If you go to Birmingham-Southern College, Samford University, or University of Alabama at Birmingham, you understand the connotation behind Zydeco. Zydeco, a small bar that features bands occasionally, Karaoke on Thursdays, is something you have to experience once if you go to school in Birmingham. Commonly referred to as: ZydeNO, ZydeDon'tGo, ZydeHoe, ZydeBlow and more. Even with all of these appealing names, you can still find tons of college students there Wednesday-Friday night. If you're like me, always the designated driver and sober, then you understand how a night out at Zydeco can be hilarious or horribly boring.
1. Still being a child and having to pay the $5 cover when you're underage just to stand around and talk to your friends.
2. The awkward moment when high school boys hit on you.
I'm sorry sir, but as much as boys in college are horrible to deal with boys in high school are much worse. It's so great that you're finally 18, yay good for you! Doesn't mean us college ladies are interested. So just walk yourself back over to the herd of other high school boys staring at my friends and me and let me get back to being momma bear.
3. We just left the comfort of our tiny campus to venture out into the big city of Birmingham, only to speak to the same people that go to our small school.
So you spent the $5 to get in to this lovely place, so that your friends can have tons of fun. And then it dawns on you.... this entire place is full of people from your school. You drove or took an Uber all the way out here, paying money on the cover or if you're of age the expensive alcohol, just to sit around and talk to the sane people you would talk to on campus. Especially the boys: us ladies usually only speak to the boys from our campus, so getting out and meeting people doesn't really happen.
4. Watching the freshman girls dancing on the pole in the middle of the dance floor, on the bouncer, or on stage with the DJ.
This is my favorite part of people watching. Wow those girls can get down and in some short skirts with heels. You lose this ability after freshman year.
5. When you meet a girl in the bathroom line and immediate learn their life story.
My last Zydeco experience I made multiple trips to the bathroom just to keep my friends company (traveling in packs is always safe). During one trip, I met a lovely girl and proceeded to hear her entire life story while waiting in life. She went to Samford and is applying to be a flight attendant, etc. It's kind of cool to hear about what other people are doing with their lives. Oh yeah, and she was wearing a strap on baby carrier with a baby doll inside... Oh the people you meet at Zydeco.
6. When that girl you just met is more work than the friends you're with.
As much as you want to help this nice baby doll carrying random girl that you just met, you also have a ton of friends you're watching and you only have so much energy to dish out. Her crying about her personal problems with a boy you don't know about is not where you want to exert your energy.
7. People watching will becoming your favorite way to pass the time.
Whether it is the people dancing, people hitting on each other and miserably failing, people chain smoking, or just plain observing all of the insanity that occurs when you put a ton of college kids in one place.
8. That one friend who gets so hammered every single time.
Nothing is more frustrating than having to deal with a friend when they are sick from partying a little too hard. That internal conflict that occurs when you love them lots and feel sorry for them, but then again they slightly, maybe, kind of did it to themselves.
9. Then that same friend after getting cleaned up runs back to the bar to get another drink, because come on why should being insanely sick stop the fun... because that's logical.
You love your friend. When your friend is sober, they are so super intelligent and can make such big girl decisions. But when they are drinking, especially at Zydeco, it never goes well. And being the sober friend, capable of thinking clearly, you end up having to football tackle them away from the bartender.
10. The almost unquestionable action of consuming so much food after a typical night at Zydeco at Al's Deli, Waffle House, or where ever your friend group loves to grub.
Consuming alcohol or not, you can't help but feel the overwhelming draw to consume pounds of food that you will regret in the morning, because you just survived a night at Zydeco. Congratulations!
