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Finally, the celebrated weekend full of sunshine, music and good times has graced Quinnipiac. This singular weekend that students look forward to and public safety warns us about. The weekend, which promises the never-ending consumption of alcohol and the destruction of all dorm buildings. That’s right — May Weekend was back and better than ever. For some starting on a Wednesday night for dollar beers at Clubhouse, this three-day period brought its share of happiness and bad decisions.

It all began on Friday as the tolls of the Arnold Bernhard Library signified the dawn of this righteous celebration. People from all over campus began to mingle in front of their buildings- many missing their classes so they could take advantage of the whole day. With the perfect weather and the release of DJ Khaled’s new song, it seemed that the weekend was off to a great start.

Then, it was time to rally. The next day started much too early for the hungover student body, but nothing could stop it from seizing the new day and the new darties. As the crowds built up, so did the snap stories. Each time the app refreshed, 10 new stories of wild pool parties and ice luge drinking antics appeared in a seemingly interminable flow.

The heat only added more fire to the flames at these outdoor functions. The temperatures upwards of 80 degrees created a comfortable haze for everyone to enjoy while sipping on cold brews in the trashed backyards. However, while hopping fences and rushing to beat the crowds leaving, sweatiness was a real turn-off. But that’s what showers are for— unless your floor completely ruined your single shared bathroom.

As the night drew to a close, everyone started to get ready to go to the club they can never refuse: Toad’s. After the necessary showers to wash all the mud and beer off, on went the khaki shorts and Bodycon dresses.

In this year-long ritual of pre-gaming with your friends before calling the Ubers, a new sense of excitement lingered in the dorm rooms since this Toad’s excursion was special among all of the other dozens of times. But of course, this refreshed mindset meant that everyone would be feeling the same and that signified the length of the line.

Once arriving, the line reached far past the billboard resembling its appearance on Halloweekend. But if they could get through the first two days of May Weekend, there was no discouraging a fun-hungry college student from waiting in the line to dance the night away.

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When taking the melancholy walk back from Hogan late at night after hours of partying with their friends, these students returned to their dorms some pounding out ceiling tiles, some DJ-ing with their best friends in the common room, some climbing up in their beds content with their weekend, some preparing to head out again the next day.

Freshman Commons resident Quentin Burke has heard rumors of the high cost of damages.

“I don’t know if (the rumors) are true or not, but usually when I see people (damaging property), it’s not someone I recognize,” Burke said. “That’s money out of my pocket that I’m paying, and it wasn’t even anybody that lives with me.”

Damage to university property seems to be a recurring theme during May Weekend, and Director of Residential Life Mark DeVilbiss asks students to treat QU facilities with respect always, but especially during this last weekend in April.

“A lot of people live there and enjoy those facilities,” DeVilbiss said. “A lot of people work hard to maintain them so I always ask students to treat the facilities with respect so it’s better for everyone.”

Costs to repair include the material, labor and time that it takes to fix the damage, which racks up a high price tag. When the school doesn’t know who’s responsible for the damage and no one comes forward, then everyone in the community has to share in paying for that.

While the damage done to the residence halls was severe, DeVilbiss was also concerned for the safety of the students.

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“Something could fall on them, they could hurt their hand or whatever they use to break the tiles, so there’s always the risk of injury,” DeVilbiss said.

While students are out enjoying the last weekend of partying, the destruction of university property does damage to the sense of community in a residence hall. It seems that students only realize this when the fun is done and the weekend comes to an end.

“I think a lot of students view their residence halls as their ‘home away from home,’ and anything that detracts from that feeling is quite negative,” DeVilbiss said.

Freshman Elissabeth Daniele is disappointed that this destruction happened over the weekend.

“I think it’s really sad when something like that happens,” Daniele said. “We’re given the opportunity on such a nice weekend to have fun, and (students) should take care of what’s around (them), definitely.”

Vandalism is an unwelcome distraction, especially at this time of year when students need to be focusing on upcoming final exams. Rather than enjoying the weekend and going back to business as usual, students have to put up with construction happening outside of their door.

“For all of those reasons that I just strongly discourage vandalism anytime of year, but on this last weekend in April that’s a concern,” DeVilbiss said.

Many students are bothered by the damage done to their on-campus homes and see that it is not a good or accurate representation of the residents of the Commons residence hall or of who we are as a university community.

Despite the differences between the students of Quinnipiac, they can all share this collective experience that QU has created long ago.