Study Abroad, Honors Program & Other Student Experiences

It’s October thirty-first, and you know what that means. It’s Halloween! Even though it’s a universal holiday, not everyone in the universe celebrates the same. In the past, Halloween was reserved for trick-or-treating, and as I got older, handing out candy or attending parties, and haunted hay rides and mazes, but mostly just trick-or-treating. Last year couldn’t have been more different from this year. Here in Stirling, Halloween is a whole different story. I don’t think you can do Halloween wrong, just different. It’s still about being someone you are not, and dressing up and going out, but now, being in college has added a new element. Going to college in Stirling means going to clubs.

The main purpose of college is to further learning inside and outside the classroom. Here is the thing; I had a science lab practical test scheduled for the next morning. So, I got ready really early, around eight thirty, sat in my room on my rollie chair, with my door propped open, and tried to start studying for the test in my bunny costume. The halls were noisy with the activity of my flat mates. By 10:30 there was a scene outside my door. I had visitors. Some American tourists complete with a map, bum bags, sun hats, and suntan lotion noses need directions. I really appreciated the costume idea.

I didn’t get much studying done after that. By eleven, we all had had enough and got the taxi to town with the intent of dancing at Dusk. When we arrived, the streets were littered with dead monkeys, princess, superheroes, honey monsters, zombies, nerds, scuba divers, teletubbies, and other funny costumes. There was a queue to get into the queue for the club. We binned that idea and walked to Fubar which was closed. That means there was only one club open for the entire city of Stirling, and I am glad we didn’t get in because I probably would have been injured. I can just imagine the sticky, slippery, filthy floor and tightly packed mass of sweaty smelling bodies that is normally Dusk, multiplied by crazy costumes to get disaster. Instead we went to a pub, picked up some food, and took a taxi home where there was a chocolate cake fight in the kitchen at two am.

Getting trashed, going out and parting is so common here that it was just like any other night out for my flat mates, except this time, it was even more fun since we were dressed up.  I didn’t expect the night to turn out the way it did, but with my flat mates, there is always fun times awaiting.

At the end of the night I think that going out at home is completely different than going out in Stirling. For one thing at home I drive everywhere, here we use public transportation. I never waited in a taxi queue before or got into a stranger’s car and relied on them to get me home. Every time the door slams shut, I wonder if I’ll ever make it home. The combination of the crazy driving, and being taxied around is certainly unfamiliar as going out to pubs and clubs is. I’m glad I didn’t drink because if I had then I wouldn’t have been able to get up for my science test at ten the next day.