Go Bananas! It’s Halloween!

Last Wednesday evening, I was sitting amongst friends in the Berkeley Dining Hall when a banana and some of his friends walked over and sat down next to us. “Wait… a banana?” I thought to myself, at first in disbelief that I was sitting next to a giant piece of fruit. Who knew that Halloween at Yale is a five-day affair?

Even though I had received a few dozen e-mail invitations to Halloween parties and events, I had totally forgotten about the whole costume part of the holiday. On Saturday morning, I took a walk with my friends Jimmitti, Eric, and Jessica to the Salvation Army, which is right around the block. As we strolled through the store, Eric and Jessica found the perfect vampire attire and decided to get dressed as “Edward and Bella.” 

Jimmitti exclaimed, “Josh! Check these out!” She spotted a pair of suitcases that were probably from the ‘60s and some awesome Hawaiian shirts: we were going to be tourists going on a tropical adventure!  We found baggy khaki shorts, sunglasses, and some sunscreen, and our outfits were complete! 

Author Joshua and his friend Jimmitti in their tropical tourists costumes.

Over the course of the weekend, we went to Master Chun’s spooky Bishop Bash in his home, Pierson College’s “Inferno” dance party, and at midnight everyone gathered in Woolsley Hall for the Yale Symphony Orchestra (YSO) concert. 

"YSO Halloween Show" poster, with tagline "The stuff that dreams are made of".

Starring a group of Yale students along with President Levin, Dean Miller, Dean Gentry, and plenty of other familiar faces (including James Franco!), the YSO played the soundtrack to a silent movie filmed by Yalies. I was absolutely blown away by the cinematography and musical arrangement that fit together perfectly. The show could not have been better.

A group of freshmen students in costumes.

As I walked back to Vanderbilt Hall (where I am living this year on Old Campus) with a group of friends at 1:00 AM, we couldn’t stop talking about our first Halloween at Yale. What a weekend!