Erin go bragh! Happy St. Patrick's Day. Boston was the first city in the colonies to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day (1737), so the Lush urges all of you to go out tomorrow and enjoy a pint of Guinness (or seven) at one of the city's many fine pubs - just don't forget to wear your green.
The Lush could wax nostalgic for pages about her favorite Irish pubs. Like a good Boston Irish girl, it is difficult to hold in my excitement for tomorrow's festivities. But this week, I have some important research findings to share with you.
If you are anything like the Lush, you are more than slightly afraid that after the age of 22, your social life will decline. Good news for all my fellow age-ophobes out there: Based on research conducted by the Lush last weekend, there is most definitely still fun after 22. The University does emphasize undergraduate research, and this is my contribution.
Friday night, my roommates and I headed downtown for Ellen's sister's going away party. As you learned a couple of weeks ago, the Lush is dreading her approaching 22nd birthday and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if 20- (and 30-) somethings could still get down.
After some initial difficulty getting into the building (turns out adults let strangers piggyback as much as freshmen do), we finally found the right apartment. Even though the party's host did not believe we were old enough to be drinking, we tried to make the best of the awkward first few minutes in which no one was drinking and we knew no one.
We decided to make ourselves busy, because those "old people," as we took to calling them, needed a little bit of help. Good thing Ellen is a JELL-O shot expert, because the old people were doing it all wrong.
The Lush also found herself shaking her head when the old people tried to get a game of Flip Cup going. As some of them practiced beforehand, they were trying to flip from the big side to the small side. But after we college girls gave them some lessons the game got underway.
After a few rounds of Flip Cup, those old people really loosened up and the party was in full swing. One thing they did right was get a pi?±ata. And what did they fill the pi?±ata with? Booze!
As the pi?±ata cracked and eventually fell, it spilled a delightful rain of nips of all varieties onto the party like a gift from heaven (in plastic bottles, of course). We may or may not have collected several of these apiece, concealed them in our purses and consumed them on the T ride back to campus. The rest of the T may or may not have been distinctly unamused by said behavior.
By now, quite the cast of characters had assembled. It turns out that once you are old, you don't actually have to know the person throwing the party, or the person that the party is honoring, or even one of those people's friends. As we walked around the apartment forcing them to eat the JELL-O shots, we made some small talk and found out there were friends of coworkers of friends at this party.
So let me tell you about some of these characters. For starters, we had a couple of Jumbos in attendance (because Julie graduated from Tufts), one of whom confessed a crush on one of my professors, which was a bit weird.
Now for the Lush's three favorite attendees. First, we have awkward vest guy. We have no idea who he knew there, but he was a very enthusiastic flip cup player and may or may not have been 40. Next, we have random British lady who apparently works with someone who didn't even end up making it to the party. She may or may not have been 50.
But the absolute best has to be Mr. Cowboy. I am talking the real deal here - boots, belt, hat - and 100 percent awesome. Even though he is apparently a minister from Pennsylvania, the Lush was fascinated by the Cowboy. I spent the next 30 minutes whispering "Look Ellen/Kelly, Brokeback Mountain" in what I thought was out of Mr. Cowboy's earshot. Now that I think about it, however, I bet the glare he gave me is a pretty good indication that I was decidedly within earshot.
After being told to never graduate from college for about the seventh time, my roommates and I realized that we had to hightail it to the T before it closed. We had a 21st to hit back in Somerville (Happy Birthday Corey!) - including some 2 a.m. kickball on the field by the Powderhouse Rotary.
In conclusion, this highly scientific study yielded some encouraging results. "Old people" are a little awkward and may need a little help on party essentials like Flip Cup and JELL-O shots, but their years of experience can lead to innovations like the Pi?±ata-o-booze. And your typical keg party just cannot beat the cast of characters they had assembled.
So there is a social life after 22, it may just take some adjustment. Let us all pledge, however, that we will never forget such crucial knowledge as which side to flip the cup onto so that we will never need young upstarts like the Lush and Company to show us how it's done.
On a final note, the Lush would like to wish a very Happy Spring Break to everyone at Tufts. Personally, I have been working my ass off and am ready to finally get away somewhere tropical for Spring Break - previous attempts have been foiled by lack of funds and tonsillitis.
So everyone get out there, be crazy (but be safe). And if any of you Jumbos will be hitting the Bahamas this coming week, look for the Lush at Club Waterloo - shots anyone?
Jillian Harrison is double majoring in history and archeology. She can be reached via e-mail at Jillian.Harrison@tufts.edu, just not on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday nights.
