How To Have Yourself “A Night”

CampusScenes

How To

Have Yourself  

“A Night”

by Dani Phillips

July 11, 2018

A typical night out in college goes as follows. First, you debate going out. You text all the “usuals” who are likely to go out, even if there isn’t much of a plan yet.   If they have a test or a paper and won’t be in attendance, you try your luck with some of your more introverted friends. If you find that a good enough squad is going out, you decide that you will be having yourself “a night.”

Next step, is finding out the plan. Where will the pregame be held? What time should you show up? Where is everyone going after? Usually, a few people offer up their places and you and your closest friend decide which house you’ll begin your night at. Then comes eating enough carbs to make sure you don’t get too drunk, but not so much that you feel sick. After that, you choose an outfit, which typically takes a few tries and trips into your friends’ rooms to ask them what they think. Questions get asked, such as, “do these jeans make my thighs look big, is this too much cleavage considering I want to post a picture and my dad follows me, and does this look too desperate.” Shirts get borrowed, shoes get exchanges, and makeup gets done.

Then you grab your drinks and head to the pregame. You nervously ask your friends if they think you’ll run into “you know who,” and they tell you to just be yourself, but you aren’t entirely sure what that means. You say Hi to a few people you know, but don’ really know and take pictures with your friends. After that, you head to the bar in an Uber and talk to guys who may or may not remember you the next day.

Those are not the best nights out.

These are the best nights out.

Nights, where you don’t have to be fake.  Nights, where you get to be around people where conversation is effortless. Where you don’t have to be conscientious about what you wear. Nights, where the laughter is authentic and not the result of certain substances.  The best nights are the nights where you don’t have to coordinate what, where, and when. They just happen.

These are the nights you’ll remember. The people who make these nights matter are the people you will never forget. People need to stop concerning themselves with the specific steps which are supposed to contribute to having a great night. They need to stop caring so much about other people’s opinions and just have a night where they can let loose and be themselves..