Students discuss the chilling thrill of having Halloween on the Hill

This post was updated Oct. 31 at 9:53 p.m.

Halloween at UCLA is the time when students stress out about classwork and midterms as usual, but, this time, they wear costumes.

Students talked about their Halloween experiences dressing up and blowing off steam during the most haunted time of the year.

Dressing up for parties is the only activity that could qualify as a schoolwide Halloween tradition at UCLA, said Ty Pearson, a Saxon Suites resident assistant and a fourth-year anthropology student. Parties take place most nights of the week in late October and students usually come back late at night dressed in their various costumes, Pearson said.

RAs expect students to return late to the dorms every night of Halloween week, Pearson said. He said he is worried about this behavior in the middle of midterm season, as students should remember to take care of themselves and get sufficient sleep.

“It’s the weekend before, it’s the weekend after, it’s the Thursday night of that week, the Friday night of that week,” Pearson said. “Every day.”

Celebrating Halloween gave Zack Berger, a second-year mathematics student, a better sense of community his first year at UCLA because he saw another student dressed as one of his favorite obscure ’90s rappers, he said.

Josephine Blumencwejg said she has a different outfit planned for each night of “Halloweekend” – the weekend during which most Halloween parties take place.

Due to this multitude of costumes, the second-year design media arts student said it’s also important to shop for costumes at thrift stores as opposed to a chain like Urban Outfitters.

“I also bought a beanie because I just wanted an excuse to buy a beanie,” Blumencwejg said. “I think Halloween’s a great time to just buy stuff, especially as you get older. It’s more impressive when people buy stuff that they’re never going to use again, because that’s dedication.”

Dressing up in costumes is always unofficially a competition among design and media arts students, she said.

“It’s because people care so much about how they dress day to day,” she said. “It’s literally being artistic.”

She said that, this year, she is planning to dress up as a bunch of grapes.

Jay Varhula, a fourth-year psychology student, said his friends have specific traditions regarding Halloween costumes. His social circle enjoys dressing up for the entire day and role-playing as their characters – a game not appreciated by many, he said. This year he’s dressing as a dinosaur.

“I (will) probably stomp around (Sunset Canyon Recreation Center) and bite people,” Varhula said. “Another time I was a sexy witch, another time I was a sexy dinosaur, another time I was a regular dinosaur and another time I was (politician) Newt Gingrich.”

Blumencwejg said it is atypical for students to dress up during the day or before the parties begin.

“If you dress up during the day, people are like, ‘Wow, you’ve really got the Halloween spirit,’” Blumencwejg said.

However, it is exciting when a professor dresses up, Blumencwejg said. One of her teachers wore a beret and striped shirt and called himself “French,” which she thought was minimalist, but sufficient.

She also appreciates if a costume requires a person to go barefoot, because it demonstrates commitment.

Jagannathan Rangarajan, a second-year microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics student, said Halloween at UCLA is exactly what he expected, although he prefers to stay in and watch horror movies instead of attending the parties.

His favorite costume he has seen at UCLA was when his friend wore a trash bag and said he was dressed as USC.

Berger is choosing to dress up as the same rapper that inspired him last year.

“I had the time and resources to really invest in the costume, which is difficult because he was known for wearing a suit,” Berger said. “I hope that many freshmen look at me and think, … ‘That guy appreciates some good jazz rap. I feel at home.’ If I can do that, it will be a successful Halloween.”