(NAT SOUND POP) Spring Break Twenty Thirteen whoop spring break!
(NAT SOUND POP) CHEEEEEERS!
(NAT SOUND POP) Drink
tequila and eat with a lime!
(NAT SOUND POP) How
fucked up are you? So fucked up
(NEWS REPORTER:) It was a typical start to spring
break for the students at the University of Texas. The freshman stuffed their
cars with luggage, groceries, and beverages and eagerly drove the 12 grueling
hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama.
(MEGGIE PARKS INTERVIEW) “All three of people that I
drove went out the night before and they were really hung-over, we got stuck in
awful traffic. I was watching one of my friends try and throw up because she
was so hung-over.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “We were singing throw
back songs and occasionally got out of the car and danced on the side of the
road.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) Upon arrival, the students quickly tossed
their belongings into their accommodations before running for the beach to
start what they hoped would be the best week of their lives.
(NAT SOUND POP) Sound of tides coming in and out on
the shore
(MUSIC) “I got my toes in my water, ass in the sand
not a worry in the world cold beer in my hand.”
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “We freaked out and ran
around our house so excited to finally be there and then we started playing
music and go out to the beach.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “And then we started
drinking and then we went to a party and then we went back to the beach at
night when we got home.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) A typical day in Gulf Shores
consisted of students congregating on the beach, creating a large party where
students enjoyed visiting with friends from other universities.
(NAT SOUND POP) from the beach mob
(NAT SOUND POP) Started from the bottom now my whole
teams fucking here yeah, Clint my man what is going on?
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “During the day was when you got to see your friends from other schools
because everyone was together at the same place.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “We would basically walk about a mile from where our condo was on the
beach, and there would be a huge mob of people from different schools all
hanging out together. It was so much fun.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) After a long day in the sun, the
students would often move to the shade of the beach houses that lined West
Beach Boulevard, to relax and play drinking games.
(NAT SOUND POP) Shortest
waterfall of my life
(NAT SOUND POP) Four
whores, all girls drink
(NAT SOUND POP) When
you drink, someone else has to drink at all times
(NAT SOUND POP) 3
is me, 2 is you
(NAT SOUND POP) Waterfall
again!
(NAT SOUND POP) Fuck
you for making us drink the whole thing!
(MEGGIE PARKS INTERVIEW) “During the day I really enjoyed playing kings cup.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I really liked to play beer pong and kings cup with my neighbors to my
condo. They were also from UT.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) As the night rolled around, the
girls would head out to party, once again, occasionally having to make the mad
dash down the beach to evade raiding police.
(NAT SOUND POP) The
Georgia Sigma Nus are having a huge eviction party. They don’t give a shit if
they get evicted. Lets get evicted then.
(NAT SOUND POP) Last
night was fun as shit
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “At night we would go to these eviction parties where the frats from
different schools would purposely try to get kicked out of their house.”
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “The cops tended to bust those because there was a bunch of people and
it was really loud. There was a few times we had to run down the beach in order
to not get in trouble.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I laughed the whole time running all the way back to our house.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) On Monday March 11th the
Spring Break fun took an unfortunate turn for students at the TCU Phi Delta
Theta house party. During the event, the second story balcony collapsed,
sending over 40 party-goers 20 feet below into the sand and wood, leaving over
a dozen students injured, and many more in a state of shock.
(ELIZABETH CROWLEY INTERVIEW) “So we went to the house and I walked up the stairs to the balcony and
stopped to talk to a guy for a minute and then all of a sudden the floor came
out from below us.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I was on the balcony when it collapsed, I was talking from my best
friend form high school and her boyfriend.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I honestly had no idea what was happening, I was just talking to my
friend and then I felt like I blanked and next thing I knew I was on the ground
with people on top of me and wood beneath me.”
(ELIZABETH CROWLEY INTERVIEW) “We were in a nice dog pile.”
(ALLISON LADDEN INTERVIEW) “It happened really slowly you could hear it, it was a weird noise, no
one knew exactly what was going on, and then it just collapsed slowly from one
side people were screaming. At first everyone thought it was funny because
people were laughing but then when you walked downstairs you could see people
were hurt.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) Moments after the collapse,
ambulances arrived at the scene and began giving care to those seriously
injured. The local police soon arrived to take control of the scene and to
investigate the accident. Five of the injured were carried away in ambulances,
while others with less serious injuries were driven to the hospital in private
vehicles.
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I could hear the ambulances start to arrive and people around me were
put in neck braces. The police were helping the wounded people out of the
debris.”
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “I checked on my friends to make sure that they weren’t seriously
injured, and once I found out that they were okay I kind of just left the scene.”
(MEGGIE PARKS INTERVIEW) “It was so weird it was a dream almost and then I started taking
pictures.”
(ELIZABETH CROWLEY INTERVIEW) “I went back to my Texas Tech friends back to fill them all in.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) But unfortunately for Hannah
Whipple, she realized later on that night how serious her injury was.
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “I didn’t think I was that badly bruised at the time so I left the Phi
Delt house and kept going on about my day. Then that night I realized that my
legs were hurting really bad and that I had bruises all over my inner thighs.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) When Hannah returned to Dallas at
the end of her trip she made a visit to the doctor.
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “The doctor told me that I had bruised the arteries and tore ligaments
in my inner thighs and that I needed to be on crutches for two weeks.”
(NEWS REPORTER:) Although the balcony collapse was
not part of many students’ ideal spring break plan, many reported still
enjoying their time in Gulf Shores. In fact some reported that the balcony incident
added something unique to remember the trip by.
(NAT SOUND POP) Noise
of people in the beach mob
(MEGGIE PARKS INTERVIEW) “It made it more interesting because everyone was talking about it.”
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “It was a good experience, kind of a joke, so much is going on its just
crazy and a lot of things happen that weren’t expected to happen.”
(HANNAH WHIPPLE INTERVIEW) “It was a one time experience. I had so much fun but it was also such a
mess that I don’t know if I would want to do the same thing again.”
(ANNA GOLDBLATT INTERVIEW) “It’s kind of like a thing to look back on and tell your friends about,
a story to live by.”
(NAT SOUND POP) Tide
on beach
(NEWS REPORTER:) Another Spring Break vacation over
on the University of Texas campus leaving students tired, fulfilled, and in
some cases injured but all in good spirits, this is Erin MacInerney, reporting.
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