| The Foundry Nightclub in Carlow (Photo: henparty.ie) |
Okay, so if any of you have been reading some of my past ‘Gaelic Girl’ blog posts, you know that I try to keep my posts positive, and about literature, culture, or other new discoveries I’ve encountered during my study abroad experience.
I’m not one to write a lot about boys or going out because to be completely frank I think other less popular and more intellectually stimulating topics deserve coverage too. Everyone and their first cousin is writing about boys and dating and drinking…and since I’ve never been a “bandwagon” type person I’ve made it my goal to avoid such topics when I can.
That being said, this blog post is not going to be one of those profound, academic, or brilliantly researched pieces of writing. This post is, if I’m being honest with myself, more of a rant and, I suppose, a warning for unsuspecting young women going into nightclubs. So, without further ado, I present my rant…
Last night I decided to go to a nightclub with one of my friends for her birthday. I’ll preface this tale with the following information:
1) I don’t really like clubs that much. They are loud. They are crowded. They tend to be filled with the drunkest of the drunks, and you can’t hear a word anyone is saying.
2) I prefer bars or pubs to clubs because they tend to have a good balance between music, drinks, and conversation.
3) I’m a sucker for birthdays and I would do practically anything for my friends, so if a friend, on his or her birthday, wants to go to a club then it’s to a club I go.
Before I continue, I want to say that I did have a fun time hanging with my friend, dancing and having a couple drinks (truly only a couple because I am flat broke right now) even though I was at a club. I enjoyed my Snakebite (a mixture of Bulmer’s Cider, Heineken, and Blackcurrant juice) and I danced like a fool to Carly Rae Jepsen’s ridiculously addictive song “Call Me Maybe”.
I also fixed the toilet in the ladies room when one of the guys on the staff couldn’t…but that’s kind of off- topic and moving away from the moral of the story.
Anyway, I’ve discovered that unless you want to get slobbered on or you’re looking for a random hookup, you can’t be a nice person in a club. I am one of those people who, if smiled at, will smile back because you know, it’s the nice thing to do. In Irish bars and pubs, this usually leads to nothing except the simple, kind acknowledgement of another person’s presence at your chosen “watering hole” of the night. Occasionally, it also leads to conversation, which is also nice.
At clubs…an innocent, very quick I might add, returned smile or even a misplaced look in the wrong direction can put you in quite the pickle. Unless you want someone to come at you in a manner similar to a primal animal in a jungle, than smiling, even eye contact, is a terrible, terrible idea. Hey, maybe I’m a bit naive to think that a person can go into a club and dance without being smothered by a member of the opposite sex, or eight members of the opposite sex in my case last night, but I still think certain people take the “club night out” mentality a bit too far.
The worst part is, when you’re completely honest with these people, and tell them that you’re not looking for anything (which is a hell of a lot nicer than leading them on), they look at you like you are the most horrendous human being that ever graced the face of the earth, never mind the country of Ireland.
Obviously honesty isn’t appreciated, even though I probably saved these guys a bunch of money on drinks they may have bought me AND I gave them more time to find different girls who are willing to make out with them. You’re welcome, guys, you’re welcome.
The moral of this story is, my lovely readers, that if you’re looking for a night out in Ireland with music, conversation, drinking, and maybe some dancing: go to a bar or a pub and steer clear of the nightclubs, unless of course you are looking for that proverbial wild night out. The company at pubs and bars is exceedingly more enjoyable and the drinks are usually cheaper too.
Oh yeah, and as a perk, you probably won’t have to fix the toilets.
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