Although spring semester is winding down, fraternities across campus can be found doing quite the opposite, as they find every excuse and any means possible to bring the Greek community out from their final attempts at test cramming and paper writing, and into their tarped-in front yards. It seems like just yesterday a friend was asking me if I was excited for the upcoming “darty" season. Young and naïve, I answered, “Oh, darties, like date parties? Yeah, I guess," but it was after her response “No, not DATE parties, DAY parties," that I realized that I had no idea what I was in for.
When football season fades away, forlorn Alabama students find themselves searching for something somewhat comparable to do on the weekends, and when there is no particular seasonal excitement, why not make some? Hence, the darty was born. As school comes to an end and darties reach their peak for the semester, we realize the many things they have taught us along the way.
1. The early bird does get the worm.
After a Friday night out, the typical response to waking up early on a Saturday is, “I think I'll just sleep in. We can go out tonight." WRONG. From mid-January to early May, the proper response is usually something along the lines of, “I'll be ready in 10. We wouldn't want to miss the ice luge."
2. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Some may have learned the hard way that darties are not the time for throwing back countless shots before heading out. That is, if you don't want to wake up at 9 p.m. unable to move. In order to fully appreciate the darty, we learn to pace ourselves so as to embrace the entirety of what the day, and hopefully night, has to offer. You just don't learn this kind of endurance anywhere else.
3. Come as you are.
Although many darties have unique themes, on any given spring weekend you can find a house just having a darty for the sake of dartying. In this case, any attire is welcome, from a sorority XL tee, to the usual sports jersey frat stars insist on wearing. We rarely have this freedom anywhere else, so for this, we are truly thankful.
4. Drunk calories don't count.
They do, actually, and darty season has also taught us how to spend an entire Sunday in the gym. Whether you convinced yourself that Ichiban is indeed NOT sketchy and you DID in fact need sushi, or you drowned yourself in Easy Mac before taking on the approaching evening, chances are you needed some sort of sustenance, and a lot of it, to re-energize for the night. You've already consumed thousands of calories of beer anyway, so why stop?
5. It ain't over till its over.
Or, until the fat lady sings... Or, until you've heard “Dixieland Delight" at least eight times... Or, until you're the last person standing in a yard of empty beer cans, and it is no longer considered daylight. . .Whichever way, darties have taught us to stick it out until the very end, and we will continue to do so, even in the looming presence of cumulative exams and final papers.
From Shipwrecked to Hell's Angels, and everything in between, darties have shown us the good, the bad, and the ugly of spring semester. Thank you for everything you do, darty season. We'd be lost and confused without you.
