Nothing gives the modern teenager more delight than the coming of fall.

After the foreboding feeling that hangs over the first few weeks of school, the beginning of autumn shines through like a pumpkin-scented beacon.

Students love to talk about the fun aspects associated with autumn: cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice, cool weather, pumpkin carvings, scary movies, pumpkin rituals, and pretty leaves.

Clearly, this is a season to get excited about. But students should do more than just sing the praises of autumn. They need to get out and truly experience the wonders of fall.

Most students like fall because it’s a beautiful and calm season.

“I like the trees dying,” said sophomore Marlo Rodriguez.

There are a few things students can do to get in a festive fall mood. Firstly, buy a pumpkin.

There are two prominent pumpkin patches in San Ramon: Forest Home Farms and Windmill Farms.

Forest Home Farms is a historic farm along San Ramon Valley Boulevard near the Glass House. But most importantly, there are a lot of goats there.

In addition to the abundance of farm animals, every fall season the farm sets up a pumpkin patch.

The pumpkins at the patch are the standard orange type roughly the size of two cantaloupes.

The patch also has some delightful rides, which, according to some begrudging Yelp reviews, may be a tad overpriced.

Windmill Farms is across from In-N-Out, and is a semi-open-air market. It’s a lot smaller than Forest Home Farms, but the atmosphere is objectively spookier.

Both patches are open this month, so get started with picking your pumpkin.

There is a tunnel made entirely out of hay bales and the outdoor section of the market is littered with spooky decorations like talking plastic skeletons.

Pumpkins of every shape, color, and size are stacked around the market, including one roughly the size of a young child.

Perhaps the cream of the pumpkin crop is Windmill Farms’ petting zoo. An outdoor event is only as good as its petting zoo and Windmill Farms delivers.

There are goats, chickens, pigs, and turkeys, and visitors even can buy food to feed them. For the low, low, price of 75 cents, people can feel a goat’s sticky lips against their fingers.

Sadly, the goats at Forest Home Farms cannot be fed or petted.

Students can also visit the G&M Farms cornfield maze in Livermore, but most students are too busy to drive that far.

The only solution to this problem is to buy at least 200 corn seeds from the local Home Depot or OSH, and then plant them in a maze formation.

Lovingly water and weed the corn sprouts every morning at 5 a.m. until they grow mature.

By next year, students should have their own corn maze. It’s so easy and convenient, especially compared to the 20-some minute drive to Livermore.

Students face many dilemmas before Halloween. What exactly will they be doing? Are they too old to trick or treat? Too young to truly party? Too fearful for a haunted house or scary movie? Also, who can actually pull off a saucy costume like Naughty Nurse or Chicken Wing but Sexy?

Some Cal High students choose to go to parties instead of trick-or-treating.

“One of my best friends, Grigg Shaw, has a really cool Halloween party,” said senior Bryce Woodward.“His house is always super decked out. He has this haunted house in his garage. It’s all super dark and he hangs up stuff, and then we grab [the people who enter the house]. ”

Students who don’t have the honor of knowing Shaw can head to Pirates of Emerson at the Pleasanton Fairgrounds.

Pirates of Emerson is a haunted theme park with six different haunted houses and various undead pirates.

It is open on Thursday through Sunday every week in October. General admission is $25.

Perhaps students will want a more authentic and free experience. If they visit hauntedplaces.org, they can find various places in California that are allegedly haunted.

It’s a great substitute for students who prefer to save their money and would like to be the inspiration for a horror movie.

If students love fear, but hate walking around, they can always watch some scary movies or play a scary game.

“As Above, So Below” is already in theatres, and a new horror movie called “Ouija” comes out on Oct. 24.

Perhaps students’ greatest fear is the fear of their own weird teenage bodies.

Halloween costume companies have capitalized on this by making a variety of costumes to cover their weird bodies on Oct. 31.

Guys can be anything from a mummy to a walking aubergine, while girls  can be anything from Hot Momma Mummy to I Dream of Auberginey.

But $40 costumes showing off more skin than one is comfortable with are not the only option.

Students can head to the Savers thrift superstore in Dublin during October to find plenty of cheap costumes to assemble themselves.

After finding an appropriately inappropriate costume and nearly being possessed in a location found on the Internet, students have only one thing left to do on Halloween: trick or treat or party.

Halloween parties are a fun way to show off costumes, but not everyone is suited for crowded hallways and blaring music.

Those students whose awkward bodies don’t feel at home at a Halloween party can always start a candy cartel.

People might say teens are too old to trick-or-treat. Those who truly believe that can still find ways to get free candy. Simply assemble all the neighborhood kids and con them out of their good candy.

Buy a whole bag of gross candy, such as Tootsie rolls, candy corn, the works. Then, organize a Ponzi scheme, trading good candy for bad candy.

After gathering enough candy, ditch those brats and enjoy the haul.

With all these fun tips and tricks, The Californian staff knows students will have a great Halloween.