Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to experience three firsts all in the same day: my first time to the MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, my first real tailgate party and my first Notre Dame Football game.

My journey began on a bus in Tamaqua with everyone on the bus donning a Notre Dame T-shirt except for hubby, myself and one other woman. (Yay team!)As I sat there wishing I had brought along a large cup of coffee to pump me up, I attained my second affirmation that I was not with the program when I watched nearly everyone else crack open their beers at 11:30 in the morning.Not a fan of long rides, I popped my ear buds into my ears and quickly fell asleep.Upon our arrival, my heart skipped a beat when I noticed that a huge flea market was taking place in the parking lot.I looked at my husband with a great big smile and even bigger pleading no, insistent eyes that conveyed a message that needed no words: I gave up my day to come to this football game with you but first, we shop!I walked around checking out the wares on display at some of the tables closest to the bus while hubby trailed behind me, no doubt contemplating his apparent misfortune in the situation.As luck would have it (for him) the vendors were in the process of packing up for the day and after a few minutes of stretching our legs, we made our way back to the bus.They managed to clear out rather quickly, revealing a most disgusting display of garbage and unwanted items scattered all across the lot.The gates finally opened and our bus made its way away from that trash-laden lot (thankfully) to one specifically for charter buses and RVs.Very quickly the tour operators began to unload numerous coolers, tables and grills from the buses and assembled several pop-up canopies.The speed and efficiency in which they carried out this process was quite impressive.Soon enough, the grills, all lined up in a neat row, stood ablaze among the throngs of imbibing fans.While waiting for the food to be cooked, I decided to take a walk around the lot.Throughout the whole area, there were people throwing footballs, playing various types of bean bag throw games, beer pong and other drinking games.Some folks had flat screen TVs affixed to the side of their RVs and satellite dishes perched on top.This was some serious tailgating and quite a sight to behold!After eating and enjoying the company of a few friends who also came on the trip, it was finally time to make our way to the stadium.My first observation was the sheer size of the place.Turns out that in addition to being the most expensive stadium ever built, it was also the largest with regard to permanent seating capacity.Once in our seats, I marveled at all of the large video boards that surrounded the interior providing everyone with a most excellent view of the game and the sound system in that place was top-notch.In front of each chair was a cup/bottle holder which I thought was great.There were security people everywhere, including state troopers, which was a good thing considering the several fights that broke out during the game.Even so, I felt pretty safe and was able to enjoy myself.The stadium even had people whose job it was to simply walk through the stands smiling and asking people if they were having a good time.It ended up being a very good game with Notre Dame enjoying a victory over Syracuse.As I habitually began picking up our empty cups and water bottles to throw out on our way out, I looked around at all of the mess that was left behind.Spilled drinks and food, peanut shells and empty bottles, cups and plates were everywhere and I mean everywhere.It was as if 99 percent of the attendees simply adopted a someone-else-will-get-it attitude.As I pointed this out to hubby he informed me that there was an event the next day and that cleanup crews would undoubtedly have to work all night to get it ready for the next day.I couldn't even comprehend how they could possibly get it done in time.The walk back to the bus was even worse.We stepped over everything imaginable as we dodged the piles of trash left behind from some serious partying.Part of me wanted to stay behind just to see how the cleanup efforts would be achieved because I just couldn't wrap my head around it and part of me wanted some gloves and a garbage bag to start working on it myself."What is wrong with these people?" I thought to myself while trying to deal with the extreme anxiety I was feeling over all of that trash.Then suddenly, it occurred to me that perhaps once again, I was not with the program.Perhaps once again, I have failed to move forward with the times because evidently, the world is our trash can.