Each year, scores of AU students don their Halloween costumes after class and set out with the goal of getting candy from as many foreign countries as possible.
Many students roamed the campus in their crazy getups all day on Friday, scaring — or perhaps simply bewildering — those in normal clothing. A boy covered head to toe in a full-body, neon green spandex suit walked casually through the Letts-Anderson quad while Quail Man chatted with a princess nearby. A student in a homemade wizard costume awkwardly greeted a young man wearing a short dress and hot-pink wig outside the Mary Graydon Center. A “guido” carrying a huge bottle of steroids on his shoulder shouted “How you doin’?” to everyone he passed. Max from “Where the Wild Things Are” drove through Ward Circle in a yellow Jeep.
These students celebrated the festivities early this year because embassies accepted trick-or-treaters on Friday instead of Halloween, which fell on a Saturday. The change was because the embassies are closed on weekends, according to Lisa Rutanen, an information officer at the Embassy of Finland.
Rutanen said the amount of trick-or-treaters who stop by is about the same every year, regardless of the day of the week Halloween falls on.
“I think usually we have gotten a pretty good amount toward the late afternoon,” she said.
The Embassy of Finland, located on Massachusetts Avenue, welcomed trick-or-treaters all day until 4:15 p.m., Rutanen said.
Dc.metromix.com, a D.C. entertainment Web site, listed the Embassy of Finland as one of the “sweet spots” to trick-or-treat on Embassy Row. The Republic of Korea, Greece and Ireland also made the cut.
Francesca Cavalli, a freshman in the School of International Service, said she received tours of some of the embassies she visited. At the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, a staff member offered to show her around the building.
“She loved my princess outfit,” Cavalli said.
Sarah Davey, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs who went trick-or-treating with Cavalli, said her favorite part of the experience was “just how welcoming they all were.”
One of the friendliest embassies was the Embassy of Turkey, she said. Staff members waved at Cavalli and Davey from across the street and then took pictures with them.
However, the Korean Embassy offered the best treats, as they handed out Korean cookies, candy and caramels, Davey said. The other embassies all gave out typical Hershey’s products.
Misela Baisamen, a counselor officer for the Embassy of Finland, said she enjoys the Halloween festivities as much as the students.
“That’s so much fun,” she said. “And it’s really nice to see the costumes, and it makes the day a little bit different.”
Students often have similar costumes, such as nurse outfits, Baisamen said. However, her favorite trick-or-treaters are those who have the most inventive costumes.
“I think actually people make a lot of effort in the dresses [or buy them from a store],” she said. “But you rarely see somebody who doesn’t wear anything or just wears a wig. Usually everybody has a whole costume.”
Not all students who tried were able to trick-or-treat successfully, however.
Paul Merveilleuh Du Vignauh, a freshman in SIS, said he and his friends left late to go to the embassies, so they decided to hail a cab to make the commute faster. When they could not find a cab, they went to CVS and bought candy instead.
“It is the same thing, except that it is not free,” he said.
Merveilleuh Du Vignauh said he wanted to go trick-or-treating because, being from France, he wanted to see what Halloween was all about.
“I heard it so much in my life that I wanted to experience it myself,” he said.
Eileen Falk, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, wanted to go trick-or-treating but had a class at 3:35 p.m.
“So I was not able to go, which is really unfortunate, because it was something I was looking forward to,” Falk said. “Even before I came to American, it was something I’d heard about on tours.”
Instead of going out to get candy, Falk got ready with her friends and then went to class dressed as a zombie. Her outfit, complete with fake blood splattered across her face and ripped clothing, drew some attention on campus, she said.
“Some people gave me some weird looks. Two girls started whispering about me and walked in the other direction,” Falk said. “Some people jump when they see me. But it’s fun, I mean, it’s the spirit of the season.”
You can reach this staff writer at mkendall@theeagleonline.com.
