This many not be a specific event held by the school or an org, but Halloween is an event/holiday shared by the entire university. I’ve been hearing for weeks how great Halloween is here at Penn State and everyone has been counting down for this week. Halloween was always big back home for me, but never to this extent. There are positive and negative sides to Halloween in college. For example, I’ve heard it called “Halloweek”, meaning people go out to socials and parties EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!! This completely astounds me, the fact that students can dress up differently every night and go out during the week. This never happened in high school! Whether Halloween fell on a weekend or during the week, people would go out mostly once and be done. And because we lived with our parents, people dressed more appropriate and did not stay out as long.

Because I actually care about doing well in classes this week, I am waiting till the weekend and Halloween day to celebrate. And I’m not exactly sure what to expect. Now that students are on their own, girls can leave their rooms without having to pass their parents and be told to go change. With this new freedom, I’m expecting to see many girls out this weekend “slutting” it up to a new and higher extent than high school. What I do find interesting but do not agree with is the fact that girls are expected to dress risqué and expose their skin while for guys, it is frowned upon to show any skin. These expectations are emphasized to a higher extent in college.

This shift in Halloween and the amount of events in college have both positive and negative sides. However, it’s the way students decide to celebrate and manage their time that determines their success in college.