Instead of giving my opinion of what I think about the election and making a video or an article about it (because we all know that there aren’t enough of those), I want to share with you all what happened on the night of the election, and what it meant for me.

Earlier in the day, a lot of people went to the Student Union building to vote (I already voted via an absentee ballot and couldn’t vote in the Student Union) including a couple of my friends. As the day came to a close and the results for the states came in one by one, my dorm was holding an election viewing party to view the results of the election live. Balloons, snacks, and other decorations were set up specifically for the event; one could easily mistake the occasion for a New Year’s celebration. However, me, my roommate, his girlfriend, and a few other friends decided not to go to the party since it was loud, obnoxious, and we could hear it from our room. However, we could tell who was making progress by the cheers and boos coming from the party.

At about 11:00 that night, we all saw that Trump was making significant ground by that time and was well ahead of Clinton. We had a map of the election on our laptops and held a viewing party of our own from our room while we hung out, spoke, and watched random videos on YouTube. By 11:30 Clinton took California and we were happy to see that she had the most populated state in the country–but with Trump taking Texas, the South, much of the Midwest, and predictions of Florida, we knew that it wasn’t going to help her out at all.

We stayed in the room all night as we saw Trump getting more and more of a lead. Still, we kept our cool (for the most part) and enjoyed the night. By 1:00 in the morning it was clear to everyone that Trump was going to win and that Clinton had her run. We were all disappointed (secretly, I was somewhat relieved to see Clinton not win the presidency, but still upset nonetheless) and sent into a state of incomprehensibility about how it came to this.

At 2:00 in the morning, we all came to accept the fact that Trump won the presidency and that he was in charge now. When we did so, we all went to bed, uneager to wake up to the news of our new president-elect. But in lieu of the stress and the panic attacks of the election, something amazing happened.

As we saw the election unfolding and results coming out one by one, those friends that I had surrounding me–we all had a great time that night, regardless of who won. From 9:00pm until 2:00am we eagerly watched as the elections took place and saw what we would have never expected, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t make a good time of it. We were there in that room, talking to one another, singing songs, and laughing no matter how grim the situation looked, and did so in the company of all of us as friends. That was what made election night special for us: that we were still able to laugh and sing even with all of this going on. We may not have joined any of the festivities outside for long, but we still had a great time nonetheless.

On that night, in spite of all that was happening and all that we feared, we took an oath to one another. We swore that no matter how bad or tough things got, we’d all look after each other and take care of ourselves in these uncertain times. None of us know what’s going to happen, and that’s why we have to stay together to bear it out.

Why am I telling you this? Simple. In lieu of all the division and protests going on, it’s important to know who your friends are. Even though we were all scared about the election, we still had fun with one another, and if you can make something good out of something like that, then you know that those are friends you will keep for a long, long, time.