Oh snap. It’s Friday night, and you have officially hopped off the CMU Struggle Bus. You know what this means… Get your party clothes on and pray you wake up in your own bed the next morning!
Everyone jokes that CMU doesn’t have a social scene. I mean, come on. We build robots for fun. We voluntarily take challenging courses. We prefer going to Club Hunt to finish a paper instead of hitting up bars for Thirsty Thursdays. We are brilliant and proud of it! But let’s face the facts: this is college. No matter how small or how nerdy a school is, there will always be a social scene if you look for it.
Freshman year is known as the “Year of Mistakes.” We’re young. We’re inexperienced. We’re drunk. We can be stupid. Can be is the key here. Nobody likes to be the mom, and nobody likes a sloppy hot mess express. It’s totally acceptable to live up your undergrad weekends to the fullest, as long as you remember a few things:
- Remind yourself you’re drunk every few minutes. It’s doable, trust me. If you know you’ve just crossed the border from Tipsytopia to Wasted Wonderland, telling yourself you’ve had a lot to drink will help prevent you from making rash choices. A tiny reminder can stop you from having extremely poor judgment because you become more aware of possible dangers in your actions.
- Put you phone and red solo cup in different hands. We all tend to become clumsy lumps with limbs that start flopping everywhere as the night goes on. Sometimes we lose some sense of space and invade personal bubbles. That’s all fine until you start spilling drinks. Next thing you know is you stained some girl’s new top and her clique wants to smash your face in. Are you sure you want a bruise on your left eye? Not cute. One good way to prevent it is to not put your phone and red solo cup in the same hand. This way you’ll get a better grip on your drink and reduce the chance of creating a beer waterpark on the dance floor. And on a side note, keep your free hand to yourself if it was not invited elsewhere.
- Before you leave, write down on your phone the list of things you do NOT want to happen that night. So if sleeping with a guy on the football team wasn’t on your to-do list for the night, don’t let it happen no matter how intoxicated you are. If spilling your secret thoughts to a stranger isn’t on your list either, zip your lips up. Being drunk is not an excuse to be stupid or forget your morals.
- Buddy up! Always, and I do mean always, go out with more than one buddy. It’s safe to have that one person you can count on at all times. But on the off chance that both of you are messed up at the same time, you need to be sure there are people you trust who will rescue you or take care of you.
- Do not build a reputation for yourself. There are always some girls who tend to become famous on campus for a few negative things or because of how they act when drunk. Not only does that make other people not want to associate themselves with them, it makes them and anyone they’re seen with look irresponsible and loose. No one wants to be constantly judged for her weekend persona, right? Be careful what you do and say.
Going out with friends and meeting new people is exciting and fun! Don’t let stupid things you do while out ruin who you are. Party smart, Tartans. Cheers ;)!