Ethnographic Essay: a Study of the College Party Scene
Let’s Get Fucked Up and Die
I am only now beginning to enter my sophomore year at college but there has always one part of it that has been especially exciting, the parties. Yes, those glorious nights where you can escape from the nagging of your parents, procrastinate on some of that homework, or maybe even meet someone special. Any average college student could tell you that the craziest parties always happen on Thirsty Thursdays. Once that day of the week comes around students start to forget the stresses of their week and go out to try and have some fun, sometimes too much fun. Many great memories are made at parties, some are good others seem to be the worst times of your life. But what drives a college student to party so hard? Is it s lack of confidence, a desire to fit in, just to let loose, or one of the other many possibilities? In this essay I reflect upon a few of the many parties I attended this past semester and studied the party goers so i could perhaps understand the drive to get so out of hand. During the course of composing my field notes, which I have blended into my essay, I gathered experiences as both an insider and an outsider to the environment to search for the answer to some of my questions. The first set of field notes that were taken started smooth and simple. The focus was directed towards place and space. So I went out each thursday trying to pick up on how much the atmosphere and environment contributes to legitimate parties, and made some interesting discoveries. On February 24th at midnight I walk into a house filled with many of my fellow students. The air is thick with the scent of smoke from both illegal and legal substances. I approach a table surrounded by people all playing a game by throwing a ping pong balls into red plastic solo cups filled with a piss colored substance, it smells stale and bitter, beer. The room that contains this table is full of chatter from incoherent voices. I observe all of this
I am only now beginning to enter my sophomore year at college but there has always one part of it that has been especially exciting, the parties. Yes, those glorious nights where you can escape from the nagging of your parents, procrastinate on some of that homework, or maybe even meet someone special. Any average college student could tell you that the craziest parties always happen on Thirsty Thursdays. Once that day of the week comes around students start to forget the stresses of their week and go out to try and have some fun, sometimes too much fun. Many great memories are made at parties, some are good others seem to be the worst times of your life. But what drives a college student to party so hard? Is it s lack of confidence, a desire to fit in, just to let loose, or one of the other many possibilities? In this essay I reflect upon a few of the many parties I attended this past semester and studied the party goers so i could perhaps understand the drive to get so out of hand. During the course of composing my field notes, which I have blended into my essay, I gathered experiences as both an insider and an outsider to the environment to search for the answer to some of my questions. The first set of field notes that were taken started smooth and simple. The focus was directed towards place and space. So I went out each thursday trying to pick up on how much the atmosphere and environment contributes to legitimate parties, and made some interesting discoveries. On February 24th at midnight I walk into a house filled with many of my fellow students. The air is thick with the scent of smoke from both illegal and legal substances. I approach a table surrounded by people all playing a game by throwing a ping pong balls into red plastic solo cups filled with a piss colored substance, it smells stale and bitter, beer. The room that contains this table is full of chatter from incoherent voices. I observe all of this