Three in one

Today was a three-in-one day for me, in many senses.

Three big events took place in Berkeley today: Cal Day, International House Spring Festival and 4/20.  Cal Day is the day of the year in which the whole university is open to the public, presenting everyone with over 300 free lectures, tours, concerts and different types of performances.  It is also the day in which all the brands one can imagine have their own booths on campus to give free stuff to people, and in which the fraternities get specially wild.  It is basically a happy day on campus.  I wish it was Cal Day everyday!

The International House Spring Festival, formally called the Edith Coliver Festival of Cultures "Springfest" is, as ihouse likes to claim, an amazing "celebration of the life and culture from all over the world", where "attendees are treated to tantalizing delicacies from Armenia to Zambia".  Neglecting the exaggeratedly elaborate description, that's pretty much the truth.  This springfest, among all the ihouse events I've been to, was probably my favorite one.  Seeing the residence totally full, being able to check all the booths offering info, handicrafts and food, watching all the performances, tasting all the different types of food, and being part of the multicultural fashion show, made me realize I actually live in the coolest place on campus and beyond.  I live in such an international place that I pretended to belong to three different nationalities during the springfest (three-in-one day again).  I was the only Portuguese person in ihouse, as I have been the entire school year; I pretended to be lebanese and helped Nathalie out serving mediterranean food to visitors for over an hour; and I modeled in the fashion show in a vietnamese costume.  The real vietnamese girls actually said I looked like them, except from the fact that I am a foot taller than them.

The third event of the day was 4/20, a famous event in the hippie Berkeley campus, since it is the cannabis counterculture's international holiday.  The festivities included fire alarms echoing throughout the dorms, students from Sensible Drug Policy trying to hold events at Sproul Plaza, and tons of people smoking weed in the Memorial Glade (one of the campus gardens) around 4:20 pm.  I guess I don't have to mention I didn't participate in the celebrations but I am happy to say that I went there to see how it was.

The weather was amazing and this was probably the happiest day I experienced on campus.