Thursday night drinks

Thursday night. Party night in the city of Louvain. A time of senseless partying, abundant consumation of alcohol, outrageous dance moves, incredibly shallow and unbelievably deep conversations, ... I'm telling you, Thursday night is a night of opportunities. The stress of the day is cast off like a heavy load that has been riding on your back all day and that you can now throw away into a corner and never look at again - that is, until the dawn breaks through. But between sundown and sunrise everything seems possible.

Now I won't say that a large part of the ambience is due to the gentle and soothing touch of alcohol, but I also won't deny it. In my experience, I've learnt that the right amount of liquor can unveil the true nature of the person. The higher the percentage, the higher the level of trust and the closer you get to that person. Forget ethanol or temazepam, if you really want to get to know someone, I'd suggest a few shot glasses and an unlimited supply of "I never" questions. Guaranteed personal growth and sincere conversations with unvarnished tongues and unwavering honesty.

People have said that I have some sort of problem with alcohol, but I really don't. I know when to get out, but sometimes it just feels good to succumb to the madness and the obliviousness. To not care, if only for a few hours, is total bliss. To be shielded from judgement, to be totally and unconditionally out of it, can be someone's salvation. Not that I condone irresponsible drinking, but there is always a fine line between sobriety and decadance. It is a dangerous yet seductive way of flirting with transformation. On one hand you can be responsible and down to earth, but on the other hand you can let go for a while and ride the comfortable wave of intoxication.

Intoxicated, what an amazing way of saying you're completely shit-faced. The known symptoms for alcohol intoxication are: slurred speech, impaired balance, poor coordination, flushed faces, reddened eyes, reduced inhibition and erratic behaviour. To the untrained eye this screams after-school special, but to worshippers of the bottle, this sounds like a pretty damn good deal. Slurred speech, fine, who needs it when you've got body language? Impaired balance, totally unnecessary, if you're gonna get hit by a bus, ain't enough balance in the world to protect you from that. Poor coordination in turn, is a trait that some people are given at birth (up to this day I still have trouble distinguishing left from right). Flushed face? It's called shame and we all gotta deal with it. Reddened eyes? Sounds like hay fever to me. Reduced inhibition and erratic behaviour? Seems to be a hell of a fun way to spend an evening, free from social constraints and conformity!

As for the youngsters reading, it's probably wise to quickly mention that alcohol is bad and if you drink it you will go to hell and mommy and daddy will be very upset, but who am I kidding? If that were the case, hell would have been booked solid since the day people started squashing grapes together and calling it wine.

Realizing that I have wandered far away from my original subject, it's best if I now focus on what I was actually trying to say. Thursday night = drink night.

I've been studying at the HUB for quite some time now and yet I've never been out with the people I met there. So I suggested we go drink something in Louvain. It started with a shot of Goldstrike in café Giraf, for the ignorant, Goldstrike is propably one of the greatest beaverages you will ever consume in your entire life. For god sakes, it contains actual flakes of gold foil and the delicousness reeks of cinnamon and sweetness. So after we had taken in this divine drink, we set course for another bar.

Being more at ease there, we started playing "I never". In normal circumstances I'm already a pretty open guy, but with a few shots in me I really loosen up. The same goes for my company of the evening. We quickly shared intimate details about our sex life and other personal things. I don't get why people are so uptight about it sometimes. I have this good friend of mine at school with whom I can genuinely and openly talk about sex and it doesn't bother her. Considering the time and age it's hard to think that a well-known subject like sex is still considered taboo.

As we learned more about each other, I also saw a whole other side to them. A side that is reserved for life outside of school, free from social supervision. We were able to talk and act freely which is a wonderful feeling. In the past, getting to know this other side of a person has served me well.

One of my best friends couldn't stand me before, but at one of my parties I got to ask him about the reasons why and ever since that moment we've been best friends. Although I like to think it all happened quite natural, I know that alcohol somehow functioned as a lubricant to smoothen the rough edges that divided us.

This is why I truly love Thursday night drinks. It is an almost magical time of day when boundaries are surpassed, ancient grudges forgotten and new relationships are formed. So if you have a friend that isn't really your friend, but you still want there to be some sort of connection, I highly recommand having a drink with him. And it's perfectly fine if you decide to have some coke (the drink, not the drugs) with your liquor, there's no rule that says you need to be inebriated to forge a bond, all it takes is a little nudge - or sip.