Times Square in New York City on New Years Eve.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

LU students are with family, friends to celebrate in many ways

By: Laura Beth Stricker

Posted: 12/3/08

On Dec. 31, what do you usually do to celebrate New Year's Eve? Party with your friends, watch the ball drop on TV, eats lots of food and drink champagne at midnight? How about New Year's Day? Sleep in, watch the parades and games, and just take it easy after the night before? Everyone celebrates the New Year's arrival in a different way in the United States and around the globe.

The history of New Year's Eve is long standing and celebrated in different ways around the world. According to Wikipedia, New Year's Eve is the final day of the Gregorian calendar. It is called several different names depending on what country. In Scotland, it is called Hogmanay, while other parts of Europe call it Silvester and Brazil calls Dec. 31 Revellion. Many cities use fireworks or other noisemakers to ring in the New Year, including Sydney, Moscow, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and of course New York City.

One of the biggest events is watching the famous ball drop in Times Square in New York City. The ball is made of Waterford crystal, weighs 1,070 pounds and is six feet in diameter. The New Year's Eve celebration in New York is broadcast all over the United States and in other countries as well because it has become such a great tradition over the last 100-plus years.

So how do Longwood students celebrate New Year's Eve and New Year's Day? It depends on who you talk to. Freshman Kristen Roth celebrates with her family. She said, "My whole family gets together and has dinner and counts down the minutes until midnight [and] we watch the ball drop every year."

Others celebrate the new year with friends. Freshman Andrea Damiano gets together with her friends to have a "white elephant gift exchange, make home videos and watch the ball drop." Junior Bryan Axson watches all of the football games that are on TV with his family and friends, while Eric Fehr has a movie night. Freshman Rebecca Scheel doesn't have any set traditions, but celebrates in "many different ways but always with friends."

Some students travel away from home to celebrate New Year's, like Axson, who spent last Dec. 31 in North Carolina with some of his fraternity brothers. Others would love to go celebrate in other places, particularly New York. Damiano said about celebrating in New York, "[I] just think it would be really awesome to go. I probably have a better view from the TV, but something about the crowds and just the atmosphere I think would be really cool to be a part of." Axson enthusiastically agreed, "I would love to spend New Year's in New York. It's an awesome experience." Both Damiano and Axson also would like to ring in the new year in other places or other ways. Axson said, "I would love to spend New Year's in Paris. The setup of the show at the Eiffel Tower is amazing." Damiano would like to see the Chinese New Year celebrations. "I think seeing the Chinese New Year would be pretty awesome. I've heard and seen a lot of pictures about it; I hear it's one of the main oriental holidays, a ginormous celebration. So that would be pretty neat to experience the huge juxtaposition of how the two cultures celebrate."

As far as celebrating New Year's Day, most people don't do much to party. Most sleep in or just relax for the day. Senior Amy Ashberry doesn't do anything special, but "just think about the New Year and make resolutions that I won't keep." Damiano said since she's up late the night before she usually is sleeping in and taking it easy. Axson watches all the day's football games.

Other students don't think New Year's is such a big deal compared to other holidays. Sophomore KC York usually babysits during New Year's Eve and just relaxes. She doesn't want to spend New Year's Eve in New York, saying "I'd rather be with a group of people I love." Ashberry agreed, saying that "a vacation is always nice, but New Year's probably wouldn't be the time I'd take a trip" and that New York isn't "worth the crowds and craziness."