Colleges.com

When my editor told me that I was going to Miami for a pseudo spring break to party with Nelly, Andrew W.K., and DJ Z-Trip at the AXE House Party, I was elated. Then, the confusion set in. With advertising taglines such as "Your odds haven’t been this good since breastfeeding," I wondered why they wanted me, a woman, to go to such a thing. What did the AXE House Party have in store for me, and would I really even get to "party" with Nelly or Andrew W.K.? I just wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and I didn’t know if I would like it.

On the plane to Miami, I read some Hunter S. Thompson to get into the party mood. Figuring that no one has ever had a more fun as a media writer than he, I immersed myself into his bizarre tales of high jinx on the trail of a story. I got a little sidetracked, however, when the guy next to me broke out a Teen People. We ended up spending the rest of the flight pointing out all of the hot guys in it, and talking about how the fashion of the 80’s needed to stop making a comeback.

Skybar was the media meeting place, near the hotel. Pretty sweet, complete with a bartender from the Real World, but I don’t remember which season. I think his name was Dan… Anyway, I got a chance to meet up with some of the people from AXE and hang out with the other media people. The rest of the night ended up as a bar-hopping haze, however, we did run into music mogul Clive Barker. I think we went to a minimum of six clubs in South Beach that night. All I can say is that the clubs there are like nothing I have ever seen. Vegas comes close, but South Beach is most definitely the one of the best places to go clubbing in the United States. I got back to my hotel room around four in the morning ­ I would have stayed out longer, but I had to save some energy for the next day.

The helicopter ride was amazing! We flew all the way to West Palm Beach, and landed on the lawn next to the 50-acre Mida Mansion, AXE House Party headquarters. The mansion was lit up with flourescent lights, and reflections of AXE bodyspray glimmered in the pool. The inside of the house opened to a large stage, with a kitchen to one side and a bar to the other. There was a winding staircase that led upstairs to DJ Z-Trip spinning beats. Wilmer Valderrama, Danny Masterson ("That 70’s Show") and Seth Green (Austin Powers) were playing pool near a balcony that overlooked the stage downstairs. There was also a large room, complete with a bar, to entertain the media, my people. AXE Bodyspray posters were everywhere, along with cans of AXE laced throughout the house. The smell of "Phoenix" lingered everywhere, but in a house with hundreds of people jammed into it, that was a good thing.

Outside, host Jamie Kennedy ("Malibu’s Most Wanted") was mulling around schmoozing with models. The pool was in the center of the backyard, surrounded by hundreds of models, contest winners and media, along with a gigantic stage to the right and a bar to the left. Andrew W.K. was getting ready to play his set when we were all summoned up to the media room for Nelly’s interview. There was time to see Andrew W.K. anyway, so the guy from FHM and I went to the garage, which was straddled by two VERY nice cars, where he was ready to play. By the end of the first song, most of the crowd had ended up on the stage jumping and singing along with him. I was standing behind a groupie who was rubbing her body all over the bassist, but he wasn’t complaining. Wearing his signature dirty white jeans and a white t-shirt, Andrew W.K. was sweating and bouncing all over the place. At the end of the last song, he jumped on the hood of one of the cars, stood up, and raised his hands in excitement. His set was done, he was out of breath, and I needed to get back to the house for Nelly’s interview.

Um, yeah, Nelly’s interview did not go exactly as planned. Everyone was supposed to be able to ask him a question, but only MTV and a Canadian station were able to interview him. Disappointed, but glad to get out of that stuffy room, I headed downstairs to get myself a drink. So, out of a series of circumstances, I end up sitting in Nelly’s private room drinking Cristal, possibly the best champagne in the world. Nelly walks in, we chat for a minute, and he leaves to go on stage. A crowd had already amassed around the stage, so I headed up to the balcony, where I could get a bird’s eye view, and happened to end up standing next to Andrew W.K

All throughout Nelly’s set, the crowd was amped and singing along. Andrew W.K., who didn’t know any of the words, was rocking out to "Hot in Herre" while he grooved and jumped around with his hand in the air in a kind of rock-meets-hip-hop move. Nelly left the stage and the crowd dissipated.

I headed outside to meet and chat with our contest winner, John. By now it was about 2 a.m. and there were still hundreds of people in the backyard. Models were making their way through the crowd, chatting with contest winners and the media. The drinks and the conversation were flowing and everyone seemed to be having an incredible time. As the night began to wind down, I chatted with Wilmer Valderrama and Danny Masterson. Wilmer was a little perturbed because people kept calling him "Fez," but had an amazing time otherwise. We all had to hand it to AXE for putting on such a great party.

At the end of the night I took the party bus back to the hotel and crashed. The sun was coming up and I needed to get some sleep before my flight at 10:30. I woke up in a haze, only to see that I had an hour until my flight left. I hustled into the lobby and caught a cab. I had to cut the fifty people in line at the security checkpoint to make my plane. It didn’t matter though, once I was in the air, I just closed my eyes and thought about my weekend in Miami.