To experience Halloween in New York is wonderful. It is the closest I have been to the idealized version of the holiday conveyed in movies. For example, on Halloween morning, I look out my window to see crows perched on a tree without leaves, against a dismally grey autumn sky. The formerly brilliantly colored leaf carpet is now uniformly brown and scatters with the occasional gust of cold wind. Even better, once the sun sets thin clouds veil and unveil a full moon... I know right!
This Halloween is also the closet I have come to experiencing the typical collegiate holiday... yes I went out, twice actually. Because Ithaca is a college town Halloween started for me, on Friday (for many it even started on Thursday). This might have been prompted by two classmates suggesting that I don't go out with them nearly enough but it sounded fun. I have been out to see Isla Vista (UCSB) at Halloween time and Ithaca's party scene didn't seem nearly as tragic.
Anyways, both nights I spent with the other M.Arch students. Friday night I dressed up as Lenny Kravits and went to a party hosted by the architecture undergraduates. As lame as that sounds let me first explain that there is an annual tradition hosted by the undergraduate program called Dragon Day and not only do they get funding from the school, but the undergraduates also fund-raise by selling t-shirts. These t-shirts are apparently a BIG DEAL because last year Dragon Day cost about $15,000 but they raised nearly $30,000. I don't know how this works but the undergraduates use the rest to throw parties...
It was still lame.
There was a dance floor and DJ that wasn't all that bad, especially when the M.Arch students were clustered together. However, once that bubble burst I realized that I was surrounded by a bunch of 18-20 yr old kids who were drunk out of their minds, a strange experience for a former RA. My bubble was actually literally burst by one intoxicated undergrad female who tripped and knocked me down with her. By the way the quickest way to recover in such a situation, is turn and help the people helping you help the girl up (it establishes who the drunk one is).
The cops came shortly after we got there and as all the kids scatter the M.Arch students could just walk out casually and not worry about having been drinking. Overall it was fun and I felt like I bonded with some of my classmates. Even going to bed around five in the morning, I was willing to do it all again the next night when we went to an exclusively graduate party.
This time I dressed as a lumberjack. The party was an older and surprisingly international crowd, every conversation I overheard was laced with different accents. It was also jam packed, real fire-hazard sort of crowding. Anyways, I realized the main difference between the two parties: age. But that was also a fun night and ended at a similar time.
The best part is that I also somehow found the time to make a sweet model for Monday and Jim really liked it.
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