Despite my small stature, I am not a lightweight. It usually takes at least half a dozen drinks for me to get sufficiently drunk. I should have kept this in mind last weekend, when I took my similarly small-statured friend to a party where we proceeded to dance, socialize and match each other shot-for-shot. Understandably, after eight ounces of seemingly bitter vodka, the night ended with me standing over my dear friend as I held her hair back from her face. Still, between hurling and gasping for breath, she was present enough to look up at me with those big, brown, glossy eyes and ask a question that continues to resonate with me today: “Is this what we do for fun?”
Yes, friend, it is. Parties function to allow us to congregate around a mass amount of alcohol and people; they are a prevalent part of the college experience to which we feel entitled. They are the pinnacles of our week, the events following five days of intellectual rigor that offer us an escape from social awkwardness and time commitments, where being drunk is justification for anything.
When I first came to college, I was ecstatic to live up to the idea of “work hard, play hard.” I thought parties would be a great way to dance and drink freely while meeting new people. However, I soon learned that partying had its negative ramifications such as the inability to function the next day or accurately remember anyone I had met from the night before.
Still, with the approach of each weekend, I would regularly aspire toward nights of ridiculousness, eagerly dressing up in my more skimpy attire in order to file into a random house with a group of my friends. Intending to participate in the rampant alcoholism, I would grab a big red cup and maneuver my way to the keg while making small talk and brief mental notes as to whom in the room I would want to hook up with. My nights would often conclude with me dodging some creepy boy as I staggered home only to collapse into my bed, on top of the covers, fully clothed.
As my transition into college life progressed, I realized that my idea of college parties was largely a construction of those mass-produced, crappy teen movies. I never anticipated having to dodge policemen. I did not foresee the exploitation of being labeled a “ho” for the sake of a party theme. Two years later, I have begun to question how rewarding these experiences really are. Somehow, feeling the need to be absolutely wasted in order to have a good time feels a bit too demanding of my persona.
Yet, if you reside somewhere within a mile radius of our campus, then chances are each weekend at around “party time” your neighborhood turns into a cesspool of laughter and liquor. It is what allows random passers-by the freedom to pee on our yards. It is what makes staying home on a Friday night to catch up your economics reading a sorry embarrassment.
I will admit to indulging in that momentary thrill of an alcohol-induced bad decision. It’s nice to reflect on how much fun that hookup was, or how sweet your friend was to hold your hair back like that. But that was then, and even though I’m only 20 years old, I have already started to feel too old for these gatherings. I guess I am just no longer that interested in meeting people I won’t remember the next day. Keg stands don’t impress me anymore. Beer-pong has become a boring, repetitious game. Most of all, however, I am tired of having the same, often empty, often forced conversations.
Would I sound old-fashioned to suggest a different way to socialize? Surely there must be more interesting things to do, things that involve creativity and intelligence. (Might I suggest more substantial experiences, such as road trips, group dinners and outings to Cougar Hot Springs?)
Don’t get me wrong, I like to drink and socialize just as much as the next college student. It is fun to escape such a serious world. It is exciting to be uninhibited. However, as I begin to look forward to these parties less and less, I am forced to question how fulfilling these events really are. I have to question how very necessary it is to kill off brain cells in order to have a truly fun weekend.
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