Tuscaloosa, Alabama is mainly known for 3 things: its 17-time national championship football team, is home to a top-tier SEC school, and its popping nightlife. It doesn't matter if it's a Monday or a Saturday, the bars are always open. Now many Alabama college kids go to the bars as much as they can, in the four years they live here, but I never found the Title-Town's nightlife to be that interesting.
Every chance people get, they party it up in someone's club room. If we had a long weekend? BARS. We win a football game? BARS. If the governor issues a state of emergency for severe weather and classes are canceled? POUR. IT. UP. Since I have mild social anxiety and have an introverted personality around strangers, I usually steer clear of things like this, but somehow, my roommate convinced me to go out with her.
Here is the story of that... interesting night.
The night started out around 9 p.m. I was halfway finished with my makeup, and with every stroke of my highlighter brush, my urge to back outgrew larger and larger. I told myself, "You don't NEED to go out. You can have an even better time tonight if you stay in bed and binge watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine for the rest of the evening." But I know I made a promise, and I had to make sure I went through with it. When 9:30 p.m. came around, a few of our friends came to our apartment to get a little "lit" before we went to the bar. Soon afterward, we called an Uber to the Strip and were on our way.
When we reached the Strip, my friends decided that we'd go to Galettes since we were all 21 (you could only get in if you were of legal drinking age.) Thankfully, my friends warned me that I'd probably have to pay a cover since it was the weekend which wasn't an issue. The people in front of us didn't get the weekend cover memo, so when asked for their IDs and $5 cover, they very rudely said they "refuse to pay a cover for *visual cringe* GALLETTES" and stormed away, which made it faster for us to get in.
When we entered the bar, my anxiety was already through the roof from being around new people, so I headed to the bar to grab a drink. My friends were encouraging me to order the Yellowhammer since it was my first time there, but I declined and stuck to my go-to drink, a Vodka Cran.
As the night went by, the people at Gallettes became louder and drunker, and I gladly people-watched everything that went down in a dark corner. The main DJ seemed to be WAY too extra with his screaming and unnecessarily cursing every other word. Even though the music playlist was disappointing with bad remixes of The Chainsmokers and that song "Stacy's Mom," people still "grinded" (let it be known that it was VERY offbeat) with their significant others/random bar buddies with the occasional make-out sessions in the middle of the dance floor.
Needless to say, I actually did have fun since I was able to hang out with my friends, but I still don't think the bar life is for me. I'll just stick with my friend's house parties.
