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The Final Fling is the biggest party of the year. It is put on by the university student association and everybody gets into the action.

I first heard about the party from one of my flatmates. I had no idea what it was about so she explained that its just a massive party and I should go to it. It is a theme party, which means “fancy-dress.” We would call that a costume party. There have been many of these advertised all year, but I had yet to get to one and I was looking forward to it. I can’t remember many but one of the past themes of the night was Superheroes. My flatmate also let me know that I’d have to get in line for tickets at least an hour early on the day they went on sale. I couldn’t believe all the hype she was giving the party. It made me want to go….

Eventually they announced the date of ticket sales and the theme: “Born in the U.S.A.” I was not all that happy with the theme for obvious reasons, but I knew it could be fun and tried to come up with something clever. That failed me for a few weeks.

On the morning of the ticket sale, I got to the Atrium at 8 a.m. - what I thought was an hour early. I was one of the first people there and was glad to be in the queue as it rapidly got larger. At around 8:30, I overheard people grumbling about waiting another couple of hours in the line. Turns out they were actually going on sale at 11 a.m. I was clearly not happy with this, because I volunteered to go over alone! Thankfully they started selling tickets early and I purchased 5 of them at 20 quid a pop.

Unfortunately a group of girls were going to Paris on the date of the sale. I tried to get in touch with them before they left, but I was unable to get a hold of them. The day before the sale, one of them finally let me know that they’d want to go too. I was able to get 3 tickets for other people: Christine, Annelise, & Cailene. I figured it would be a good time to go pre-game with them beforehand—so a win-win!

A week or so passed without me getting a costume or even settling on one. I’d run through southern hick, (American) football player, and Abe but none were funny enough for me. Rumors of costumes were circulating around campus. The funny ones: American guy wearing a football (soccer) jersey with the logo crossed out and instead reading “soccer.” Barney Stinson. The offensive ones: Klu Klux Klan member. The two towers with two planes. Black-face. I was really hoping I wouldn’t see any of the offensive ones, but figured that I would.

On the day before the party I settled on a farmer. Kelly would’ve been upset by that choice had it gone through. I actually bought a farmer’s flannel jacket at a local charity shop before I got the idea of way-too-intense frat guy. After Martin checked out a suit for his Al Capone idea we headed over to the mall. I found pique polos for £2.50, and spotted some just god-awful pants. Eventually, in Glasgow, I picked up a light blue and pink polo. I also got a sweet white Yankees cap for £3.

When I got back my costume turned out to be incomplete. It was not nearly horrible enough. I had a quick chat with Kelby and realized that I needed: another polo, those horrible pants with a white belt, and a pair of aviators. The end result was just terrible.

Day of…

The day of the Final Fling, Martin and I headed back into town to complete our costumes. He picked up his hat and I grabbed another polo and my jeans at the mall. At Tesco we found a sweet deal on beer and grabbed my aviators, which turned out to be women’s. I particularly liked the pink case they came with.

Eventually we made plans to do my Disney power-hour at our flat at around 7. When the ladies got there they were surprised to see us already dressed and ready to go. We won that way, but they had already started the party (at 2 that afternoon), so they win in another. Eventually my flatmates showed up and we decided to cancel the power-hour midway through. The ladies left to get dressed and to grab dinner while Martin and I stayed with our flatmates.

I had a great time at the pre-game playing a game that consisted of picking a box up off the ground with your teeth without touching any other part of your body on the ground. Each round we ripped a few more inches off the box until it was nearly flat on the ground. I have to brag about my performance as I made it until the 2nd to last round and I was by far the tallest one there. No big deal.

By 10, Martin and I decided the ladies weren’t going to show up again and at 10:30 headed over with our flatmates and their friends. Once we got there I met up with a lady friend and we danced the night away. Martin and I saw François for about 5 minutes in which time he stole my hat. The significance of this will come in the Amsterdam story. Suffice it to say he was not sober in the least bit. My glasses also got broken while they were being passed around. That pink case for nothing…

Thankfully we did not see the W.T.C. there. I think it would’ve been my responsibility to fight whoever was wearing that costume. However, we did see tons of people in black face and somehow I wound up in a candid picture with somebody who went as a KKK member. I was not happy about any of those costumes. I really can’t believe that people got away with that at a university sponsored event. Pretty disgusting.

Besides the offensive costumes I had a fantastic time at the Fling. The 3 hours we were there flew by for us. The whole tent was packed but you could still move if you wanted to. Beers weren’t that expensive and the lines weren’t too bad to maneuver through. I was very happy I got to go to this event as I now realize how much effort you can put into a costume. Halloween back home is impressive, but these people all go all out. Best costume of the night goes to Laura as Marge Simpson.