Oh for the love of....

A few days late but I have a very good reason- Halloween! Let's just jump right into it.
I'm not the biggest Halloween lover, I find dressing up more stressful than fun and so was pretty prepared to let this holiday just pass by. No such luck in America. Literally, for weeks now, everywhere you look there is a carved pumpkin on a porch, a string of bats hung up in a shop window and numerous 'commercials' for 'half off halloween candy'. I wanted to scream "People! It's a children's holiday!! yes, at uni it is a great excuse to throw a party and drink lots but the majority of you are 3 years away from  being able to do this!" After this weekend however, I take it all back!
I put little to no thought into a costume; I borrowed some lion ears and tail from a friend in my spanish class. My roommate went all out, which she tells me is the norm for a lot of people, and literally made her costume (an anime character) from scratch. I even went to the fabric store with her to find just the right shade of grey! It is that serious of an event! The weekend arrived and while a gathering at a friends apartment was fun, it was just a normal evening but in costume. Monday came and I enjoyed the free cupcakes and chocolate that my spanish teacher provided, and the chocolate that my swim coach made us 'work our asses' for but I still was not in the Halloween spirit. After receiving an email from the university a week ago telling us to please not go downtown for Halloween night as people kept getting stabbed last year, I was a bit wary of going but was convinced in the end.
I am so glad I did, it was like Mardi Gras in downtown Santa Cruz! Thousands of people all in some form of costume, ranging form the extreme (the full on Teletubbies clan) to the conservative (me in my little lion ears), from the ages of 0 to 100 (I saw an elderly couple dressed as Prince Charles and Camilla which was highly amusing) all cheering and parading up and down the centre of downtown all night! It was insane!! It made me appreciate that Americans don't do anything in halves; it is all or nothing!

Last week was a pretty hard week actually, emotionally speaking. I blame it on the American invention of mid-terms which I do not agree with! Exams in the middle of the term and without a holiday at the end of them? Mean. I was feeling like I was really enclosed in, like the Warwick bubble but here in Santa Cruz (though a more beautiful looking bubble). It was nice then that this Sunday I went on a high ropes adventure course that had been organised by the Recreation department. 90ft up in the Redwood trees...scary but amazing at the same time! I met a bunch of really nice people and it was great to get properly outdoors and away from work and stress! The powow of love at the end of the day made me slightly uncomfortable, us British are not used to expressing our thoughts and fears and praise to strangers, but it was actually pretty nice to do. I can feel myself becoming an American already;)

Next week I am going on a Sunset kayaking trip in Monterey Bay which I was excited about, until I heard that there was  great white shark attack on a surfer in the Bay a few days ago. Umm, I changed my mind, I don't want to go. Some friends kindly tried to make me feel better by telling me I won't be on a surfboard...i pointed out that I would be in a kayak. Those shapes look the same to a shark from bellow! So this may or may not be my last post.....