Homegrown Halloween
In college it’s actually referred to as “Halloweek” or “Halloweekend” and it’s one of my favorite times of the year. On Halloween in the Hill, Franklin Street gets closed down (much like it does when we beat dook) and thousands of people walk right down the road admiring each others costumes before they head of to their own parties. It’s amazing. Between the strut down the street, the Little Frat Court concert, and various parties or shows, college Halloween is one of the most fun parts of the year.
I’ve had some really great “Halloweeks” in my four years. As I watched the rain come down this past Halloween, already dressed up with a few places to go, debating on skipping the Franklin Street walk I took a stroll down memory lane of my college Halloweens.
Freshman year my entire suite spent one night watching our friends in Rocky Horror and the other just going to Franklin. (It was a Monday so we were home pretty early, don’t worry Mom.) Sophomore year I saw Chazz Surratt wearing his own jersey Luke Maye with a giant stuffed lizard at a party. Junior year I saw my brother wearing roller skates at a B.O.B concert. Senior year, I finally got to hit the bars on Franklin Street. Dressing up and pretending to be anyone but who you are is fun for a few nights in you late teens and early twenties. The best thing that came out of college Halloween were some amazing couples costumes…with friends obviously. Freshman year my roommate and I put on pink and blue tutus and tried to convince everyone we were cotton candy. We really just wanted to, you guessed it, wear fun tutus. Annie and Madison definitely outdid us as Salt and Peppa.
The best dynamic duo I was ever a part of was with none other than the Blair to my Serena. I was honestly so lucky to truly find my college person in Lindsey when we lived together sophomore year. I looked forward to making her dress up as my Gossip Girl counterpart all fall. I could not have asked for a better friend to go along with my all schemes and plans these past three years. She is the caring, lovable, blonde-ish to my crazy, sassy, brunette. I don’t know what I would do without my college best friend and this iconic costume.
Dressing up is the best part of Halloween in my opinion, so there was never a shortage of costumes the week of October 31st. I’ve varied from Holly Golightly, to a lifeguard, to a boxer, to Risky Business, to Rosie the Riveter, but ironically never a cat or witch.
This past year I broke out the Blair costume again to be pretty in plaid as a schoolgirl. I actually donned the white knee socks and plaid twice the week of Halloween when I dressed up as my favorite movie character, Cher from Clueless. The rain put a damper on the Franklin Street festivities so the road wasn’t closed down and available for the final strut. But that didn’t stop us from party-hoping and eventually making it to Franklin Street anyway.
All in all, Halloween is the most FUN holiday and I’ll miss college Halloween a lot. But in the spirit of the next holiday coming up, I have a lot of amazing October memories to be thankful for at UNC.