It’s official: This year, Unofficial was celebrated on two continents.

Students studying abroad in Versailles, France, organized and partook in their own version of the annual U of I event.

“We love teaching our French friends about American culture – we threw them a Thanksgiving party and we made them watch football games,” said Kim Daul, junior in FAA. “So we were excited to tell them about U of I’s most unique and ridiculous holiday.”

To herald this annual event, all 48 students in the program dressed up in green.

“We all knew that Unofficial was coming up and that we wanted to organize some sort of celebration,” said Kelsey Kirkley, junior in FAA. “A Facebook event was created, and it kind of all stemmed from there.”

After their only class for the day — a three-hour lecture on structures — had finished, the students were able to cut loose at their Unofficial celebration and afterward at a party the French students had independently planned.

“Only one professor knew of the activities, and he just made it clear to us to come to class sober,” said Jacqueline Davis, junior in FAA. “He was surprised at how serious we were about celebrating Unofficial when (he) came into class to find us all on time and wearing green.”

None of the fun of Unofficial was lost in translation, according to the students.

“This experience was a 10 compared to others,” Davis said. “This one was footloose and fancy free. I don’t have to worry about getting arrested, both because I’m 21 now, and the drinking age in Europe is 18.”

Other students echoed this sentiment.

“The best part: Everything was completely legal,” Daul said. “We’re all of drinking age, you can drink in public, and our school cafeteria even sells cheap beer.”

The program, held at the École d’Architecture de Versailles, is nine months long and offered for juniors majoring in architecture. Students take the same course load as those back in Champaign but have extra breaks to travel through Europe and sketch, which is easily accomplished due to the proximity of Versailles to Paris and several transportation systems that spread across Europe.

“It’s one of the best architecture study abroad programs in the country,” Daul said.

In fact, for students with their hearts set on majoring in architecture, Versailles serves as a major draw for attending the University.

“I decided to study in Versailles the moment I came to U of I, the first time to visit as a senior in high school,” Davis said.

The program is designed to foster appreciation of both traditional and modern European design, as well as to encourage open minds with regard to other cultures.

“Don’t worry,” Daul said, “we weren’t acting like a bunch of obnoxious American tourists. Our Unofficial became somewhat of a cultural exchange, and I made a lot of new French friends in the process.”

As far as doing it all again is concerned, the students would only do one thing differently.

“Probably to make T-shirts,” Kirkley said. “I’m sure if we had planned better, we could have come up with a really clever and original design, something that no other Unofficial participant would ever have.”