{"id":7080,"date":"2016-02-13T19:52:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T01:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/?p=7080"},"modified":"2016-02-15T13:02:05","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T19:02:05","slug":"my-first-rodeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/countrymusic\/2016\/02\/13\/my-first-rodeo\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Rodeo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"998x484-crop-singapore\"<\/a>5 years ago, I would have never ever thought about going to Auburn, Alabama for a rodeo. I’m from a small city in SouthEast Asia called Singapore<\/a>. Singapore is the most expensive city<\/a> to live in followed by Paris, according to BBC News. We have a population upwards of 5 million, and it takes about 20-25 minutes (without traffic) to drive from one side of the island to the other. As you can see, Singapore is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.<\/p>\n

\"17290545\"<\/a>Singapore has a very diverse culture. It holds the one of, if not, the biggest beach party in the world called “Zouk Out<\/a>“. Every year, famous artists such as Afrojack, Alesso, and Avicii etc. will come and perform, along with others. It’s kinda like ACL except it focuses more on house and EDM, whereas ACL hosts a larger variety of artists.<\/p>\n

As you can already tell, I haven’t mentioned the words “country music” a single time. Well, if you’ve jumped to the conclusion that country music and Joseph Schooling can never be found in the same sentence, you’re right! I used to despise country music. I always thought it sounded awkward, and it seemed like every country song I heard either told a tale about God or stereotyped cowboys.<\/p>\n

\"22612__mg_4644f\"<\/a>Having said that, I moved to the U.S. in the summer of 2009 and slowly started to hear a hint of country creep into my life. Fast forward to the Spring of 2015… right after NCAA’s, a group of guys (Kip Darmody, Will Glass, and John Murray) and myself decided to drive 13 hours to Auburn, Alabama to the Alpha Psi Rodeo<\/a>, where the guest singer was none other than Brad Paisley.\u00a0I was kinda reluctant to drive all that way to a rodeo, but I thought, “hey 4 close friends on a long ass road trip to the deep south. this could be a story to tell in the future!”<\/p>\n

So we journeyed 13 hours on Friday after class, drove 10 hours to Mobile, AL and crashed in Will’s place for the night, and continued on to Auburn the following day. We got to the venue at around 9am, set up a tailgate, and started pounding beers. To be honest, I didn’t get my hopes up too much before the trip. I didn’t think a city boy like myself could handle being at a rodeo with people roaming around in cut out shirts, boots, and jorts. To my surprise, I had a blast! I mean, I’m sure all the beers and bloody marys definitely helped get through the day, but seeing a live Brad Paisley concert wasn’t all that bad. We got to meet a ton of new people, and I started to appreciate country music in a way I’d never thought could be done for myself.\u00a0I’m almost glad Kip convinced me to go on that trip with them. It gave me a broader\u00a0outlook on life, and it taught me not to be so naive. So for that, thank you, Kip!<\/p>\n