The term bar is a vague word. It can refer to metal poles, granola bars, musical measurements and is also used as a preposition meaning “except for.” It is an expression that has multiple purposes in the English language. But one bar stands out among the rest: the nightlife bar. Or as I like to call it on my bitter days: a dark room that smells like too many people and $10 vodka.
Now, I have had pleasant experiences in bars. Campus bars can be fun if you take them in stride. A Wednesday through Saturday appearance at Taylor’s Bar & Grill is going to make you feel like you took your body through a minefield, physically and emotionally.
You see everyone you want to see and everyone that you don’t want to see. After an hour in Taylor’s, you will walk out into the quiet street and shout, “WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?” to your friend right next to you. At one point, someone will get sick, lost or sick and lost. Standing at the bar, all you will feel is someone’s sweaty arm pressed against your sweaty arm. How neighborly.
In my short experience with bars, I have discovered that they make me more social. A couple glasses of wine or a few beers probably helped open the flow of conversation. Yet, the moment I step into a campus bar, I can hardly hear myself think, let alone carry on a discussion. I don’t quite enjoy someone’s lips pressed against my ear trying to explain the classes they are taking this term. The next morning my throat is raw and hoarse from simply screaming, “Hello!” or “How’s your mom?”
The louder the music is, the more people will drink. Without the ability to chat with our peers or hear a reply, we give up and grab another drink. Bars aren’t doing this because they want to make the social setting less awkward or more inviting to its customers; bars want people to stop talking and keep drinking.
Instead of having a section of the bar dedicated to dancing and loud music, the entire building sounds like a gigantic speaker. We are left to step on one another’s toes, bump heads and say rude things to each other as we all crowd the bar. The end game is the same: we all want another drink. Just stand there with a smile plastered on your face and maybe you’ll slip through — or make another friend. But, you’ll probably just get pushed around, glared at and do the same in return.
Sometimes we all need a night to get crazy, be a little weird, and stop being social. Most of the campus bars can offer that environment, and by all means take advantage of it (if you’re over 21, of course.) But at the same time, don’t go every night. The same things happen. Take your friends, walk a little further down the sidewalk and check out something new. Maybe it’s a little quieter, but at least the place won’t smell like 100 percent bad choices (alright, maybe just 70 percent.)
Foster: Taking the bars in doses
Jessica Foster
October 9, 2015
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