It all started long before October 31. Already in the middle of September, when it was still hot as though summer wasn’t going to leave at all, I went for groceries and saw huge boxes filled with pumpkins. The sun was shining on them, and they were shimmering with the colors of autumn. At that moment, the realization of a big upcoming event came to me.

I’m from Russia, and there, Halloween is not a big thing, even though more and more young people are trying to celebrate it in their own way. Back in undergrad, I remember celebrating Halloween once — we all agreed to dress up, rented a house and it was fun, but the holiday started and ended during one evening.

This year, I can say that I experienced my first real Halloween. It seemed like everyone was waiting for it to come. Just like in Tim Burton’s “Nightmare before Christmas,” with “trick-or-treat” candies and pumpkins in each store, and Halloween costumes. The feeling of a real Halloween filled me with excitement.

In addition to that, during my first fall break, 5 of us went on a trip to Orlando. We visited Disney’s Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. Both theme parks had Halloween events. I can’t describe how amazing and fascinating  that experience was, especially Universal’s “Walking Dead” horror nights.

When I returned from this amazing trip, I was so overcome with excitement that I totally forgot about the most important part of Halloween — the costume! I wish I had some costume connected with Russia, but unfortunately I didn’t have anything. So I decided to be Little Red Riding Hood.

When I got to the MMS Halloween Party, I was really amazed by my classmates’ imagination and creativity with their costumes. There were costumes including Disney princesses, jellyfish, robots, and even sushi! It was a great party, and I would really like to thank the Connoisseur’s Club for organizing it, sponsored by the MMS Association. It was a lot of fun!