<p>I’m really sorry that Gaities affected you so negatively, justadream. I didn’t go to Gaities this year but I heard from friends that it sucked and wasn’t funny. It is usually pretty crazy and offensive but it is usually also funny, and without the humor aspect I can imagine it being an unpleasant experience. Even so, personally, I think that “if you were alive and breathing during the past few weeks, you would know what happened” is a gross overstatement though… Yeah Gaities this year was apparently super offensive, but it is just one minor student run facet of the generally crazy and over the top Stanford experience. I think many people didn’t think it was really a big deal and that the “controversy” was overblown (but I wouldn’t know; I didn’t go). It will at least spark some dialogue about the direction the event will go in the future. I really hope this doesn’t leave a lasting negative perception of Stanford for you. Gaities is one thing, but like pretty much all Stanford traditions, it’s pretty much an opt in kind of thing - if you don’t like it you don’t have to participate, and I think that’s one of the things that makes Stanford so great, the freedom to be as much or as little into anything as you want. I don’t think there’s a huge peer pressure or conformist culture, so people can pretty much do their own things and I think most people eventually find a comfortable niche.</p>
<p>my personal opinion on other mentioned “traditions”: fmotq is generally weird/awkward (maybe unless you’re a drunk senior), secret snowflake i thought was super fun if your dorm isn’t psycho but only frosh really do it, mausoleum is one of those things you go to once and don’t go to again but the year i went i had fun, i personally don’t like fountain hopping but it seems fun for other people, especially on a nice day. i hated assassins. i thought faces (during nso) was super. i like the way senior0991 described frantic friday: i’ve never heard/used that term but that perfectly describes the end of every quarter I’ve had at Stanford and this has resulted in some crazy end of quarter stories…</p>
<p>Anyway more Stanford tradition-y things from my experience (any questions about specifics, and I’ll vaguely explain):
-San Francisco scavenger hunt (frosh)
-Big Game and beat cal tshirts
-band run
-steam tunneling
-roll outs for clubs/organizations… (not sure if other schools do this)
-the really big all campus parties… mostly foam party, toga party and Exotic Erotic etc (can be a pain unless you know the right people but it’s nice to go at least once in your four years)
-dorm trips in general (ski, yosemite, theme parks, plays and shows, etc)
-sunbathing/general hanging out in the sun/outdoors spring quarter when the weather is nice
-ebf happy hour (not actually really a tradition but whatever, it’s fun)
-big charity events - charity fashion show, dance marathon, relay for life
-campus concerts and big speakers
-primal scream dead week
-crossing the line (we did that in my frosh dorm)</p>