In previous years, when I asked other Bonnies how their night out was, I was met with responses like: “you wouldn’t believe what happened” or “it was insane.”
Now, when I ask the same question, I’m often hit with responses like: “it was okay,” “I didn’t even leave the house” or “I went home super early.”
As a senior, I view going out in a completely different way than I did my first few years at college. I was wearing skirts and open-toed shoes in negative degree weather (which I don’t recommend to anyone). I had a choice of 5 house parties to go to per night. Our legend of a party photographer (who will not be named here) had a hard time covering everything that happened in one night because there were so many places to be.
Now, I’m bundled up when I go out, even with half the walking distance to the bars. There are fewer house parties happening, and we’re the ones that live off-campus. The next-day party pictures are few and far between because, well, the nightlife isn’t what it used to be.
Since I’ve also noticed personal changes in 1. the time my friends and I feel obligated to ditch the pregame and 2. the amount of days I actually want to go out, I knew others had to feel the same way. So, I took to Instagram for a poll about Bona’s night-life on a Saturday afternoon.
The poll ran for about 2 hours, and on average, the stories were seen about 250-280 times. Each question received between 80-120 responses.
These were the questions, and the percentages per response.
Is the bar scene as fun as it used to be?
5% YES
95% NO
Do we have enough house parties?
8% YES
92% NO
How many nights a weekend do you go out with friends?
43% 0-1
57% 2+
What was your favorite year at Bonas? (Part one)
66% FRESHMAN
34% SOPHOMORE
What was your favorite year at Bonas? (Part two)
60% JUNIOR
40% SENIOR
What’s your bar? (Part one)
38% BURTON
62% OP
What’s your bar? (Part two)
56% FUSION
44% TAV
Which is better, the pregame or the bar?
85% PREGAME
15% BAR
Now, there are tons of factors that can skew these results. I went in with an opinion, and totally could have loaded the questions. I’m deeming this fine since this was just for personal interest. So to be transparent, I recognized some other factors:
- There were about 5-6 people that responded that aren’t affiliated with Bonas.
- For some people, “going out” doesn’t involve consuming alcohol or even considering going to the bars.
- Some responders might be underage, (and in now way am I condoning underage drinking).
- There are plenty of reasons aside from night-life that contribute to which year is everyone’s favorite at Bonaventure, too. For example: basketball games and rankings adding another reason to celebrate.
- Everyone has their own reasons for answering in the way they did, and probably more specific responses besides these generalized yes/no and this/that questions. For example: many houses stopped hosting as many public parties after recieving police warnings the first few weekends of the fall semester.
To end the polls, I asked one open-ended question for more specific responses:
What can improve Bona’s nightlife?
These were the responses, which are kept anonymous for privacy.
“More House parties”
“I wish there were more places to go pre and post bar for longer and more fun nights”
“Keep freshman out of the bar”
“Let me DJ at house parties”
“Transferring”
“Tbh the weather lol I go out more when it’s warm out”
“Don’t go out. Stay at home. Please. This is not a joke.”
“Our neighbors croak”
“Better music and cheaper drink prices”
“People actually going out”
“The DJs actually playing your song requests”
“More restaurants”
“Prayer Circles”
Some responses were funny and others were really great points. I hope the “transferring” answer was a joke, because this school is worth more than one party drought.