So you’re looking for something to do tonight, but you don’t feel like dragging yourself out to Who’s or Mary Ann’s. You could go to the Circle and catch a flick. How about playing foosball, ping-pong or pool over at Jillian’s?
Maybe you feel wacky and want to ride a giant plush lobster at the toy store. Maybe you should just go to Bapst and catch up on the reading you’ve been putting off. With so many places to choose from, what’s an Eagle to do?
Try O’Connell House, BC’s oft-forgotten student union. One can do all of the aforementioned things (including riding a lobster) and more at the large mansion in the center of Upper Campus.
Open every night at 7 p.m., the O’Connell House has something that will tickle any student’s fancy. A visit to each of the rooms in the house leads to something different.
There’s a game room where you can take your roommates on in pool, foosball or Ping-Pong, or you can kick back and watch the big-screen TV. You can make like Billy Joel and man a piano in another room.
Head to the office and borrow one of 350 movies, or snuggle up to the lovable plush lobster on the office couch. There are even rooms with tables and comfortable chairs for studying.
The O’Connell House technically closes at 12 a.m. on weeknights and at 1a.m. on Friday and Saturday, but the house has been buzzing into the morning since it opened last Monday.
“We haven’t closed before 12:45,” says Jared Pinsker, O’Connell House operations manager and A&S ’02. “[The students who come to O’Connell] are having a good time. We don’t want to kick them out.”
Pinsker and the other four O’Connell House managers are part of this year’s staff in charge of running the house, a responsibility large enough to warrant living at O’Connell full-time.
“We’re busy all the time,” says Zach Barber, another O’Connell House manager and CSOM ’04. “We’re always getting ready to put together the programs, interacting [with students]. It’s fun to meet the new students.”
No matter how many toys the O’Connell House gets, the main attraction will always be its programs. Everybody knows that the O’Connell House is home to Middlemarch, “one of the biggest events on any campus in the country,” according to Barber. Middlemarch, however, isn’t until next semester. Until then, the O’Connell House has events in the next few months to help you bear the wait.
On September 27, Lorraine and Ed Warren, world-renowned ghost hunters, will walk through O’Connell searching for the supernatural. The O’Connell House has been said to be haunted and there have been spooky signs already this year. For instance, the managers have had their window blinds falling off for no apparent reason.
On November 3, O’Connell hosts the Harvest Ball, which Barber says is “kind of like the Middlemarch of the fall.” Last held in 1998, the Harvest Ball has a long tradition, which the managers hope to revive. Like the other bashes at O’Connell, the Harvest Ball will include a DJ and refreshments.
In December, the O’Connell House, with UGBC and the RHA is putting on the Breaking the Barriers Ball. Right in the middle of the holiday season, ‘Breaking the Barriers’ features the lighting of the Christmas tree and performances by BC groups like the Heightsmen and the Sharps.
Pinsker says that ‘Breaking the Barriers’ “Gives the students access to faculty and administration. It brings all the components [of BC], students, faculty, and administration, together.”
This year, the managers are hoping to fully realize the O’Connell House’s claim of being a student union. “The house is open to kids on all campuses, not just Upper Campus,” says Barber. “We want to try to reach as wide a range as we can.”
“We’re always here,” adds Pinsker. “It’s for all of BC.”
“That’s why we’re a student union,” says Barber.
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