Duke University

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word Duke?

Screw Duke? Oh, so you have to be smart to go there right? Where is it again?

Those are the most common phrases I have heard over the years when I have told standard strangers that I went there. The Screw Duke usually comes out later when they are more comfortable with the conversation.

Duke is in Durham, North Carolina. A town that has such a unique personality, one that Duke is very much a part of and one that Durham is very much a part of. The local flavor of Durham intersects with 8,000 18-22 year old undergrads and 2,000+ graduates alongside all the staff and faculty.

But, for the social scene, for the bars and social entertainment centers, you have a mix of Durhamites and Dukies. Most of the time, it works.

My good friend Adam and I went to Duke to see the U of A game in Cameron ten days ago. It was Adam’s first time in Cameron and my first time in a while. And you’ll always remember your first time in Cameron, but the atmosphere on Friday the 10th was elevated. It was intense. It was loud. You had the chills ten minutes before tip.

I was in tears after watching some of the Championship pregame videos. The key stadium songs that have been around for years echoed from the cave-like chambers of the hexagonal arena. A small, hot, crowded place.

The game delivered and U of A got an unbelievable road win. The U of A chants were the last ones heard inside, and it was a surreal feeling as someone who grew up in Tucson going to McKale Center hearing those in the stadium where I went to school.

Everyone was fired up. The losers, the winners. The Dukies and the Wildcat fans. But the Durhamites? Unclear where their emotions were. Probably a mix of everything – Duke blood runs through some but not all.

Adam and I walked through the crispy fall air after getting off a student bus to a local bar. A bar that many college students would attend (at least when I attended). It really is a location where you never know what you are going to get. And on this evening, it was mostly U of A fans and Durhamites – a mix that I never think I would put in the same sentence. T-Locs (as many people from Tucson were called growing up) mingling with a mix of North Carolinians.

After a little Devines razzle dazzle, we pivoted to Shooters, a bar that would need its own title, own post, and own descriptions. If you are curious and unfamiliar, google “Shooters II Durham” and see what comes up. It has a bull, it has an elevated cage that has housed many freshman, sophomore and junior students dancing their butts and faces off, and music that is always good and always better than you’d expect.

Again, a lot of U of A, a lot of locals, and some Duke folks; it was a unique combination that delivered perfectly.

The night ended at Cookout with a corn dog and Big Double Burger and we ended a night akin to a college evening but filled with an entirely different mix of people.

I’ve always been a fan of North Carolina. It’s a diverse state in its people and its topography. Its weather is sporadic yet reliable. But one thing I never noticed going to school there and the handful of trips back was the foliage.

Arizona doesn’t have trees, let alone leaves. So I didn’t have a background in “fall” season or really knew what that was like. I knew hot. And I knew cold. And that was it. Except for the most beautiful thing out there – a desert monsoon in the summer when you can see the storm clouds, listen to the hail in a safe space, and watch the lightning whip and crack behind the mountain.

But fall? Not a thing. On Sunday, at Duke, we took a stroll through campus for the scenic route, and the leaves and campus were truly just beautiful. Every color was out. The sun was out after being shielded for two days. It was a perfect 60.

We took another student bus on Sunday. And while I was worried about the lack of conversation on the Friday night bus (a lot of students stuffed in their phones), the Sunday trip was much more lively. Conversational. Crowded but polite. Students being students. Me and Adam being me and Adam.

People have a natural tendency to say “things were better in our day.” Trust me, I say and think this all the time. And I’m sure it’s true in some instances and not in others.

With Duke, I want to think that and in some ways I do, but after a weekend there filled with people from the town I coincidentally I grew up in, I’m not so sure. Durham delivered with its personality. Duke delivered with its energy and beauty.

Squarely an adult, it’s fun and easy to look back on important decisions you have made in your life. Relationship based, professionally based, location based, etc.

Most times, but especially this time, I leave Durham thinking the same thing. Duke University is and was a special place.