people watching, where the hell am I? Options

[*paperplane*]

This is such an odd town. I'm currently sitting in Starbucks trying (and failing) to write an English paper, and I keep getting distracted by what's going on outside the window.

Currently, I'm watching a bride and her bridesmaids (the groom is probably around there somewhere, but dresses are easier to distinguish) towards a white limo, with people taking pictures of them. It looks as though they just got married on campus which is odd, because I cannot imagine why anyone would possible want to do that. Plus in order to get to the limo, they had to walk around people protesting next to the arch. I have no idea what's being protested, or it they are actually protesting, but people have been standing over there for an awfully long time. They're not doing a very good job of making their cause known, though, because while they have a big poster board, everything is in relatively small font, and I can't even begin to make out words. Typically people protest the war and shit there, but are much more obvious about it. On St. Patrick's Day, PETA was promoting "going green" with girls in tiny leafy green bikinis. Now the limo is gone, but it looks like people from the wedding are coming downtown.

I don't understand why people dress so badly. There's some girl right outside who's wearing wide legged white capris with gold lettering on the ass, that really just looks like dirt. They're easily one of the least attractive items of clothing I've seen in a while. Most people here go around in t-shirts and work out shorts, then tiny ugly dresses at night. I don't understand. Particularly when the former outfit is accompanied by Uggs. It's not acceptable. There is an interesting divide here of girls who dress like sorostitutes (and usually are sorostitutes)/fratty looking guys and plaid-clad hipsters. This really is an odd place for a "music scene," because most people are really boring, bitchy, and quintessentially Greek (not as in the nationality). I think it's some sorority's Mother/Daughter weekend (they seem to have these things an awful lot), and I'm fairly certain that was who I saw taking photos in front of the arch earlier. It kind of disgusts me how all the girls look the same, and how their parents encourage them to be like this (though to be fair, my father would probably be elated if I wanted to join, because he was in a fraternity).

Most interestingly, though, was the "marching band" of hipsters that came by a couple of times earlier. I'm upstairs, so I couldn't hear too much but the trombone and assorted jangly noises, but the way they paraded around with silly instruments was pretty amusing. I found the facebook event a couple of days ago though (here if you're interested...dunno if it'll work), so I knew what was going on. I wish I'd taken a picture, but I was too busy trying to see who I recognized.

Okay, now there's another group of people arond the arch, this one taking pictures of a guy and a girl in caps and gowns. It doesn't make much sense since no one should be graduating right now. Oh holy f**k, they're doing cheerleading moves! People also keep stopping and taking pictures with the bulldog statue below me. There's a bunch of them downtown. I don't know why. This one is Roman looking, but has school colors; most of them are much more random.

If you read any/all of that and are wondering what the point of this topic is...oh well. I'm really just observing what a strange place this is. I never really feel like I belong to the dominant culture, but then I'm also seeing all these odd things, like hipster parades and bike gangs. I really ought to try getting something done on my paper.


Edit: pictures of my view (terrible, but they're from my phone. Also, I thumbed them but can take out the tags if they're still to big)

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[Elba]

I love my Uggs; they're so comfy.