Halloweeeeeeeeennnnnnnnn

I was being all mopey not too long ago about how holidays are gonna suck without all my best friends and family. And you know, everyone expects me to be sad about missing Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, but they’re not the ones I’m upset about. There are two holidays I’m cringing about not being home for. My two favorite of the entire year. Let’s not talk about V-Day and the gaping hole I’m going to have in February. Let’s talk about Halloween.

It’s my second favorite holiday. Why? It’s something about being able to turn into someone else for one night. Whether you’re a little kid whose mom is helping you zip the back of your poofy Minnie Mouse dress, a college kid deciding which outfit would be better suited to play beer pong in, or a young woman in France trying to figure out how to possibly make a costume out of the seven outfits, three scarves, and one pair of sneakers you brought, Halloween is a time to be inventive and escape everyday life. “It’s come as you aren’t night.” And there’s also candy.

As you should have gathered by now, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to share this holiday with anyone here. That I would just sit in my apartment watching Little Monsters and munching candy corn. I didn’t count on making awesome friends who would be just as stoked about Halloween as I am.

Yesterday I got together with Tom, Cecil, Lizzi and Gary to have a pumpkin-carving fest, which was totally inspired by Maureen and John’s pumpkin. I went and bought two pumpkins, and was surprised at how different they were from the American pumpkins I’m used to. They were practically horizontal pumpkins, which gave our pumpkins a sort of squished look when they were all finished, as opposed to the typical round and robust look of the pumpkins in the US.





As we listened to a quite eclectic mix of music on my iTunes and enjoyed yummy blush wine, we carved some wicked awesome pumpkins. Mine is the one that kinda looks like a grumpy grandpa, and Cecil and Tom’s is the one with the wicked awesome cat eye and jagged mouth. I forgot how much fun it is to carve a pumpkin with friends. The inevitable smearing of pumpkin guts on each other’s arms and faces, the inevitable staining of the floor because the newspaper wasn’t enough to sop up all the nasty pumpkin juices, the way someone is going to leave some insides hanging from the carved mouth so it gives the appearance of an infant’s gums (me, of course). I had a really, really great time.

After pumpkins, we played a game of the French scrabble I found in my room! We were all a little imbued with wine, which made the game fun. And we decided to play English, American, French and Spanish words, which still doesn’t explain how such words as SEXO, FUNS, TRAMPE, VAGQE, AND CUEHU made their way onto the board.