Halloween

Halloween morning was appropriately chilly and overcast. It felt like the Halloweens that I was used to growing up, not the warm sunny Halloweens that I've struggled to become accustomed to since moving out to California six years ago. Kaitlyn had a morning of classes and study sessions and I had plenty of work of my own, planning our next couple of days of day trips. The morning passed quickly and before I knew it, Kaitlyn and her friend Molly were knocking on the door. The plan was to go downtown to find some Halloween costumes and to pick up party supplies. As North Americans, we took it upon ourselves to show the rest of the world what our Halloweens are like. I was even more excited to see (and taste) the traditions from the rest of her class. The idea for the party was everybody would bring a food and/or drink from their home country.

We hopped on a bus downtown to find a costume store we heard rumors about the previous day. We didn't know the name or exactly where it was, so it took a bit of wandering before we found it. The wanderings took us past some delicious sandwiches that Kaitlyn couldn't pass up on, so nobody was complaining. We finally found the costume store. It looked like any other small costume store you'd find in America, except nobody spoke any English. It seemed like everyone in Montpellier who cared about Halloween was in that store, because outside there were no signs of the holiday, but inside, there were witches, vampires, Frankensteins, doctors, cats, and whatever else you could imagine. Knowing I had a red and white checkered shirt and a pair of blue jeans in my luggage, I decided I was going to be a cowboy. I bought a cheap cowboy hat and was done with it. Molly bought a broom and a witch's hat for her costume, then Kaitlyn was torn between being a viking and a pirate. A viking woman probably would have shaken her head in disgust at Kaitlyn's wardrobe so it was a pirate's life for her. We got some more supplies at the 2 Euro store, then were off to buy our contributions to the night's beverages. Since Jack Daniels is probably one of the more American drinks out there, we got a few bottles with the intent of making Kentucky mules, which are Moscow Mules but with bourbon instead of vodka. Pretty tasty! I also picked up a small case of cheap beer so we could show the group how to shotgun beers, another bit of American culture for better or for worse.

American Shot Gun

Once back at the residences, we prepared the Moscow Mules then started getting ready. Soon enough the pirate and her cowboy were on their way to the first meeting area at the front of the residences, arms full of our pumpkin, reeses, cups, and other odds and ends. We met a few of her friends on the balcony outside of her friend Javier's room and set up our station, with Kaitlyn finally taking a knife to the pumpkin to make a Jack-o-Lantern. The balcony was the perfect spot for the first location since that would be where we'd all organize, meaning we'd have a great vantage point to see all of the costumes on their way to the party. We ended up having a Viking at the party after all, with Kaitlyn's Swedish friend Tobias playing the part. There were ghosts, devils, witches, doors (Kaitlyn's friend Dor taped a drawing of a door to his chest), characters from the Big Bang Theory, and a bunch of others. Just as good as the costumes were all of the treats! I tried so many different snacks and drinks. All of them were pretty good (except for this drink called Raki, which had an anise flavor that I'm not crazy about). Some of the more memorable ones were a peppery drink from India, sangria, chicken wings, and seafood-y snacks from Sweden.

I got a chance to meet a bunch of Kaitlyn's classmates who I hadn't met yet earlier in the week, then I was also able to talk more with the ones who I met in loud bars or in passing while walking separate ways. Everyone was so awesome. As you can imagine, with all of that alcohol from all around the world, the talking and the laughing got louder and louder as the night progressed. There was some ABBA playing courtesy of Sweden, more than a few beers being shotgunned, and some dancing. It's probably for the best that the residences were mostly empty of other students because we ended up having quite a party on our hands. 

As time went on, the party started to die down as all of that food made people sleepy. My jetlag or my round-the-world alcohol tasting finally caught up to me  (you be the judge) and I was ready for bed. The party was amazing. It may have been the highlight of the week. Everyone seemed to have a great time, but with such a great group, how could they not? People thanked Kaitlyn for organizing it. While she did a great job, we both agree that the party was such a huge success thanks to everyone's participation and contributions. I wasn't sure what to expect at the start of the day, but by the end, I was positive that this was the best Halloween of my life.