Drinking is a way of life around here. UW administrators might not appreciate it, but really, our drinking life is one of the few areas in which we have actual diversity in this town. Normally, I end up in one of the same five bars. But this past weekend, I explored all the major avenues of downtown Madison drinking.
As usual, it all started Thursday night at the Blue Velvet Lounge. I sat there casually and enjoyed a tasty drink with a fun companion. I went home to find a frat party on the terrace beneath my window. I checked it out, but it was nothing but frat guys and freshman girls. I could never be attracted to a girl who said, \You drink pale ale? My dad drinks that."" That pretty much ended my interest in the younger women. And don't even get me started on the classy Greek dudes who left my building reeking of urine.
The one good thing to come out of the evening was meeting my friendly next-door neighbor, who invited me to celebrate his 21st birthday with him two days later. In the meantime, I had already kicked my weekend off with a nice bar and a frat party. Now it was time to make two new stops: a grad student party and a house party.
I've long had a soft spot for drinking with grad students. I have several philosophy grad student friends and it can be incredibly fun to drink with really intelligent and articulate people who are likely to spend a Friday evening in a bar debating what ""that"" means in Meatloaf's ""I Would Do Anything For Love.""
This grad student party was different, though. It was pleasant and friendly, but they were all French grad students, and I always feel terribly inadequate around anyone who can properly speak French. This chased me to an undergrad house party, which was nice enough, except for two problems. First, it was hot and crowded. Second, when you're in a party full of good-looking people and it's being thrown by attractive identical twins, you can't help but feel like you're trapped in a beer commercial.
My neighbor's birthday the next night brought me to the last item on my list: party bars. I almost never go to the Nitty Gritty unless it's someone's birthday, but I always enjoy it. I think it's the staff. If I had to be joyous about people's birthdays every night at work, I'd go postal. But their bartenders pull it off somehow and my hat's off to them. We then hit State Street Brats. Given my views of frat guys and freshman girls, you can probably guess how I feel about Brats. But it was the birthday boy's choice.
At the end of it all, I had to spend most of Sunday studying and rehydrating and Monday night saw me return to my roots, as I had tasty drinks with a fun companion at the Kimia Lounge, while being entertained by the wonderful Sean Michael Dargan. But while this weekend's forays away from my normal, lower key partying, they were worthwhile. It's important to mix up your partying sometimes. After all, a big part of any good education is exposure to diversity. And drinking is about the only way to find that in Madison.
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