If you are a college student, you know the disappointment of ruining you favorite shoes from being in a sticky basement of a frat house last Friday night or when the person at the pregame you don't like is better at pong than you are. Once you've turned twenty one, you've probably experienced a creepy stranger at the bar or spent $15 on a cocktail that tastes like ass. We've all been there or close to it. Haven't you ever wondered if anyone else feels these pains? Well, you're in luck. I asked a guy friend of mine to log a typical night of going out and compared it to mine. Here we go:
Getting Ready:
Guy: “My typical night out normally starts around 6-7 PM. Prior to my getting ready, I will normally take time to unwind after my classes. I’ll play video games or go to the gym usually. Once 6-7 PM rolls around, I’ll start getting ready to go out. Typically, getting ready for me takes no more than about 20 minutes. I'll shower, get dressed in something comfortable but presentable, put on cologne, and then be ready to go.”
Girl: First, it depends on where I am in my nail cycle because if the two weeks are almost over and I have a chipped nail, the process starts early and I will HAVE TO go get my nails done. Once I have my nails straightened out, I'll take an hour (maybe and hour-and-a-half) to shower, dry my hair (if I straighten it), but if I am curling it, that can take 45 mins to an hour, make-up, and get dressed (and that’s if I already have an outfit picked out, if I don’t know what I’m wearing than I will definitely need more time).
Pregaming:
Guy: “Pre games for me usually occur with my friends that live in my section of our fraternity’s division of housing. Typically, this means a group of 4-5 people will come to my room to drink. We all throw money for liquor and some type of mixer and will get essentially pregame until whatever liquor we have runs out. The pregame is super laid back, we throw up some of our favorite music videos on the TV and talk about anything interesting going on in our lives. We have a larger area with tables set up for beer games like stack cup, snappa, and more rarely beer pong. Members invite guests pretty often, so there is always a good mix of people around me to talk to.
Girl: Honestly, a lot of the time, I think the pre game ends up being more fun than actually going out. Sometimes, if I am running behind, the pregame and getting ready will overlap and I will crack open a white claw while doing my makeup. However, usually when I finish getting ready, my friends and I will blare our favorite songs that will most likely not be played elsewhere (a lot of the time, it is Harry Styles’ music) and accompany that with some dancing in the kitchen and fun drinking games. In some cases, we will be having so much fun that like the guys, we will just do this for the whole night. Especially right now where we can’t go out to a house party or bar. To give a time, I would say this is probably from 8-10ish or it will be 8 til the rest of the night.
Going Out:
Guy: “After we pregame, usually between 9 and 10, my group decides what we are going to do for the night. Honestly, between the people, the music, and the games, we sometimes choose to turn the pregame into our full night out and stay in. Typically, we head down to a local apartment that is reasonably sized and lived in by other fraternity members. From here, the party becomes open. The set up on the inside is similar to the pregame, with tables for games and good, loud music with flashing lights. People looking for a party, or those who are invited, will arrive shortly after we all get there. The drinks there are all communal, so every member and guest drinks as many beers as they want, and we also have a cooler of jungle juice and cups available. One of our best friends is a certified bartender, so it is not uncommon for us to have coolers of various well-made cocktails on offer. Younger guys typically work security for us at the door while upperclassmen can do as they please. Packing that house to the brim is a great feeling, but we try to keep the amount of people in the house to as many as can be fit comfortably.
Girl: if I was going to a house party, I would either chug all my drinks before I got in the uber in case all the ones at the party are gone/not being offered to the guests or I would find a way to fit a drink or two into whatever pockets I am working with that night. However, there is no shame in trying to flirt with a guy there for a drink there, don’t forget that. Then, once we get there, we go to the basement to dance and if that is not a vibe, we would probably hang in the kitchen/ living room to socialize with the other people there and if that seems like a bad time, we would then attempt to get an address to a different party going on. However, I have graduated from the house party phase now that I turned twenty one and I have to say, thank god. The house party scene is fun when you first start college but it can get old after a while. If I was going to a bar, we would probably leave earlier so that way we don’t have to wait to get in. Then, once we got there, we would buy our first round of drinks. If it is a club or place with a dance floor, that is where we would go immediately following. However, if it's the type of bar with no dance floor like a pub or something, it is always fun to socialize with whoever else is there and make new friends. Especially if you are a single pringle! Also, the flirting for a drink thing definitely applies to this too.
Going Home:
Guy: “I’m usually out at the party until around 1 or 2 in the morning, depending on how many people are hanging around or how tired we are. Reliably though, our night is not yet over. We love to invite whatever people are still hanging around back to the division, where we pregamed. We take any left over drinks and will usually hang around talking and playing music until around 4 AM. I rarely stay the full night, but I really like having the option if I’m feeling good enough at the end of the night. Having an environment where you can look over the aftermath of a night out and laugh while doing something productive like ensuring your friends sober up before going home is an expected part of the night. I am surprised it is not popular among more people and student organizations. It is at this point in the night where many guys also choose to order food, our favorite late night choice being the local Dominos. After all of this action, I choose to call it a night, and return to my room to go to bed.”
Girl: Once we decide to leave and head home, food is most likely involved. Whether we go somewhere open late or order uber eats when we get home, or heat up something that we already have, food is usually involved and it is usually fried or not good for us. We will usually then replay the night we just had and laugh about whatever funny happened or rant about any annoying person we encountered. Then, if we’re still awake enough and don’t feel like going to bed just yet, we might stay up talking about literally anything or put on Parks and Rec or something until we feel like we want to go to bed. If it’s a Friday, we would wake up and get ready to do the same thing the next night!
I don't know about anyone else, but I was surprised to find so many similarities between a night out for a guy and a girl. I guess once you actually have two people sit down and paint the picture, they are doing pretty much the same things.