Episode 1: Tales of 23-year-old College Freshmen
Your cap and gown is ironed and clinging to you in anticipation of making that final stride across the stage, out of college life and into the real world. There is a feeling of excitement, the feeling you can still have the freedom you’ve learned to love while in college, but now…it’s time to get paid.
Once I graduated from FSU, I decided to stay in Tallahassee due to a wonderful opportunity to work for a well-known PR firm. I figured that I’d make some money while still enjoying my friends and familiar environment (not to mention my boyfriend). Many of my friends had also chosen to stay in Tallahassee and work, yet it seemed that so many them were still maintaining the proverbial “freshman” party habits and some putting them to shame.
Was it the environment? Being alumni of one of the top ten party schools? For most, it seemed like their jobs were just on the cusp of challenging, if that, allowing them to go out every night, consume their bodyweight in liquor, then rise for work at seven a.m.
My friends would call nightly, wondering if I wanted to go out and “ get a few drinks.” I’d say, “ Well, I’ve got work tomorrow,” and the replies were always, “ so? Me too!” For months, I held my friends at bay, piling excuses up until one evening, where finally I said, “ ok…lets do it.” If my friends could continue to lead this lifestyle, who’s to say I couldn’t?
For that night, I lived as a freshman would…as I would have nearly five years ago. We dressed scandalously; drank buckets of vodka tonics, guzzled jolly rancher shots and multiple Jager bombs. Hours of shaking our butts to overplayed music, ingesting, absorbing and basically rolling around in cigarette smoke eventually ended at 2:30a.m, putting me home around 3 a.m. which in turn gave me exactly 4 hours to sleep.
“So what,” I thought. “No big deal. I’ll go to work then come home and take a nap.” But it doesn’t work like that when you’re in the real world. Had I still been in college, it would have been practical to think I could go to class, come home, take a nap and do whatever work was necessary late into the evening. More than likely, I would’ve just slept through the class and brushed it off thinking “I’ll catch up later.” The options are not the same when you have a job, people relying on you and a limited amount of vacation time.
When I woke up that morning, my makeup was painted on the pillow, next to the spots of drool. It looked like a bad abstract painting, with me slightly resembling Picasso’s tilted, discombobulated lady. The orchestra had begun to tune up in the very tip-top of my head, the maestro rapping his wand furiously, yet in rhythm. My lips were glued shut, mouth suctioned to lips from the lack of hydration. From the bed I rolled, slapping the alarm clock with all my might and teetering toward the closet to make my 8:30 arrival time.
8:15 came faster then I’d imagined, and I struggled to find my keys, I.D. and other vitals (including thick, dark shades). Although difficult, I made it through the door at 8:25, wearing two different socks and an outfit full of mismatched colors. It was truly a sight.
What did I learn from the experience? That although you’re tempted, there’s no use in turning back, because in reality…you can’t. There’s no way that I can “party like a freshman” and live to tell about it the next day. Kudos to those who at 23-26 can still go out every night at 9:30p.m, come in at 3a.m. and get up at 7a.m. As for me, I give it a yikes, and have decided to leave the weeknight partying to the pro’s!
