As a final year whose clubbing activity has steadily increased throughout my time at university, I often feel like I’ve got it the wrong way round. Most people I know were party animals as freshers but have now replaced their alcohol-fuelled lifestyles for pyjama nights in front of the TV in third year. While this is relaxing and especially appreciated when hungover, staying in every evening of the week to binge watch boxsets is something you can do at any stage of your life. Isn’t it much more worthwhile and invigorating to make the most of being young, being a student, and being free, and go out clubbing while you still can?
What final years need to remember is that although you’re older than first and second year students, you’re still not old. You’re at the prime of your life. Looking back on your time at uni from a more mature perspective, you’ll see your student self as fresh-faced and youthful, and those few years you spent dossing about and thinking you were busy as the best time of your life. Even in final year, you can afford to have the odd evening off and spend the occasional morning recovering from too much vodka beneath your duvet while craving water and painkillers. A few nights like that a term will never affect your overall grade if that’s what’s stopping you. Of course, some people just don’t fancy clubbing and fair enough, everyone likes different things, but if it’s your final year status keeping you from the dancefloor then think again. You’re still young enough to get away with drinking cheap spirits and forgetting a significant proportion of the night, and if you end up head over the loo with your housemate holding your hair back then just remember, in the words of Sylvia Plath, ‘There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends.’
A good night out can always be justified by seeing it as a well-deserved break and opportunity for refreshment. Sometimes you just need to spend a day or two away from your diss and enjoying yourself before you can bear to sit in front of it again, and often it’s far easier to concentrate after time apart from your new priority. You’re only a student for a few precious years, and the rest of your life is a long time to regret not making the most of it. At the end of the day, it’s the memories you take away from uni that stay with you for life, while the satisfaction from a first or a 2:1 is only temporary.
But do not fear, there are still plenty of clubbing options that remain open to you long after student life ends. Many venues, particularly those that host live DJs and place more emphasis upon the music than the audience, exercise no age restrictions at all. Only recently we befriended a couple in their fifties (shout out to Robin and Julia) who, like us, were clubbing until six o’clock and told us that they’d brought up a family and were now out enjoying themselves after getting their freedom back. If middle-aged parents can go out, dance all night, and look super cool while doing so, then there’s no excuse for final year students to be boring and feel too old to be having fun.