They gathered in groups at the Palladium restaurant after the football game, and met each other at Smokey Joe's later in the evening, trading the traditional stories of new jobs, new apartments and new friends.
Yet for many alumni, the small talk that historically dominates Homecoming weekend was permeated by the date Sept. 11.
"Everyone wants to know where you were, what you were doing and who you were doing it with," said Jason Edelstein, a 1999 Wharton graduate, of his Sept. 11 conversations on Saturday afternoon. "It is as if everyone needs to understand what was happening in everyone else's life on that day so that they can validate what was happening in theirs."
Edelstein works as a stock trader in Manhattan's financial district and was reluctant to discuss his story during the Homecoming festivities, explaining that it was too strange to relate the details of it over and over again. At times, he found himself lying and telling old friends that he had been out of town that day, trying to escape the barrage of questions.
David Rose, a 1999 College graduate, was disappointed at how few of his friends were back at Penn. Only weeks earlier he had received numerous e-mails and phone calls from various people saying they were reluctant to fly to Philadelphia from abroad or far away in the United States.
For many, this weekend was their first experience traveling after the terrorist attacks. Some even opted to drive rather than fly, cutting their stay at Penn short by a day and staying only for Saturday night.
Bits and pieces of post-game conversation varied from Penn's eventual comeback against Princeton to the military strategy in Afghanistan to possible anthrax and smallpox scares.
Those who had been personally affected by the terrorist attacks, with friends or family missing, were reluctant to talk about them, preferring instead to focus on happier conversations, using Homecoming as an escape from the reality of current events.
And it was especially comforting this year for alumni to run into old friends and catch up on each others' lives as everyone was trying to reassure themselves that those they knew had survived, trying to reach some level of normality.
But despite the extra baggage left by the Sept. 11 attacks, most alumni were in high spirits, happy to reconvene with old friends. Every bar stool from Blarney Stone to Billybob was full on Saturday night, and the mood was upbeat as people broke in the new dance floor at Billybob and tables were set up outside of Smokes for the evening.
The day was not lacking in happy news. Several recent grads gathered around a friend to examine her newly received engagement ring. Two alumni stood on a table top in the Palladium, announcing the coming birth of their first child.
Many students and alumni did not see a difference between Homecoming this year and past Homecoming weekends, aside from the increased dialogue of national events.
"I really didn't notice much," said College senior Matt McCallister, who attended his Sigma Phi Epsilon alumni events all weekend. "Everyone was just really happy to see each other, but that was normal. People were just glad that all their friends were OK."
