Ever had that overwhelming urge to just roll right out of bed and go to uni in your pyjamas? Or maybe it’s one of those days where you felt lazy to wear a cute outfit because you’d have to change for Frisbee/futsal/badminton/basketball training after classes. Well, I don’t know what MUSA was thinking, but if it was along the lines of “Hey let’s make the lazy students’ life easier and more interesting”, then I’d say Theme Week was a pretty ingenious idea!

Week 8 was officially started with the theme Pajamarama Tuesday or #Pajamarama, as Monday was a public holiday. Even though not many students wore their pajamas to uni, it was nice to see that there were a small group of people who rolled with it and dressed the part. For example, Febrianne Sukiato from the School of Science, came dressed up in her grey cat suit. Our very own Editor, Tiffany See, also came dressed in her way too adorable penguin suit. She definitely pulled it off!

As gross as it sounds, some even rolled straight out of bed and drove to uni (you know who you are). Thankfully enough, everyone else had taken a bath or at least a shower before dressing up in their pyjamas. At least, I’d hope so. However, the low feedback received for Pajamarama had disappointed several students, who assumed that they wouldn’t have been the only ones wearing their really really comfortable pyjamas to uni and sleeping during lectures. Oh well, at least it was a comfy day for some!

The theme for the following day was “Just Do It” Wednesday with the hashtag #SportyWednesday2k17. Now, I’m not sure if anyone’s posted any photos and used the hashtag, but there certainly was a decline in the number of people who followed the theme. You’d have thought more people would’ve came in their sporty clothes since it’s a relatively easy theme to dress to, but I guess not.

Of course, most would say that it was because Theme Week was held during one of the death weeks Week 8 where majority of the students had tests/exams to sit for, in the freezing cold exam hall/rooms. It was also a really cloudy morning and wet afternoon, so it’s kind of expected for us students to not have dressed in our thin sports outfits, consisting of shorts. Nevertheless, kudos to the handful of brave souls who took the plunge and showed up in jerseys! I, for one, would’ve definitely frozen to death.

Unfortunately, their motives were suspect – from brief conversations it seemed as if many didn’t know it was Theme Week at all, and presumably were just in the habit of coming to uni ready to shoot some hoops at a moment’s notice.

Thursday had probably been the most successful day of the week as there were twice as many people who came dressed for #TwintasticThursday compared to #Pajamarama. Students were definitely excited beyond words, if the comments section in the Facebook post for Theme Week is any indication to go by.

The turnout was great as there had been, at the very least, 10 pairs of twins, 3 sets of triplets and a group of SASSy ‘twins’ found on campus, there could’ve been wayyy more but not everyone was caught on camera. But here’s some food for thought, are they really considered ‘twins’ if they’re a couple wearing matching outfits? Wouldn’t that be more of couple outfits? I mean, I wouldn’t know, but what do you guys think?

As for Aurora Friday otherwise known as #AuroraDay, the response received was just as low, if not lower, than the feedback gotten for #JustDoItWednesday. Of course, no one came dressed as Princess Aurora, but the lack of students dressed in brightly coloured clothing cannot be blamed entirely on the students as half of the population weren’t even in uni. But then again, if your wardrobe contains mostly black pieces of clothing, like mine, then that’s totally understandable. We can relate too.

When asked about their opinions, the students of Monash gave positive responses such as Theme Week being a good idea for students to participate more actively and have fun in terms of how they dress, instead of just the usual status quo dressing. First year first sem students from the School of IT had also commented saying, “We’re just trying to participate as much as possible. Life is good. We’re dying but still living.” No idea how your last two sentences relate to the theme but to each his/her own, right?

The participation also varied from school to school and year to year. When encountered, many third and fourth-year engineering students were blissfully unaware that a major week-long event was taking place, and appeared not to have noticed the myriad of oddly-dressed students moving around campus.

All in all, the idea of having Theme Week during Week 8 was definitely a good one put forth by MUSA. “It brings a more lively atmosphere to the university because you’re able to see and get excited about those who dress up. Like ‘Hey I’m wearing pyjamas looking clothes today too!’ Or when a pair of ‘twins’ look cute because they match from their head down to their toes or when a group looks lit wearing almost identical outfits but still different enough to maintain that sense of individuality. It’s just really cool, I have no idea how to fully express it.”

Article by Stephanie Leng and Visvamba Nathan