My roommate and I have two of our best friends down at Texas A&M in College Station, so we decided at the beginning of the spring semester that we would go visit them for a weekend. It just so happened that the best weekend for all four of us to hang out fell on Aggie Muster weekend. Muster, for those of you who don’t know, is a tradition at A&M where they honor all the A&M alumni who have passed away during the year. It is a very sweet and very long ceremony that encapsulates all of TAMU’s values about family and connectedness. However, as a Longhorn here at UT Austin (hook’em!) I wanted to share a few things that I found to be… surprising during my first time in Aggieland.

1. The ethnic diversity within the school is pretty low.

Going from UT to TAMU was a bit of a shock because although there may be quite a few varying ethnicities, the ethnic ratios felt very skewed and disproportional. Getting back home to Austin felt great when I saw some differing faces and personalities out in the crowd.

2. They call us “tea sippers.”

This is a clever little play on words that I had already known about but Aggies really like to use it for some reason. I personally think tea is great and a great alternative to coffee but I guess I’m just not getting whatever inside joke against UT they think they’ve got going on.

3. The hissing is real and it is terrifying.

I always thought it was some kind of joke but nope, hissing is an actual thing that A&M does. During Muster, in a stadium surrounded by thousands of Aggies, I was horrified when UT was mentioned and everyone — both young and old — literally started hissing. Having that sound reverberate throughout the stadium was intense and I clutched my roommate's arm for dear life.

I was shocked at first, but then the ridiculousness of the situation caught up with me and I almost burst out laughing because I couldn’t believe I had just witnessed grown adults literally hiss. Forget McCombs, Aggieland holds all the true snakes.

4. Saying “Whoop!” is not a right, it’s a privilege.

So apparently Underclassmen can only say “whoo!” without the “p,” and if an upperclassman catches you breaking the rules, they’ll make you do push-ups. You have to earn your whooping privileges — who knew? I truly aspire to be the same level of extra as A&M.

5. Howdy!

This greeting is no joke. A&M indoctrinates its students by giving them a specific word to use in greeting. Maybe it's to be able to catch all the fakes who aren't feeling enough Aggie spirit. I love the smell of cult in the morning after a vigorous "Howdy!" It really starts the day.

6. The campus is actually really nice and gives the impression of a tight-knit family.

The campus grounds are taken care of really well and everything looked clean. This was my first time on maroon soil so I was pleasantly surprised. A&M is great at making a large campus full of thousands of students feel like family, so if that is a pro for you, then A&M definitely has that feature on lock.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip where I got to eat great food (I will forever have dreams about Tanaka Ramen) and catch up with my best friends. They’re doing great things at TAMU (I’m proud to call those successful ladies my friends) and they really love their school. The bonds of friendship are strong enough to transcend any and all school rivalries. But can you even really go so far as to call it a rivalry when UT is so obviously winning?