Five nights a week, college campuses are largely silent. Between homework and extracurricular commitments, there’s barely enough time for sleep—let alone for socializing. But when the clock strikes 10 on Friday night, the week's cares and worries seem to dissolve into the contents of Solo cups as students everywhere prepare for some much-needed relief.
Heels are donned. Flasks are filled. Urgent texts fly from room to room in an attempt to ascertain the “best” destinations of the night. Freshman males wait wistfully at the entrances of certain fraternities.
For better or for worse, dreary campuses come alive on nights like these. The studious atmosphere maintained throughout the week is temporarily exchanged for the bustling sights and sounds of pounding music and open bars.
“At the end of the week after all the craziness, people definitely need some kind of release to not be in their rooms studying again, alone by themselves. And I also think that it’s a good chance to see people that you might not be able to see a lot during the week.” says Bianca M. Nfonoyim, a junior at Harvard University.
The anticipation, though exhilarating, can often bring disappointment."People go [out] to get drunk...as a stress reliever from the whole week, I guess,” says Kimberly I. Scoppetta, a sophomore at Tufts University.
Although many students party exclusively for enjoyment or to relieve stress, others feel compelled to fulfill a stereotype of college life.
“The social life at Georgetown has a heavy influence on drinking, with many students embodying the ‘play hard, work hard’ attitude that our school likes to think it's known for. Most freshmen roam the streets of Georgetown searching for pity from upperclassmen in the form of liquor,” says Sarah N. Williams, a freshman at Georgetown University.
Some students feel that parties are the only social activity present on campus. “Unless you’re a partier and a drinker, there isn’t much for you to do,” notes Scoppetta of Tufts.
Parties may be the among the most visible forms of recreation, but they are by no means the only way to engage with the social side of college life.
“Students can also go to shows and performances. They show movies during the weekends and there’s usually some kind of musical group or performer that comes during the weekend,” says Nancy L. Wu, a sophomore at Dartmouth University.