All I heard at orientation was partying and going out is a good way to have a laced drink forced down your throat, but from my experience, this isn’t true. I never have and never will drink or do drugs, but this didn’t stop me from having a good time while researching for this article.
The biggest fear I’ve heard, and experienced, about going out to party is that students don’t want to be forced to drink, yet at none of the party houses did I ever feel any pressure to drink. In fact, I noticed the opposite. When I told people that I don’t drink, the almost unanimous response was, “I can respect that.”
This made me feel comfortable meeting new people and enjoying myself, and I believe so many students feel comfortable going to parties because of this. Whether this is because of the Franciscan way of respecting others I have begun to expect at this university or not, it helped me relax and have fun.
The biggest college party staple I have heard of is beer pong. While I have not seen any trace of it, every house I attended had a table with water-filled cups. This is the same game but without drinking. This makes sense because upperclassmen do not want underage freshmen being able to walk up to the table and get drunk. This way it is turned into a simple party game for sober people to get involved, have fun and meet new people without having to worry about drinking.
Personally, I met a bunch of interestingpeople who told me some fun stories, and if I didn’t go out to research for this article, this wouldn’t have happened. It should come as no surprise that being surrounded by people from your college helps you meet new people.
The houses I went to were Sick, Mansion, Family and Train. These seemed to be the most popular houses.
I found Train to be the least fun, as it was just large groups of people downstairs with a game of water pong upstairs. The other three are unique.
Sick, at first glance, looked like a bachelor pad with a ping-pong table and a flat-screen television. I found this to be a good place to calm down and relax if the other houses weren’t enjoyable. This seemed to be a sort-of home base.
Mansion was a large building with – like the others – a table with water pong. The atmosphere was a lot more upbeat and positive than at Sick, and when I went, there was a large group of people to squeeze through. If you like to socialize, this seems to be the place to go.
Family was a healthy in-between with a medium number of people, but they had one gimmick. They had lights that made certain colored clothing light up in the dark. It might just be the inner thirteen-year-old in me, but I found this amazing.
I was never pressured to drink; I enjoyed myself. The party houses aren’t just fun for drunk upperclassmen, and sober people like me can have fun like everyone else. The beauty is that if you don’t like one house you can always go to another. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had, and I hope this gives others the courage to get out on the weekends and have a little fun.
By Will McDonough, Contributing writer
mcdonowo19@bonaventure.edu
