself whether you were at the correct university. 

When I arrived, I only had one piece of ‘orange wear’ which was a big jumper, not exactly suitable for the hot weather that we are having at the minute so some shopping was definitely on the agenda, and it wasn't even shopping for just normal clothes. These clothes had to be orange! I felt like I needed a whole new wardrobe! 

You were welcomed into the bookstore, onto campus, into your dorm, even in shops such as ‘Target’ or ‘Wegmans’ by a sea of orange wear! It was crazy and got me extremely excited for this next year that I was going to be having! 

Judy - one of the organisers of the scholarship - always said that she felt bad for all the other universities in the area because none of them were as big as SU or got as much recognition as SU did. To be honest, I don’t think anywhere got as much recognition as SU did. I have never visited a place where everyone knows your colour and is extremely proud to show off that you are part of it! 

After recently attending my first American Football game - SU vs. Rhode Island. I feel like I experienced everything that the photos show. All the Freshman got free tickets to the game so our whole dorm was filled with people wearing orange, having their faces painted with orange paint and some students even went as far as wearing orange body suits - I for one would not recommend that in this heat and the heat inside the dome! 

This idea of ‘a sea of orange’ doesn't always come from the clothes though, even in the dome, the seat covers are obviously orange! Its officially my new favourite colour!