We’ve all known about the national attention Ole Miss and Oxford have gotten based on the Rebels success in football.
We’ve even heard the game day announcers tell viewers that tailgating in the Grove should be on your bucket list of things to experience. But until these six young men decided to rent our house here for the Homecoming game vs Tennessee, I wasn’t aware how far reaching that could mean.
Patrick, from Washington DC, found our home for rent on airbnb.com and made the arrangements. His classmates at Columbia business school represent an array of nationalities: Pascal from France, Bruno from Brazil, Riccardo from Italy, Francisco from Argentina and Phillip from the Netherlands. They traveled together and were in Oxford less than 24 hours, but had the experience of a life time.
They hit the Grove and were taken in by kind strangers of course, providing an abundance of southern hospitality that they were blown away by, asking for nothing in return. They cheered on the Rebs for the whole day and night, heading to the Square after the game. One even commented he was more impressed with the overall experience than he was when he went to the finals of the World Cup!
They did lose a few things: one lost his voice, two lost their sunglasses, one lost the group on the Square, and all lost their newbie status for the Ole Miss tailgating experience. But now, they plan to make an annual trek to come back every year.
They wrote a nice note in the guest book at our house, signed at the bottom with a big HOTTY TODDY!
Sarah Beth Wiley is creative director of HottyToddy.com/Experience Oxford. You can contact Sarah Beth about this story at SB.Wiley@HottyToddy.com.
