15. Walk on the pier at Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte

I'm not often left speechless, but 30 minutes away from the RIT campus, there really is a beach! Let me repeat- if you take Scottsville (Road), get on I-390, get off after 15 minutes onto Lake Ontario State Parkway, there's sand! (Directions and photos below to prove existence) 

This past Saturday afternoon around 1pm, the beach was bustling with families along the water, leaving me to commandeer the rest of the beach's warmth and sand. 

Ontario Beach Park (also referred to as Charlotte Beach) hosts a multitude of activities, such as collecting shells, laying in the sun tanning (with an SPF higher than 30), and swimming. On the more exciting front, there is beach volleyball, picnic areas for families to grill out, and music from spring to fall with the park program's "Big Band Dance Series" and "Concerts by the Shore Series". 

One of the main draws for the beach is the pier. Whether you want to walk it alone, walk it with a loved one, roller blade it, or stand in the middle of it with a boombox on your shoulder with one defunct 80's rock song on repeat trying to learn all of the words (all factual observations at 1pm), the pier is like a stop clock (insert Clockstoppers reference?). The length of time one could spend on this pier is infinite, because it's all-consuming. Time ceases to exist, and using one's phone feels like an insult to the beauty of the nature surrounding you. Whether the water is still, or being ravaged by boats, the feeling one is experiencing something important is overwhelming. 

Long story short, as is with most of these posts- 10/10 would go again.

Endnote
Upon researching the beach for this post, I found an excerpt from the park's RocWiki page: "When the now defunct, Fast Ferry (which ended in 2006) returned from Toronto, it created a massive wake as it entered the Genesee river. For about 5 to 10 minutes, the beach shores at this park used to erupt with ocean sized waves (2 to 3 foot) which were actually well formed and fun to body surf. When the ferry left the wake was not traveling in the same direction and did not create the same effect." Surfing in Rochester, how cool is that? 

#3. Sit with the Corner Crew at a hockey game

Hockey is that thing we rally around at RIT, or at least try to. We have cruel taunts to opposing teams, clap, and scream to the point where it has become a culture. At my first Homecoming game at Blue Cross, I sat next to my RA, a second year at the time. He knew the claps and the chants, and I just stared in awe as to what I must learn. My favorite is when the opposing team’s goalie takes off his mask and you scream “Ugly Goalie” until he puts it back on and then cheer. Yes, it’s that bad. However maybe it’s not- we don’t have a football team, and somehow need to assert our sassy pride.

The personalities in the Corner Crew are cinematic- from the charismatic leader who leads every chant, attends every game, and I’m pretty sure is a professor here, to the kids who dress in orange morph suits and stand right next to the glass. Holding the American or Canadian flags during their respective anthems is the ultimate honor, and shaking one’s keys for the opposing team to “start their cars” the ultimate win.

If you don’t have a jersey, get out, and if you say “it’s all your fault!” 4 times when we’ve only scored twice, please go crawl in your hole until the next period. When you get excited over a mascot in between periods 1 and 2, know ahead of time you can’t order it as a panini, and yes, debit is accepted, so buy that cute upperclassmen girl her pretzel if you can spare it. Corner Crew is a community, a right, and an electric atmosphere- there’s a reason it’s #3, so “if you can’t hit the net, hit the ref”...just kidding, I’ll see you Friday. GO TIGERS.