Who knew that so much about Halloween changed when you came to college? It's a holiday unlike any other. It's a night full of spook, costume and excitement.
While people young and old celebrate Halloween, the elements and traditions of the holiday are always the same but vary in nature and are especially altered in college.
Pumpkin carving: College translation = pumpkin smashing. Just as everybody else, college students still like carving pumpkins, but the lifespan of said pumpkins is short.
I can't tell you how many smashed pumpkins I've seen on the side of roads after a night of partying around Halloween time. Children, under adult supervision, carve jack-o-lanterns, bats and shapes into their pumpkins. College students carve curse words into their pumpkins. I'm not kidding.
Bobbing for apples: College translation = bobbing for beers. The term apple may not be in a college student's vocabulary; it's too healthy. However, the term "beer" may be a college student's favorite word. Bobbing for apples is a traditional game played during Halloween during which there is a bucket of apples that people lean into to try to retrieve an apple with their teeth. In college, students reach into a bucket of iced beer to retrieve a nice, cold, refreshing brew to celebrate the holiday.
Scavenger hunts: College translation = finding items lost while partying. College students lose items such as wallets, cameras, keys, coats and other items of the sort at parties. The scavenger hunt can become particularly challenging pending the number of beers bobbed at the party, and elements of faint memory, multiple party locations and tons of party-goers make for critical challenges during the hunt.
Trick-or-treating: College translation = party hopping. Children dress up on Halloween to run from door to door in their neighborhood while snagging lots of candy along the way. College students go from party to party to visit friends, see creative costumes and snag more beers. Children yell "trick-or-treat!" while college students just yell. If you haven't noticed, people lose a sense of how loud they are when they've been drinking bobbed beers.
Ghost rides: College translation = designated drivers. A ghost ride is a carriage ride around a town in which a tour guide acts as the carriage driver and tells you spooky stories about the area.
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