The Semester of Lasts

As Spring Break approaches, I'm just 5 days away from laying on a beach in 80 degree heat, a nice change to bitter winds we've been experiencing here in Chestnut Hill for the last few days. On the lips of almost every Senior walking this campus, however, is that fearful phrase "this is the last...insert activity here." Ie: "this is the last first day of school," "this is the last time I'll go outside at 5am in nothing but a T-shirt to build a snowman in the mods," or my personal favorite "this is the last time I'll have to send myself a rose on valentines day to make myself feel better," (false). Anyways, as I've been surround by all these supposed last times, I've decided to adopt the why not philosophy so that I get to take advantage of all these lasts!

Most recently I participated in a 35 year old tradition at BC called Middle march. Having not been since my freshman year, when the theme was Saturday Night Live. I was a SNL Spice Girl, and to the left is a picture of my friend dressed up like Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek from Jeopardy. Needless to say I set my eyes on the prize, aka a highly coveted ticket to this dance. Involving quite a complicated process, Middlemarch is the biggest and the best costume party of the year, Halloween ain't got nothin' on this tradition. First you must go at 11pm on the designated day to Conte Forum (our basketball and hockey stadium) to hear the theme announcement, usually hidden in some kind of weird YouTube-esque video made by the O'Connell House managers. This year's theme is BOARD GAMES. On your way out of the stadium you get a special sheet complete with a secret copy-proof seal with the scavenger hunt. Made up of 15-20 questions that go along with the theme (such as what was the newest addition to the game Operation...answer, brain freeze) as well as questions about the managers of the OCH, the mansion/student union on Upper Campus where the dance is held. So then you have a week to complete the scavenger hunt questions, THEN you are entered into a lottery of everyone who got the answers correct, and SHOULD you win, you get to buy tickets, but ONLY if you are quick enough to get one of 300 tickets when 200 students have the option to buy two! Luckily my "why not" philosophy has worked out and this is "the last time I will be going to Middlemarch." I'm super excited, but now comes the complicated process of figuring out a costume: Miss Peacock, a Snake or Ladder, Candyland...the possibilities are endless.

Another fantastic tradition organized by the Senior Week Committee is the 100 DAYS Dance. All Seniors get the chance to buy tickets and celebrate 100 days until Graduation. It was held at the Roxy, a club in the Theatre District in Downtown Boston, and BC rented it out, so it was basically a gigantic Dance Party with the entire Senior class; aka amazing! They bused us there and back on big yellow school buses, so no need to navigate the streets of Boston in high heels. Everyone I talked to absolutely loved it; there is nothing like dancing to bring people together. The only downside is my foot got into a fight with someone else's stiletto and let's just say they won and my foot is mighty bruised.

Although this blog makes it look like all we do at BC is dance, there are lots of other fun traditions that I'll be back to share with you soon. In fact, I'll even post a picture from a new tradition, storming the court after we beat DUKE in Men's Basketball; Tyrese Rice is in the Background!