The fall semester is flying by, as usual, and we're already halfway through it. If you're a senior like myself, you'd do anything in your power to slow down the time. We're now in the single-digit countdown to Halloween… what? How did October pass by so fast! I don't even know what I'm going to be for Halloween yet (lol). I'll probably end up wearing one of the classic costumes that come up every year and rotates around. The month of October is one of my favorites in college. It's the official beginning of all things fall, the weather cools down, the leaves are changing, Halloween is just around the corner, alumni are planning their annual trip back to JMU for Homecoming weekend, AND it's officially the start audition season (dance majors know what I'm talking about).

This year, Halloween weekend, Homecoming, and auditions for the Fall Student Dance Concert at JMU (which you should definitely go see) all fall on the same weekend. Cue the excitement… and stress! Halloween isn't as big in college as it was when you were little, but there's still a bunch of fun things going on. There's less pressure to pick the "perfect" costume to dress up in during college. In middle school, I feel like I picked out my costume over a month in advance. You had to go to the costume store and make sure they had the right size or you had to pick a new costume. If you're crafty, you probably made your own costume and saved yourself the trouble from going to overcrowded pop-up Halloween stores. Since coming to college, Pinterest has become my favorite resource for finding a Halloween costume idea that I can quickly put together.

Since Halloween is during the week this year, the consensus on campus seems to be that people will be celebrating it the weekend before as well as the weekend after. Honestly probably the week of too. JMU likes to go all out. Having Homecoming weekend the same weekend of Halloween celebrations is going to be a blast. It's a two-for-one! I bet there will be at least one person who wears their Halloween costume to the Homecoming football game. It's happened before and it's hilarious. Homecoming weekend is super fun because a lot of alumni come back for the big game and there are tons of events going on around campus to celebrate our amazing alumni.

I love getting to see my sorority sisters who graduated and are planning to come back and visit during Homecoming weekend. My big is coming back and I haven't seen her in a year! I'm so excited! We just added a new member to our sorority family this week and I can't wait for her to meet my big. It's crazy to think that this time next year, I'll be an alumnus coming back for this weekend. Just wow.

At the conclusion of Hallow-Homecoming weekend is the big audition for the Fall Student Dance Concert. All of us dance majors are both excited and anxious for the final hurrah after half a semester of creating dance pieces to audition for our November student concert. Sunday is going to be a long day of dancing, stressing, and evaluating but it's the time when all the hard work finally comes together. I am serving on the panel that determines which pieces will be represented in the concert. I am excited to have the opportunity to watch all of the pieces auditioning as well as help determine which ones will make up the Fall Student Dance Concert.

Happy Hallow-Homecoming- (whatever else you have) weekend!