Recap: Her Campus Ashoka turns 5!

In commemoration of it turning 5, Her Campus Ashoka planned out a week of ultimate Bonanza, hosting one exciting event a day.

1. “Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously disturbed” – Watching Elle Woods at Harvard was the perfect way to kickstart our mid-sem week. The screening of Legally Blonde was the first event hosted by Her Campus, in collaboration with Vistaar. The dress code was rightfully pink. Before the event, my friend and I had gone to the tuck shop to buy popcorn and two slices of Chicago Pizza. Like two little girls, we rushed and changed into our pink outfits, made popcorn and went to the screening. When everyone was laughing and clapping at some of Elle Wood’s iconic dialogues, I strangely felt like I was at home. It felt like a little community of its own, dressed in pink, eating and laughing together. In the end, there was a sharing circle where we asked to write down opinions about the movie on postcards. 
2. Colours and Scribbles– Art therapy, a collaboration with Siyahi was the second event of the week. I entered the classroom, and immediately my mood lit up. On every alternate desk, there were different choices, and different arts to choose from. It included string art, block painting or simply doodling. To make it even better, Taylor Swift was playing in the background and that was when I thought to myself “If art therapy doesn’t fix me, I don’t what will”. I then immediately rushed to the string art stall where someone from Siyahi helped me. While what came out was the most random patterns, it made me feel calm and in touch with my inner child. Some of the Artwork was later put around the campus to celebrate Her Campus turning 5. 
3. Big Little + Reimaging stories: For the first event, we were supposed to meet with our assigned “Big” and complete a bunch of tasks such as sharing a meal or taking a cool photograph. My Big, who was assigned two more littles excluding me, was extremely sweet and made us feel like we already had a go-to person in HCA. We had a lot of fun completing the tasks. We posed near the mess with a stone in our hand to click a “cool” picture and then shared a meal together. The day wasn’t over, as HerCampus had another event in store: Reimaging stories. As a writer, this was the event that I had most looked forward to. We were divided into groups, given a prompt and asked to complete the story. It not only pushed me to think in more creative ways but allowed me to be more open to other people’s ideas. 
4. Girls Like to Swing: This dance event, in collaboration with Abhinaya, was the second last event of the week. It had been a stressful week, with mid-semester papers (and the never-ending Mercury retrograde), and this event was just what was needed. Although dancing (especially sober and in front of people) is out of my comfort zone, Her Campus and Abhinaya members made it an extremely safe space. During the warm-up activity, we formed a circle and started dancing to popular Pop songs. Each of us was asked to perform our favorite steps in the center, while the others would copy. I wanted to run away as soon as my turn came, but cheering in the background made me feel comfortable. We were then asked to partner up with someone who we had never talked to before, which yet again fostered a sense of community and pushed us  out of our comfort zones. The choreography to Girls Like to Swing started soon after. In the beginning, it was hard to keep up, however, Abhinaya members were highly accommodating and repeated the steps multiple times if we asked them to. 
5. Pop Culture Day! This was sadly the last event of the week, where we were asked to dress up as our favorite pop culture icons. A photo booth was set up near the mess. Pop songs blared in the background, as everyone danced and celebrated HerCampus turning 5 for the last time. 

 Needless to say, this was one of the best weeks at Ashoka so far. It now feels a little empty with nothing new to look forward to. However, as I am writing this and reflecting on how the past week made me feel, I am also reminding myself that I am now part of an amazing community of like minded people. 

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• commemoration