If I had a dollar for every time I have had to answer this question, I’d be hitting the town every week with a new Michael Kors purse and a watch to match. In honor of UL playing LSU this past weekend in the SuperRegional baseball tournament, I couldn’t help but think about how much I have grown from my Baton Rouge days.
When highschool graduation comes, it seems as if one’s future plans become the topic of every conversation—which is understandable.
I quickly learned to deal with the variety of reactions that I received when I told people I wasn’t staying in my hometown, Baton Rouge, but was instead driving an hour west-bound to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Reactions ranged from surprised, shocked, to downright disbelief. What continues to confuse me though, is how many Lafayette locals have been shocked when I tell them that I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, but had no desire to go to LSU.
For me, where I was going to attend college was not exactly a no-brainer. I had to decide if I wanted to leave home, to move away from my family, my puppy, and my two bestfriends. With my decision to move to Lafayette, I accepted the fact that I would be going into a place that I knew nothing about and where I barely knew a single soul.
In a lot of ways, Baton Rouge and Lafayette are very much alike. For example, LSU has a big fancy habitat for Mike the Tiger, and UL has a swamp in the middle of campus for all the alligators. In my opinion, I like to think of Lafayette as just a smaller-scale Baton Rouge. At the same time though, they are also very different. LSU fans may have unforgettable experiences and memories from nights in Tiger Stadium, but there is something to be said about UL fans camping out in the M.L. Tigue Moore baseball stadium to cheer on the team when the superregional was broadcasted live this past weekend.
To me, that is the difference between UL and LSU. I could have stayed in Baton Rouge, gone to LSU with the majority of my graduating class, kept my circle of friends, my hobbies, etc. all the same, and just gone through the motions of college. Thankfully though, I took a leap of faith and went for somewhere new—somewhere that I continue to fall in love with more and more everyday. Lafayette is a sense of family, such as someone you have barely known teaching you Cajun French sayings like “Mais yeah sha!” or “That’s some good eatin’ yeah!” The people, the atmosphere, the food, and the Cajun way of life in Lafayette is second-to-none, and I truly could not have asked for a better place to call my home away from home.
I may be from Baton Rouge, and as much as my daddy would love for me to wear purple and gold, I’ll forever stay true to the red and black.
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