A Not So Scary Evening

So it was Halloween last week! And it was simply amazing! As a foreigner, I get excited when these American holydays come around because they are different and so much fun. I get to do things I am not used to, which is always nice. And, unlike some friends of mine, I didn’t grow up going around my neighborhood in costume to ask for “treats or tricks.” Although, and I must be honest here, throwing toilet paper at someone’s house looks fun. Or maybe this is just the eight-years-old-me speaking up right now. Either way, I enjoy Halloween very much, especially when I walk downtown and see all these people in all sort of costumes – some were scary, others were very creative or funny, and others were straight out silly. But I like them all anyway.

During Halloween, Santa Barbara gets somewhat crazy and all of suddenly there are a few too many parties to attend. I know some people, if not most, go to Isla Vista and they do have a good time there; however, because most of my friends decided to stay downtown this year, I followed them. Since it rained, I guess I made a good decision.

Another important topic when it comes to Halloween is costumes. What costume should I wear? Should I wear a costume at all? Back home, I never had to answer these questions. So, here, every year I forget to buy one and end up having to figure out (or improvise) a character at the last minute. And I do mean at the last minute. Last year I had to be Danny from the movie Grease because all had I had was an old leather jacket and a comb – you know, John Travolta’s character. But this is year I was determined to be something more interesting, so I was Clark Kent. No, I wasn’t Superman; I was Clark Kent. But, hey, what counts is how creative you are! (At least that is my excuse.) My roommate, on the other hand, was Hercules, hence the picture below: 

Yeah, I definitely had a good time. I can hardly wait for next Halloween!

Dodgeball!

Last Friday, October 25^th, the Student Senate organized a dodgeball tournament open for both students and staff members. Needless to say, I teamed up with a few friends and got hit a bunch of times. I gotta admit I am not very good at it, but I had fun nonetheless. It was like high school all over again (I think I heard this joke a thousand of times that night, so why not tell it once more?). It was rather funny to watch staff members as well as other students, people I often see behind desks or in generally serious mood, throwing balls at each other and running back and forth in the court. Some people would turn tomato-red while others would get drenched in sweat. Indeed, it was so much fun.

Because I have such a busy schedule, I could only meet up with my team a couple of hours before the tournament itself, so we did not practice that much. We simply went down to the tennis court at school and played a little, and I am sure some of the other teams practiced for weeks. Yet we managed to win our first match! Uhul! And then, obviously, we got crushed by the next team we faced.

I don’t think I need to explain the rules of dodgeball, right? They are pretty standard, and I think everyone has played it before. If you havent, you gather a few friends and played it now. Your inner child deserves it! However, for this tournament, every team played three times against each adversary, and whoever wins twice moves on while the loser is out. Two out of three, nothing too complicated there. I feel like I cannot express how much fun we had, especially because we won. Honestly, I was surprised.

Maybe, we won because our team took it very seriously,

But, probably, that was not the reason.

P.S.: You guys were great!