* HALLOWEEN *
The traditional American trick or treat-fest, with pre-Christian pagan European roots, is just like any other supposedly ‘traditional’ festival, taken over by the inevitable currents of capitalism. Halloween is a great, but extremely commercialized event, allowing people to spend big money on costumes and parties. I found myself lucky enough to spend the weekend before Halloween with my roommate Sarah, and her boyfriend Virgil, at Sarah’s sister’s place in Salem: the prominent witch town and epitome of Halloween places. The small town in Massachusetts is very cute and…just like on TV. As it was Halloween-weekend, the town was very crowded and touristic, but it is said, that even outside these holidays some people walk around in witch-costumes all year-round, to keep up their witch town image.
BENTLEY COLLEGE
The Saturday night we went to Bentley College, a remote isolated, somewhat private, business school near Boston, where Virgil’s friend from his home university (in Vienna) lives. In the main hall was a great party going on, but we also spend time in the dorms, where students set up their own parties. It was incredibly fun to see how the close conglomeration of international exchange students there was just like at my university.
COSTUMES
Beside the standard pirates, goo goo-girls, maids, doctors, firemen and women, I was astonished by the creativity that people expressed in their costumes. One guy was all dressed in black, including the paint of his face and limbs. Meanwhile he kept on dancing around, with his white iPod in, which I found quite rude, but he stated to be the silhouette model from the iPod adds! I figured out that this sense of creativity is comparable to the Dutch tradition of making surprises and poems during Sinterklaas for December 5th.
[A real cop with a dressed-up prisoner]
IN BURLINGTON
The actual Halloween was on Thursday October 31, back in Burlington. At UVM there were no parties held, because our regulations are more strictly, so together with the international students, we went to a house party that was unlike others I have experienced so far. No cags of beer, no wasted freshmen or stupid drunk students in a packed house: no, this event was at a small-scale friendly setting, with older people around to have conversations and make friends with.
* CHICAGO *
I think it was odd to schedule a one-week of Thanksgiving recess three weeks before the end of the semester, but my Spanish friend Eva and I used it to visit Chicago, escaping last period stress. My cousin Sari lives in the Mundelein suburb, which lies one train hour a way from downtown: every day we traveled two hours back and forth!
The highly art-oriented setting of Chicago at Michigan Lake represents a blend of modern high buildings with relatively old classic architecture, with many interesting museums, and art work from known (like Miro), unknown and local artist scattered all over town. But I was also confronted with the great amount of homeless people dwelling the city. The fact that I have been situated in the relatively secure city of Burlington for a couple of months made this culture shock even bigger. And the sad and worrying thing is that the class hierarchy is often in conjunction with ‘race’.
For Thanksgiving we didn’t have the traditional stuffed turkey with mash potato and pumpkin cake, we prepared an Indonesian celebration dinner instead… (But when we got back to Burlington, we did have turkey with the internationals). The next day is known as Black Friday: the official start for the Christmas shopping season. For this occasion many big chain stores begin by opening their doors at 5am… For the lines of people waiting to spend their money!
* NAKED BIKE RIDE *
What you read is what you get! This half-annually event takes place at the end of a semester, signifying their relieved stress and anxieties. Coincidently (not), that Thursday was the first day of real snowfall, causing a beautiful white, and cold, setting in Burlington. Around midnight people started gathering at ‘Boulevard le Marche’, the main street through Living and Learning Center, my residence complex. I could have watched it from our balconies, but the true experience was to be among the exciting, drunk, and supporting crowd. In this naked bike ride/marathon most participants dressed up with a fun accesoire like wings, hats, shawls and bags. The route was circling around a certain campus area, so it lasted not longer than half an hour.
* END OF SEMESTER *
It goes as usual, with a lot of stress. Only this time, everything was extra awkward. I spent almost four months with people from my classes and with some I became friends, with many not, but it felt weird anyway to say goodbye during the last class, because there was a certain bond formed somehow. But Burlington is small enough to run into people by chance, so I wasn’t as if I would never see my classmates again. It were the international students who’d only stay for one semester I was likely to not see again, therefore I felt like spending some last time with them: dinners, parties, gatherings, and clubbing, With . With them it was the same: with some I became very close friends, with most I had a normal or even shallow relation, but all together we had one thing in common: we were all new in this country to study as international exchange students. This common denominator created and maintained a mutual sense of grouping among us.
