“ID please,” the large, intimidating bouncer firmly says at the entrance of the bar. It’s a Friday night and you’re just trying to have a good time with your friends during the summer. You think you’ll be sneaky enough to not get checked at the ever so prestigious passageway to a night of dancing, laughter and funny Snapchat stories. You pull out your fake ID with shaking hands and an immense amount of hope. You got in last weekend, so why would it be any different this time? The bouncer shines his flashlight on the plastic card, laughs and hands it back. “This is fake, sorry. Can’t let you in.” Your heart drops, then you proceed to sit on the curb of a busy street in your town waiting for your mom to pick you up and bring you home just in time for 10 PM Friends on Nick at Nite.
As a college sophomore home for three months during the summer, you’re just trying to work, get tan and have fun with friends in between grueling semesters of endless library hours. Two years ago, before freshman year, you never thought the infamous trend of house parties with every-person-from-high-school in attendance would be a rare ocurrence. Now on the weekends, you have to bank on getting in to the bar with a fake out- of-state ID and luck that God (and the bouncer) will be on your side that night. And if you do happen to get in, be sure to accidentally max out your debit card or use all, if any, cash in your wallet.
Maybe it’s just me, but being 20 is a weird age. Going to bars and being older is a new and exciting feeling, but the waiting game of not being 21 is a disappointing one. Summers are filled with all of your friends working and some commuting to the nearest city everyday for an internship and starting at a cubicle all day. You’re no longer a teenager- sad- but you’re not quite yet the Teen Vogue fashionista by day, club-goer by night that you’ve been waiting for since season one of The Hills.
Depending on what school you attend, the night-life may be a fickle one as well. More often than not, people complain about not being able to get in to wherever their older friends are going at night. Life as an underage, broke college student is tough regardless of the location.
It helps to think of the fact that there’ll be endless years of bar hopping and checking out the scene of various clubs in your mid-twenties. For now you may be underage and broke, but in a year or so you’ll be legal, and still broke. To make yourself feel better, think of the amount of money you’re saving on Long Island Iced Teas and overpriced bottles of beer; try to enjoy the rare text saying so-and-so’s throwing a house party while their parents are away and the cheaper fun you can have in your high school friend’s backyard. Although 20 might be the most “pointless” age and you’re so close yet so far to being Lauren Conrad, it’s important to remember that life is short, your bank account is running low, and there are good times to be had no matter where you go.
