What’s going on at BU?
by Charles Adamu
It has now been a little past two months since our beloved Brandon University kicked off its September 2022/2023 academic session. It all started on the 6th of September when Brandon university held an orientation event that was very comprehensive. A huge part of the orientation took place in the Healthy Living Centre, wherein so many new students or should I say “freshers”, got to know each other in a rather energetic and swift manner. I say energetic because…you know what…you had to be there to understand. I would like to take a moment to briefly welcome our freshers, including myself, once again on behalf of Brandon university. I hope and pray that y’all have had a blast ever since because I certainly have.
Keep in mind that this orientation was actually held in person; a huge step following the COVID-19 pandemic that tried so hard to keep us away from each other.
May the souls of those who were taken by the pandemic rest in our hearts. The orientation went on with a welcome speech from the BUSU president: Olufunke Sofia Adeleye, a BBQ on the front lawn, entertainment of different sorts, and campus tours. Also, I hope that you all took out some time to check out the classrooms or theatres where your lectures would be held because I didn't and, my first day of class was more of searching than learning. But ever since then, what really has been going on at Brandon University?
The sun has begun to set earlier than it did two months ago as we gradually slip into winter, but do you remember the popular saying that goes, “before winter comes Halloween”? Don't you? Okay maybe it is not as popular as I thought it to be or maybe I just made it up but nonetheless, it’s Halloween! (ha! Ha! ha!). Oh sweet and scary Halloween, the time to show your friends and family love by scaring the boo out of them; the time to embrace our inner Caspers, take lots and lots of candy, and give our pumpkins wide smiles.
Now I don’t know much about the Halloween spirit soaring over the rest of Brandon but I know a tad about those soaring here on campus. Before I proceed, a little note: try not to step into any of the hall residence basements during this season, after all, basements are scary enough when it is not Halloween. Okay, proceeding, if you stay on campus or you happen to be around from time to time, you would have noticed that Halloween is being taken seriously(maybe even more seriously than our midterms). But hey, I get it, we all need a breather after the series of tests and midterms we’ve all been having. I hope you showed those midterms who is boss - the boss being you, not the midterm. Let us now take a sneak peek into what has been going on in the residence.
Life in residence
Residence life..hmm. As you all know - or maybe not- there are three residence halls in Brandon University: Darrach Hall- the male residence, Flora Cowan - the female residence and McMaster- the coed. Now if you are in the residence like I am, you probably would have realised that McMaster is like a haven - nothing really goes on there. Do not get me wrong though, it is lots of fun and we (yeah I said we, I am also a McMasterian) have movie nights, play board games, and always smile at each other while we take those very long and awkward elevator rides. But the juicy stuff, the real soaked-up stuff goes down in Darrach and Flora Cowan, especially Darrach, if ever there were to be a drama with Brandon University as one of the settings, Darrach Hall would be centre stage. But hey or should I say ha(Halloween spirit), we are not here to gossip, or are we? We are not. In the spirit of Halloween, let us pick up our binoculars and take a close look at some of the events and games that have been going on in the dorms.
The residence council, inter-residence council, and our dear resident Assistants have played a huge part in making sure that the Halloween spirit remains by planning all sorts of fun games and events; special shout out to Derek Booth - the residence manager.
Events like spooky movie nights were held, one of which was hosted by the flora Cowan residence council in the basement on the 27th of October. Hereditary- the movie that played that night- really kept the viewers on their toes and alert as the scary movie was highly unpredictable and enjoyable. Alongside the movie night, a pumpkin carving event was also held by the Resident assistants. The title of the event, “pun-king”, was pretty catchy(the winner of the pumpkin carving event was to be crowned the “pun-king”...get it?...get it?). Let us now take a look at the big one- the long-awaited residence Halloween party.
Halloween party
Let me begin by stating that the party was raining costumes. There was Velma- one of the members of the scooby-doo gang, a pirate, a very sexy nurse, a couple of witches who by mere coincidence had the same first names(beware of Jessicas guys), one of the members of the suicide squad - Haley queen- joined in, a dinosaur that somehow eluded extinction and even one of the goddesses of Egypt. The costumes were intense.
The Halloween party was scheduled for 7:30 pm but started at about 8 pm. It began with one of the hosts - Charles (the hosts being Charles and Finn)- who was dressed as John Shelby from a British show shot in Birmingham about a rather ruthless gang. He opened the doors to the down under that only he possessed(kind of like Thor’s hammer), and then let everyone else in for the party to begin.
The decorations were top-notch. There were a bunch of lights here and there, a couple of bats hanging from the ceiling, eyeballs around the food table (not human eyeballs though), a disco ball that set the mood for the dance floor( shout out to our DJs- Matthew and Gbenga), some cobwebs around the corners(unfortunately though, no one dressed as Spider-Man), and a centre table that was decorated with lots of snacks and candy.
Various games were played. One of them entailed each participant blowing up a balloon, tying it to one’s ankle, and trying to step on one another’s balloon to burst it. I’ve gotta say, it took longer than I expected. Guys, lots of people know how to guard their balloons. The party peeps also played musical chairs, board games, and lots of other activities.
As we approached the end of the party, the inter-residence council commenced the Halloween costume contest which was a very tight one, because there were so many good costumes. Drum rolls please….as I will now take the liberty of announcing the winners of the 2022/2023 Brandon University residence Halloween costume contest. Dj Mathew came in third place dressed as guy fieri and won a $10 shoppers mall gift card, Kate came in second place dressed as a dino rider and won a $20 shoppers mall gift card, and, …drum rolls again guys….first place went to Kaleb dressed as a sexy nurse, winning a $30 shoppers mall gift card. What a night!
After the games and contests, party peeps spent the rest of the night dancing and dancing and dancing till 10 pm when the party finally came to a close. It was a night to remember.
Sadly, Halloween is now coming to an end and as my Game of Thrones fans love to say, “winter is coming”. I hope you all are ready for the winter. I hope you have got your boots, coats, gloves, and whatever winter gear you deem important because again my friends…winter is coming. My name is Charles and honestly, it has been an honour updating you all on what has been going on at BU. Brandon university might have a relatively small campus but lo and behold, what goes on is larger than you can fathom. Goodbye, you all, and I cannot wait to update you guys again next week on “What is going on at BU?”
