Before I start this article, I want to provide a disclaimer that nothing I’m about to say comes from a place of judgment. I love partying and having a good time, and I would never put anyone down for their own choices in this area of life. My only goals while writing this are to explain my personal experiences with “dartying” and the negative effects that are not always discussed because of how glamorized it can be.
If you’re not familiar with the term “darty,” I’ll define it for you: it’s a day party. Pretty simple, I know, but it goes further than that. Most of the time, you’ll stay in the night before a darty to avoid a potential hangover in the morning (unless you’re superhuman). You’ll wake up ecstatic for the day ahead, running on adrenaline as you crack that first drink. You’ll put on some makeup and make your hair look cute while you listen to loud music, then you’ll hop on the bus or order an Uber to wherever the event is. You’ll drink for a few hours, laugh with your friends, wander around to meet new people, take Instagram-worthy photos, then pig out at the dining hall until it’s time to go home. Fast forward a few more hours and you’ll be waking up from that late-afternoon nap wondering what year it is. You’ll probably stay in at night unless, like I said before, you’re superhuman.
Day drinking is one of those things that is more fun before it actually happens. It’s an experience, a commitment, and something I tend to regret afterward. Listen, I love the idea of a good darty just as much as the next college student. Emphasis on the word “idea.” After four years of college and countless tailgates, 10:00 a.m. mimosas, and getting too sunburnt by accident, I have concluded that darties have done me more harm than good. I know I sound like a major pessimist; many of my experiences day drinking have resulted in fun memories with my friends. However, I personally believe there are more cons than pros to getting obliterated in the afternoon.
I’ll use Oktoberfest as an example. For those unfamiliar, Oktoberfest is an extremely popular “festival” in Hadley which many UMass students partake in. It happens once a year in — you guessed it — October, so it just recently happened a few weekends ago. My friends and I waited in anticipation for weeks leading up to it, as for most of us it would be our first time attending. We stayed in the night before, woke up super early Saturday, got ready, and started drinking by 10:00 a.m. We were at Spoke, Amherst’s most popular bar, by 11:00 a.m.
The very beginning of the day was the best part because everyone was running on adrenaline. Getting to the actual event was a bit of a hassle; all the buses which went from Spoke to Oktoberfest were packed, so we had to wait a bit until we eventually decided to Uber. We then spent a few hours drinking in a large field with no phone service, long lines everywhere, and the sun beating down on us. I was dehydrated, had barely eaten that day, and probably got a little drunker than I should have. To sum it up, the rest of the night sucked. Along with the entire next day.
Like everything else in life, dartying has its pros and cons. I have personally decided for myself that the cons of dartying often outweigh the pros. Now, this doesn’t mean I’ll never day drink again, because I do still enjoy it here and there. After all, the anticipation still is the best part.
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