To all of the fellow Raddy kids - to the ones who made it out of the black hole, those that are still there, the future Highlanders, and to our friends who think they know about Radford but have no idea:

1. Mad Dogs and Mad Dragons

You can't even walk into 7-11 and pass the beer fridge without cringing at the sight of that neon red glass bottle filled with hangover death.

I find it hard to explain what this bottle means to me to people who do not know the struggle. Would it really be a Saturday in Raddy if someone wasn't on one knee, cursing the supplier of 1,300 calories of gagging misery?

How do I tell someone that this was a form of endearment? Only true friends who really loved and respected you would think to spend their small amount of money from their parents on this bottle of torture.There were mixed emotions when your friends came back from 7-11 or Central with an evil grin on their face as they hand you the key to Blackout City. It was a mixture of pure hatred, and a little bit of love, but no matter what, you drank it, even if you complained after every sip. None of us really need to mention the 3-day hangover after but it was worth it.

2. Sharkey's, and BT's, and El Charro's... oh my.

When the bartender at El Charro's hands you the aux chord, you know it's about to get very real.

We have our select favorites: WooWoos at BT's, like as many as the bartender can fill in those weird little glass cups. Especially when the alumni would come back and break the bar by ordering $200 worth of them. Everyone's face would light up when that cranberry colored drink would make its way to your table in high doses. You try to order WooWoos in other places but bartenders just stare at you. It's not like BT's is the most attractive place ever, but the stained glass and frog's everywhere was home for us, and it was ours, so it was great.

Long Islands, tots, trivia night, and the ranch kept calling us back down that big hill to Sharkey's. Was there really any other place to celebrate someone's 21st birthday at a table of 30 people but Sharkey's? No one ever orders a BJ shot unless it was your 21st sitting at a huge table with all of your friends. The upstairs addition was a taste of nightlife that never actually filled up to a comfortable capacity where it was safe to grind on your friends without judgment but we all stood around in the DJ lights up there anyway.

And finally, did you ever go to El Charro's for a quiet meal? Absolutely not. Margarita's and white sauce was ordered in buckets, while the extremely nice guys working there would let you play your own music and would "accidentally" forget a few things on your bill. Thank you El Charro's for always letting our low standards in the door, we appreciate you and your plethora of tequila shots.

3. Benny's and Highlander Rolls

I am not sure if we are a bunch of pizza snobs or if we all have really low standards but as I sit in my apartment in NYC, I would do a few unspeakable things for buffalo chicken highlander rolls completely covered in ranch right now.

Like a beacon in the middle of the night, thank God the town of Radford never let us down when it came to melted cheese and crust.

There was actually nothing worse than waiting for the Highlanders Pizza guy to show up. If you were the purchaser of the rolls, all of the sudden you were Oprah giving out hopes and dreams to your starving and broke friends.

As someone who lived directly above Benny's, I don't think there was ever a sober time that I consumed the two plates worthy slice, but the way my bedroom smelled like pizza all the time was more than welcomed.

Shout out to all of our drunk friends who were handed sharpies to engrave our names and clubs forever in the various displays of signatures. We love you Benny's, thanks for always being there for us no matter what.

4. The Party School With The Undefeated Football Team

"Where did you go to school?"

"Have you heard of Virginia Tech?.......yeah like 20 minutes away from that"

"Oh the party school?"

"I mean ... what school doesn't party, though, honestly?"

I know. We have all heard it. "Oh, the party school?" I mean nowhere on my degree does it say that but it's cool.

Or like how many times have heard about our "undefeated" football team. Yeah, we get it, we know, every other school in Virginia has a team, good for them.

Radford sports are D1, our baseball team just won nationals, our rugby team has won nationals twice, Radford students walked in 3 feet of snow to support our basketball team for the one time a year they are on ESPN. So we don't have a "Radford Nation" and a huge following. What we have is a community that we established ourselves, and I don't know anyone that won't defend RU or the time that they had there. You can keep your football team and bowl bids, we have our own school spirit, and we are damn proud of that.

5. The Weather

It's safe to say that the weather in Radford reminds us of the apocalypse. Hot and sunny one day, 3 feet of snow the next, and to end the week with Noah's Arc worthy floods. No matter what, though, class is not canceled, will never be canceled, enjoy that walk to class in this mess.

What is better than getting a call from that terrifying robot woman at 4am to go move your car out of Lot Z?

Radford- the best four (or five) (or six) years you ever had. Filled with late nights, good friends, light side, dark side, dark basements, "Quadfest," swipes, barely making it to your 8am, waiting 6 hours for your ABP order, only giving in to Dalton because you are broke and hungry, and making the best memories with friends you will have for a lifetime.