A couple Friday’s ago, my roommates and I were invited to a party at one of the student accommodations located on the outskirts of Jönköping. Vojta had already attended one of these parties and said that it was awesome so Sandra and I were pretty excited. They girls that invited us told us to come around 11:00 or 11:30 pm. At first Sandra and I were just thinking about how we were going to stay up and stay motivated to party that late. Something that we realized we would have never thought before the pandemic. So, we decided we would do anything we could to stay awake and in the party mood. We were worried that our expectations were too high because as we all know, a “fun party” during Covid-19 is never really the same as the parties we used to go to but we figured, a party is a party and at this point we will take it.
Around 6 pm, Vojta and I started getting in the party mood. Well, we first watched an episode or two of The Office because we realized that it was only 6 pm… And then we threw on some music and started cookin’ up some burgers. Vojta made the best-looking double-decker burger that I’ve ever seen. Even as a vegan, it made me drool. I made some vegan burgers with all kinds of topings and garlic fries though so I was set. Sandra and Paul (Sandra’s boyfriend) came home while we were cooking, so we figured that would be a good time to grab some beers and kick the night off! Our friend Lilou came a bit later as well. We had some drinks, got dressed up, got some make-up on, and we were off!
We took the bus around 11 pm and arrived around 11:30 pm. We followed Vojta because he knew where he was going, and we soon arrived at an apartment were 4 of our friends were just hanging out and drinking. We said hey to everyone, grabbed a drink, and then just sat around the table listening to music and talking. We were there for a good hour, so Sandra and I started to think that this was the big party that Vojta had hyped up so much. We were a little bummed because in our minds, the “big party” that we expected was just another small gathering of friends in an apartment, drinking and talking. In other words, another pandemic “party”. But to our surprise, around 20 minutes after we started getting bummed out, everyone started getting up and getting dressed to leave the apartment. I was a pretty excited wondering where we were off to next.
Around 12:30 am we headed downstairs and outside in the snow to another one of the student buildings down the way. As we got closer we saw some colorful lights shining out of the window of one of the floor level apartments and we heard loud music and singing. Oh my gosh finally. After a year of not partying like this we were finally going to have a night where we could get drunk, dance, meet new people, do stupid stuff… It was awesome. In the first 5 minutes of entering the building I met some new people. One of the guys was German and the other was Mexican. Finally some new faces from new places. We grabbed some drinks and just started dancing. Despite the fact that Covid-19 is still very much out there and a threat, everyone that night wasn’t worrying about it. I know it isn’t very smart to take a risk and to not worry about something as contagious and potentially dangerous as Covid-19 but I’m happy to report that no one got sick that night. They were playing awesome music and we were all just drinking and having a good time. It felt so freeing to be dancing and singing in close proximity to bunch of people after not having been able to do this kind of thing for over a year. It gave me a glimpse of hope and how it will be when we finally get out of this pandemic.
We stayed until around 5:30 in the morning. I didn’t want the night to end. I know that I can’t party like this all the time right now… The risk is too high. Even though I’m young and healthy, I would really rather not get sick and especially not spread the virus. So, as time goes on we will be careful and not go out like this as often. As amazing as it was, partying like that is just not really a luxury that we have right now. Hopefully in the coming months things will get better because damn, that party was just a little taste of what is to come when this pandemic is over! For all of those held in confinement while we were supposed to be out partying, I say that I feel you, and let’s party when this is all over?
Who else is ready…?