For the three nights in a row that UW-Madison freshman Jackie Bateman dressed up as a punk rocker, she concluded that her first Halloween experience in Madison was a definite success. The black pleather pants complimented her black camisole tank top, which was covered with neon orange fishnets cut to wrap around her upper-body.
The rocker's Halloween weekend began with a cruise down State Street. Thursday night, cut short because she had three classes Friday including an 8:50 a.m. Friday she and some friends trekked ambitiously to a fraternity on Prospect Avenue. At one point her fishnets caught a guy for what felt like five minutes. After they broke free, the two danced the rest of the night away.
On day three of Halloween Bateman took another stroll on State Street. before approaching a Langdon Street fraternity.
\Lists don't really apply to us,"" she told a fraternity member sternly after he refused to admit her group. Her statement seemed persuasive enough to the fraternity member.
In another twist of fate, Bateman spotted her dancing partner from the previous night across the frat-house dance floor. But he seemed too shy to approach her, and the two remained at a distance the remainder of the night.
Although she admitted her wild stories of Halloween were minimal compared to some party experiences she has had this year, Bateman said her first Halloween in Madison was memorable.
""It would be sweet if it was like this every weekend,"" she said. ""Minus the dressing up, that would get so old.""
But for UW-Madison freshman Cale Ryan, dressing up is the best part.
""I'm thinking of starting to go to parties dressed up, it was so cool,"" he said. ""When you're dressed up and you say something funny it's even funnier.""
Ryan said he feels a little bad, however, at the lack of creativity in his Halloween costume, which consisted of rolled up pants, a plaid shirt, a straw hat and grass in his mouth, which he says was his attempt to portray Tom Sawyer.
Ryan spent a majority of the first half of Saturday night between a house party on Langdon Street and State Street. He would walk with some friends and observe the scene, then ""recharge"" at the house party with ""alcohol, among other things.""
But as the night progressed the recollections get fuzzier, and the events that he witnessed on State Street are jumbled.
Ryan remembers losing his sandals and getting them back later with a chunk missing in one, cutting his finger with a knife and bruising his back.
But that is where the memories fade. Two equally baffled friends woke him up at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at a random apartment on the west side of Madison.
""I had stuff with me, my wallet and camera,"" he said when reflecting on the night. ""I'm shocked I still have those with me.""
This is the sixth part in a series that follows the lives of several UW-Madison freshmen. It will appear periodically throughout the 2002-'03 school year.
