What's your favorite big event that happens during the school year?

[awash_]

My university is a bit last-minute when it comes to grad students (first-timers can't even register until the Monday before classes start), so it's a little iffy to plan my birthday and other weekend warrior trips around class. I'm mainly talking about Afropunk Atlanta & Austin City Limits. If these were summertime festivals, it'd be 100% easier to plan around.

 

What's your favorite big-ticket event that happens to occur in fall or spring semester? Or I guess the better question would be: what non-academic event are you looking forward to the most this school year?

Edited July 7, 2015 by awash_

[juilletmercredi]

New York Comic-Con is every year in October, and so that's nice! Big dorky event in New York.

 

I didn't really go to a lot of non-academic festivals, especially ones that required travel, during graduate school. But New York has a lot of summertime festivals and concerts that I'd go to.

[spunky]

Halloween costume parties

 

Christmas/Holiday dinners with the colleagues.

 

the rest of the year is a barren wasteland of loneliness and despair. 

Edited July 8, 2015 by spunky

[TakeruK]

I thought I would have an answer but then as I considered it deeply, I discovered a sad truth. I have no favourite non-academic "big ticket" event that I look forward to every year!! In fact, the events I look forward to the most are the annual national conferences where I can catch up with all of my academic friends at other places. Our department also has a couple of annual events that are not academically themed (but I still think of them as "academic related"). My favourite is our beginning of the (academic) year family picnic! The kids get pony rides, there is a reptile show, and the food is pretty good but the highlight is the awesome magician that performs at the end of the event. Apparently, we have hired the same person for almost 20 years now and he does the same act every time but it's still great. I've seen it 3 times now and I'm super excited to see it again in a couple of months!! Oh and summer intramural softball is great too (but again, still connected to the school lol).

 

Like juilletmercredi, we don't do a lot of non-academic travel because it's hard to fit in lots of trips on a grad school budget. When I travel, it's usually because we're visiting our family or it's a vacation tacked onto a conference (so that my trip is free, only have to pay for spouse). 

 

On average, we have gone on approximately 1 trip* per year that is not related to academic travel and not visiting family. But because these opportunities are rare, we have chosen to do a different thing each time rather than go to the same event each year. We also like geeky things: San Diego Comic Con is not too far away and we went to a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. 

 

(* "overnight" trip, i.e. not just a day trip)

[maelia8]

There are several major events that happen every year in San Francisco, including Bay to Breakers, the Gay Pride Parade, and Outside Lands, but I've never managed to muster up the money/time/desire to attend them - so many people attend that it can get pretty wild, and that's not really my thing. I used to go to a lot of anime conventions all over the west coast before I became a grad student, but I just don't have time/energy to sew cosplays anymore these days, and some of the cons happen on weekends when it's pretty hard to get away, sigh. Maybe someday I'll get it together again and at least go to Fanime in San Jose, but for now, I'm taking a break.

[ballwera]

Oktoberfest, Beerfest 

[rising_star]

There's one big event, for me personally, that happens in late April/early May every year. It was easy to go in grad school because it was in my town. But now that I don't live there anymore, I don't get to go, which is kinda irritating. I thought I'd be able to go this year but it didn't work out so maybe next year?

 

I also like attending craft beer festivals but that hasn't seemed to work out for me lately ither. 

[Biostat_Assistant_Prof]

TomorrowWorld!!!!!

 

Here is a link to last years aftermovie!

Edited July 11, 2015 by Biostat_student_22

[kyjin]

The LA Festival of Books It's held every April and takes over my campus for the weekend. Sucks when you're trying to teach the week before and tents block windows while they're setting up, but the festival itself? My absolute favorite. 

[RunnerGrad]

My big non-academic event is in August every year - the CanFitPro International Fitness Conference. I'm going to miss it this year due to my practicum. Fortunately I have enough continuing education credits to maintain my fitness certifications. Another big event that I will miss this year, due to lack of funds, is FanExpo in Toronto. Again, every August. Huge comic book, sci-fi, fantasy expo. Had George Perez sign one of my comic books several years back at that event.

[dr. t]

The day all the undergraduates go away and the library is quiet again