BY SYLVIA SONG 

Monash's Winter Carnival was revived at the Clayton campus after two years of lockdown. 

The carnival included exciting rides, food, and music for students' much-needed study breaks. 

According to the event officer, third-year Monash Science student Ashna Nimbalkar, about 15,000 people registered for the festival this year.

"It's the first big event after COVID, so we must keep many things in mind,"

"There is a huge team that works to get everything done, cause we need to make sure safety, (with) having so many people on campus," Ms Nimbalkar said.

The annual event is open to the public, and it is also a good chance for Monash students to relieve stress during assessment season. 

"Anyone can come to the carnival. We want to give people a community feeling with Monash," Ms Nimbalkar said. 

"Monash students can have a break to do something fun. They can also invite their family to join." 

There were different kinds of rides, including the ferris wheel, dodgem cars and the high-velocity Bad Boys. 

First-year Monash Business and IT student Ritambhara Khanal said the carnival was "more fun and bigger" than she expected. 

"Bad Boys is super thrilling for me. It is sad, but funny, that my friend cried on the ride," Ms Khanal said. 

Bad Boys is a heart-pumping ride that rocks back and forth, gathering speed until passengers reach the peak and begin being whipped around it, in a clockwise and anticlockwise motion. 

"I also got a free face painting, Mine is a butterfly with glitters," she said. 

First-year Monash Counselling student Sunayana Acharyya, a volunteer of the face-painting program, viewed the event as an excellent place to "socialise and learn culture."

"I only arrived in Melbourne three weeks ago. I want to make more friends and get to know Australian culture," Ms Archaryya said. 

"Everyone who comes here is enthusiastic and friendly. The multicultural environment here is surprising enough." 

Although, some students complained queues were too long and time-consuming.  

First-year biomedical science student Devani Gurusinghe and her friends waited in line for three hours to ride the dodgem cars, but never got to experience it. 

"The next ride is our turn, but it suddenly shut down," Ms Gurusinge said. 

"Everyone is frustrated with long wait times, and there is no reminder telling us how long we will wait."

The event officer Ashna Nimbalkar sympathised with the issue and said these rides will "come back". 

"I understand, but winter carnival is just for that night, mainly held for the public," Ms Nimbalkar said. 

"Events on campus will not stop. The rides and food truck will be back so everyone can enjoy them again."