In Los Angeles, you can feel Halloween creeping in as soon as the weather drops below 70 degrees. Bright orange pumpkins, skeletons and other spooky objects trickle their way into USC’s dining halls, classrooms and dorms.
The spooky holiday is a unique and iconic aspect of American culture, but it’s often forgotten that international students do not know of it. Amit Singh, a graduate student from India, did not expect to come face-to-face with a classic Halloween decoration when he walked into his student job at USC’s Office of International Services (OIS) earlier this month.
“I was scared when I first walked in and saw they put a skeleton on a chair with an OIS T-shirt on,” said Singh, who is studying computer science. “I was like ‘what is this?’”
Singh soon after recalled hearing Halloween mentioned in American television shows he’d watched back home. But his experience of surprise and confusion is common among international students, who make up nearly a quarter of the student population at USC.
“I’m kind of shocked by everyone’s engagement in finding a costume,” said Serena Liu, a freshman from Singapore. “I’m going to hang out with friends, and if they’re dressing up, I might do something simple, but I’m not going all out for it.”
Some returning international students who got a taste of Halloween before the pandemic are excited to celebrate it again.
“My friends are all international students, and they all see Halloween as the best day because they can wear what they can’t in normal life,” said Shuyue Han, a graduate student from China. “I’m gonna cosplay one of my favorite series, ‘Demon Slayer.’”
Although she is fully immersed in the festivities now, Han’s first experience with Halloween was like many first-year international students. She was getting her bachelor’s at UC San Diego and remembers all her classmates showing up to class in costume.
“My professor asked me, what are you dressed as today?” Han said. “I said I was a student — so that’s my first perspective of Halloween.”
Hesam Mohammad, an electrical engineering PhD student, thinks the upcoming holiday is similar to Charshanbe Suri, an Iranian festival celebrated on the last Wednesday before the new year.
“We don’t wear costumes, but the atmosphere is very similar,” said Mohammad, who has celebrated Halloween in the U.S. before. “In LA, people take it to another level, so if you go to one of the Halloween parades in Hollywood, it’s huge — it’s gigantic.”
For international students experiencing Halloween for the first time, or those still looking for something to do, there is no shortage of ways to celebrate the spooky holiday on campus and across the city.