At Ohio University there are four seasons: summer, fall, winter, and fest season. In the fall, there's homecoming, Hallouween, Santa Fest, and everything in between. But once spring semester rolls around, there's only one thing on Bobcats' minds: Fest Season. Fest season serves a refreshing transition from an average weekend here in Athens; During fests, students are pulled away from the tight confines of their regular crowded bar and instead get their fix at a day-long block party. But this change of pace isn't the only thing that makes fest season so special for Ohio University students.

With a different fest every weekend, none of them can be compared. What remains the same week after week, however, is the hype. There's nothing like the excitement that leads up to a Saturday morning, knowing that it's a fest day. If you're anything like me and my friends, your day starts dangerously early with Cherub's "Doses n' Mimosas" blaring through your house. This is, of course, appropriately accompanied by popping a $7 bottle of celebratory champagne, and just like that, fest season is underway.

Walking up to Mill, High, or Palmer on a fest day is like something out of a movie. There are hundreds of people everywhere, all dressed in unique, rather absurd outfits -- you might even see a midget riding a donkey, but definitely won't question it. Despite all of the nonsense, three things are guaranteed for certain: good music, better friends, and lots of cold beer (four things, if you count horse cops). If the weather's bad the vibes are good, and if the weather's good the vibes are great. There's nothing that will stop Bobcats from taking full advantage of a fest.

But when it's all said and done, it's not the hype, the ridiculous attire, the debauchery, or even the horse cops that make fest season special; it's the people. There is a positive attitude that flourishes during fest season that simply cannot be denied. For these few sacred weekends in the spring, Ohio University students transform average Saturday's into a celebration of being a college student, and the love for their school, and it's not to maintain the reputation of #1 party school. It is, however, out of appreciation for each other and the unspoken bond that the Bobcat family shares. We may not have Big 10 game days, day drinks in the Ghetto, or Beat the Clock, but we do have fest season, and for us, that's more enough.