Fun Events in NYC: Halloween Dog Parade

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to the Halloween Dog Parade at Tompkins Square Park. The suggested donation to enter the organized parade was $5 and there were plenty of adorable dogs in creative costumes walking around the park. CNN calls the event, “the largest dog costume parade in the world.” This year, Purina Beggin’ sponsored the parade, and it was the 26th time the parade has occurred. There were all different types of dogs dressed up as everything from other types of animals to witty pop culture references! There were so many people there. It's definitely a favorite event for many, especially for students at Fordham!

Many dog owners coordinated with their precious pups to create a perfect pairing! This duo certainly wins the Ghostbusters coordinated costume:

Other pups really fit their costumes, like this dog dressed up as his look-alike dog in the Bush's Baked Beans commercial!

Be sure to go to this really fun event next year if you have a chance! It was also easy to find new and interesting places to eat nearby. After the dog parade, we ate at a place called Korilla BBQ, a delicious eatery that we stumbled upon while walking back to the subway. There's never a boring weekend at Fordham; there's always something going on around campus or in New York City. The dog parade was just one inexpensive thing to see in the city, and there are constantly new events and activities nearby.

Autumn Has Arrived at Rose Hill

It's autumn here at Rose Hill, which is a very busy time for Fordham students. We are in the midst of midterms right now, so the library is busy with people studying. However, everywhere you go on campus, you hear people talking about their Halloween costume ideas and even some plans for Thanksgiving! 

Fall Foliage here at Rose Hill

I always look forward to the different holiday events on campus, especially events that involve food! Many of the Residence Halls have gone apple picking, which I always enjoy. However, I particularly enjoy the fun food options available around the holidays. Our dining services always do a great job of incorporating the holidays into the menus. One of my favorite days to eat on campus is the Thursday before Thanksgiving because there is a big Thanksgiving meal in the main cafeteria (The Caf).

As a Resident Assistant in a freshman Residence Hall, we have a lot of upcoming programs to celebrate autumn and all of the associated holidays! Queen's Court has always had our traditional costume dance in the basement on the night of Halloween. It's dark and spooky, but so much fun! We also have pumpkin painting, Halloween movie nights, and even a program to make autumn air fresheners to keep those rooms smelling nice! 

Wherever you are reading this, I hope that it is as beautiful as it is here at Fordham when autumn arrives. The leaves are changing, and autumn is in the air!

Giving Thanks...My Experience as a Freshman RA

A Few of the Halloween Air Fresheners

This year, I am a Resident Assistant in Loschert Hall, which is one of the five freshman Residence Halls. My floor is co-ed, but my hall is completely female. In total, I have 43 female residents in my hall. As an RA, I am responsible for being a resource to every resident, building a sense of community within my hall and the building, and ensuring that the residents adhere to Fordham policy.

A Flyer for a Program

My favorite part of being an RA is definitely programming. Each RA has a budget for programs, which means that we can do really fun things with our residents without them having to pay for anything. While I have a ton of program ideas, I really try to find out from my residents what kind of programs they want. Recently, I ran a program to make Halloween-themed air fresheners with oranges and cloves after hearing several residents complain about stinky roommates. This Friday, my hall is having a Girls' Night Movie Night. Next week, we will be having a floor dinner. I will be cooking, so hopefully everything comes out okay!

November Bulletin Board

I also love decorating our hall. We have a bulletin board, which I update each month. For November, I decorated our bulletin board with an autumn tree. I had each of my residents email me something they were thankful for, and I put each of their responses on a leaf on the tree. Tied to this idea of giving thanks, we are doing weekly Sunday Service Projects for the month of November so that residents have the opportunity to give thanks to various groups. Some of these projects will be writing letters to veterans, baking cookies for security, and making Thanksgiving cards for retired Jesuits. 

November Door Decorations

On the first of each month, I also replace the name tags on each door. For November, I made turkeys, which ended up being a much more time-consuming project than I originally anticipated, but it was worth it since my residents seem to really like them! I really try to decorate our hall as much as possible. I know that Fordham is not home for my residents, but it is a home away from home. Therefore, it is important to maintain a friendly and inviting hall at all times. 

Having 43 residents means that we have a pretty big family, but that is just part of the fun! I have a truly great hall, so I am thankful this month for my residents who have made my first semester as an RA absolutely amazing! Hopefully I have helped to make their first semester at Fordham just as amazing.

