Halloween?

Queen.

"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
Therewith fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down the weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with her drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious buy
To muddy death."

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Before I go into detail regarding my Halloween at Warwick let me just say that normally I don't do the whole Halloween thing. Like many kids I enjoyed trick-o-treating and going to "Harvest Parties" and the like, but for a variety of reasons I've never really done much with the holiday. In part it's relates to the fact that I usually work as well as the fact that I lived in a neighborhood that wasn't conducive for treat-o-treaters. That being said, being back in Uni made me want to have fun with a holiday that is pathetically American and has been transplanted into England only as an excuse for people to drink and party while wearing as little clothing as possible (and that is not a cynical view, just a honest one). That being said, I had a very strange combination of experiences for my Halloween this year.
My fore-planning skills for a costume were extremely limited. Thursday I realized that I had no idea what I was going to dress-up as on Saturday; all I knew was that I didn't want to be a witch, a vampire, or a zombie. This limited my options to an extreme degree.
I lassos-ed Allison to come with me into Coventry after classes to find a costume. I was thinking "butterfly" or "bat". You know, buy some wings and be done with it!
A few issues showed themselves when we arrive into Coventry City Centre:

1. We arrive there at 5:45 forgetting, being American city girls, that Coventry City Centre closes stores at 6pm. 
2. Apparently Halloween is for children - unless you want to buy a witch's hat. 

My resourceful nature (and stubbornness) rose to the occasion  A few weeks earlier I had found a crafts store in what I would call a "stripe mall" in an area of town between my house and the City Centre. Upon further research I discovered that this crafts store - and hopefully the other stores with it - stayed open until 8pm! Yea!
The crafts store yielded nothing on first inspection. Refusing to go home empty handed we strolled down the sidewalk and found ourselves outside a TK Maxx. I know what you're thinking, that must be a misspell. Nope. The two Americans had found the British version of TJ Maxx in all it's glory. Let me clarify for you, it is exactly like its American counterpart!
Confident in finding something with such a mass of tackiness in one space, we searched and searched...and searched. If I was a size 8 (British, which makes that a 4/6 American) I would have been a Flapper. Sadly, Allison and I agreed that starving myself for two days wasn't an option to make that work (for two reasons, A. it literally wouldn't work B. I can't condone starving myself for any reason). Overall, we were extremely surprised that there was nothing even slightly related to adult Halloween costumes.
Feeling slightly morose, we headed back to the crafts store, hoping for creative inspiration. As we trudged down the aisles throwing out ideas that were either too much work or dumb, Allison said jokingly, "you should just be Hamlet. All you'd have to do is wear black while carrying around a skull." It wasn't funny, "I can't be Hamlet, I'm a girl."  She replied, "Then be Ophelia."
I stopped and turned to her. Genius!
At last, a plan. I bought white and blue body paint and flowers for my hair. All I needed was to put on a dress I had at home and I was set! Woohoo!

My Halloween celebration came on two parts. The Halloween Ball on Saturday and a friend's Halloween Party on Wednesday (actually the 31st)
All day Saturday I worked on coursework and then got to Skype with a friend from home. At around five I found myself happily taking with my friend and allowing my introvert to come out - I really didn't want to go out. My friend didn't really help the matter (which is probably one of the reasons we're friends!). Part of my rationale was that I didn't just want to go to campus for something that started at 10pm.
Finally I connected with two of my international friends, Caroline and Paula, who also had tickets to the "Ball." After making plans for dinner beforehand I felt much better about going.
As a group we made rice, salmon, and a salad (very domestic of us) and had lovely conversation while enjoying the meal and two bottles of wine. Then we headed to Caroline's room to get ourselves ready for the "Ball."
To be realistic with my "post-drowning" look, I didn't just put paint on my face but also my feet/legs and arms. This caused a small issue when I went to put on my coat - I didn't want to get paint on my coat (not because I feared ruining my paint job but because I didn't want to wash the jacket; dumb, I know). Because of this, I decided to walk the 10 minutes to the Student Union without a coat. Not my brightest moment. I was fine at the time because of my post wine glow - but I've had a hacking cough since, so I got my just rewards.
Once at the ball (really a glorified dance party with a cover charge), we found one of the few tables and commandeered it for our group. The people watching was extraordinary. The majority of the people present were either Freshers or International Students. Each had their own interpretation of what it meant to dress up for Halloween. My favorites included The Grim Reaper (who just stood by the wall near the door and stared at people), Mario and Luigi (which apparently was also an extremely popular costume in the States), and this girl who had about twelve eyes painted on her face, including on her eyelids! There were also, of course, more vampires, devils, and zombies than one really wants to see in one place - most of which were poorly done on top of being an overused costume.
One of my favorite aspects of having international friends is that they introduce me to other international students. Everyone here is so unique that I really enjoy encountering them! At the Halloween Ball I met Anna, from the Czech Republic, who studies in Sociology with Caroline and Paula. To say that she is the most intense person I've ever met would be an understatement. While the music blared in our ears, she drilled me why I felt my program was of value. I'm surprised I said anything of value (though I'm not sure I did) after two bottles of shared wine at dinner and a hard cider but I did my best!
By 1:30am our heads were pounding from the racket they called "club music," so Paula and I grabbed a cab home (we both live in the same Coventry neighborhood). After a quick shower to rinse the blue and while paint from my skin, I headed to bed; exhausted from my uncharacteristic "partying" (put in quotes because let's be honest, even when I'm out on the town I don't really party!).

On the 31st of October Allison threw a Halloween party for her flat mates. None of them were American (or British even) so they'd never experienced a Halloween party before. Kindly she also invited some of her friends - non-residents of her flat, such as myself. Anni and I had class and research on campus so neither of us dressed up for the party but attempted to make up for our lack of festive spirit by bringing treats and hard cider.
The party was scheduled to begin at 8pm. At 8:30 the party still consisted of Anni, Allison, and me. Not long after a mutual friend, and a course mate of mine - Katherine, appeared. Unlike Anni and me, she dressed-up (she was a zombie librarian - Awesome). Still not a single flat mate appeared. I could tell that Allison began to feel sad about them not coming but secretly I was glad - I didn't really feel like making inane conversation with people I didn't know and would never see again (see my introvert rearing her ugly head again?). I really enjoyed the snacks and company but the highlight (don't judge) was that Anni's flat mate Manuela gave us a ride back to our neighborhood in his car! So great not to have to wait for the bus. It felt amazing to be in a car again. However, Manuela's car is from Italy (so is he but that doesn't effect this tale). Know what that means? You guessed it (I hope...wait, did you not guess? Seriously, guess why it matters that the car is from Italy...) Ok, I'll give you a hint: Italians drive on the same side of the road as Americans. You got it now, don't you. Yep, you're right. That means that the driver is on the left side of the car but driving on the left side of the road! Mind bending, right? Instead of the driver being on the inside of the lane he was on the curb side! It was beyond disconcerting for me but it didn't trouble Manuela at all! I was impressed and told them honestly that no one should ever allow me to follow his example!

Good Times