Weekend Update

The rain couldn't dampen our school spirit!

Teresa Swindal

This weekend at Fordham was especially exciting because it was both Halloween and Parent's Weekend. Even though I live far away and my parents weren't able to visit, it was still really fun to see all the Fordham pride and maroon from family members all over campus! The football game was especially fun, and the Rams absolutely crushed Colgate 37-13. Afterwards, we went out to dinner on Arthur Avenue, which is always delicious. It was nice to take advantage of the beautiful Fall weather this weekend before winter comes!

Great desserts and even better company!

Jessica Timko

This weekend my friends and I went to Serendipity, a restaurant famous for their indulgent desserts, on the East Side of Manhattan.  While we were waiting for a table, we decided to take advantage of a beautiful day and walked over to the scenic East River.  This walk turned out to be a great way to burn off some of the calories from our decadent dinner of chocolate cake and ice cream sundaes.

Freddy, Jason, and Wednesday looking for some spooks!

Yuliana Veyberman

Halloween's the one day a year where we can be something totally unlike ourselves. This year, my roommates and I chose to embrace the spirit of the holiday - which came on a Friday! - and dressed up as our favorite horror characters. We were Jason Voorhees (with axe, not machete - oops?), Wednesday from the Addams Family (looking uncharacteristically terrified), and Freddy Krueger (just in case you're wondering, that claw made me the hit of every party...). I hope you all had super spooky Halloweens as well!

Happy Halloween!

It’s that time of year again when campus looks exceptionally beautiful due to the fall foliage.  When the leaves change, it’s a signal that Halloween is near.  Campus Activities Board helps students celebrate this holiday with Halloweek, where they host festive events the week leading up to Halloween.  

Keating Hall on a crisp fall morning

One of my favorite events is the annual pumpkin patch, where CAB distributes free pumpkins to students.  This past weekend, my roommates and I carved one of the pumpkins we picked up.  And when I say “we,” I mean that I did all of the carving, but my roommates did help scoop out the seeds, which we roasted and had as a late night snack.

I decided to carve my favorite Disney character, Stitch.  After 3 hours of work I think he turned out well!

The final project 

Posters advertising all the fun activities for Halloweek

Another Halloweek event that I attended was Bingo on Sunday night.  Whenever CAB hosts Bingo, it is a big deal.  Fordham sweatshirts and blankets are highly coveted by students, and the grand prizes are quite impressive; past grand prizes have included iPads and digital cameras.  This year, I won for the first time, and I was actually one of the grand prize winners!  My prize fit the theme of Halloweek because I won four tickets to Blood Manor, a popular haunted house in the city.  CAB was even thoughtful enough to include MetroCards for the trip.  I am looking forward to treating my friends to a thrilling night! 

Other events around campus this week include showings of the 80s classic Ghostbusters, a spooky open mic night at Rodrigue's, the student run coffee house on campus, and a raffle for free tickets to see Wicked on Broadway.  

Fordham students love getting into the spirit of Halloween, and you will find many of them dressed up in costume tonight in celebration, sharing ghost stories and scary legends.  If you’re curious about just how spooky Fordham is alleged to be, check out this link to our library’s page on the topic.

Campus Activities Board Halloweek

With Halloween coming up this Thursday, the Campus Activities Board at Rose Hill is putting various Halloween-themed events all week around campus. Monday they were giving out caramel apples outside of the Student Center, Wednesday there will be a pumpkin patch, and Tuesday and Thursday there will be screenings of Hocus Pocus and $1 pumpkin lattes at our on-campus coffee house, Rodrigues.

 

 

But my personal favorite event was the Halloween Trick-or-Treat Street that the General Board held on Tuesday during the day. There were tables lined up along Edwards Parade with different Halloween treats at each table. The tables included: trick-or-treat bag decorating, cookie decorating, bean-bag toss and temporary tattoos, caramel apple making, candy count estimation and Halloween ducks, and apple cider and munchkin donuts.

Campus Activities Board is a really great program that we have here at Fordham. I have only been a part of it for a short time, but I have already made a lot of wonderful friends, and the events that we put on are always a huge hit on campus! Campus Activities Board not only puts on some of the largest events on campus, such as Club Lib and Spring Weekend, but they also screen different movies every week on campus and have really awesome weekend trips. They keep things exciting on this wonderful campus that we all love to call home!