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I went to my first frat party a week after my ‘boyfriend’ broke up with me. I went with a group of guys. It was the first time I ever went to party without my best friends to watch over me. (But it was surprisingly a refreshing experience and totally fun!) I got extremely drunk and I don’t remember the vast majority of that night but to this day, it remains one of the best parties I have ever been to. Since then, I have gone to two other frat parties so I now feel as though I have enough experience to reflect my thoughts about frat parties on to you all.

1. Boys are incredibly nice: Don’t get me wrong, there is still a few select creepy guys hitting on you and trying to get in your pants, but there is also an abundance of nice guys making sure that you’re doing okay and are ready to grab you a glass of water if you are to need it.
2. They are every bit as cool as they look in movies: When I went to my first frat party, I expected it to just resemble a normal house parties like the ones I had gone to throughout high school. But the amount of planning that goes into these parties is apparent. There is awesome music, dance floors, cool light set-ups. They are just a huge step-up from high school house parties.
3. Safety comes first: The majority of frat parties are depicted as absolutely crazy parties that are extremely dangerous. I feel like there is a generalized stereotype that frat parties have absolutely no rules, whereas I feel the exact opposite is the truth. Fraternities are supported and governed by the university so they have strict rules. No serving alcohol after 2am, you can’t leave with your alcohol, there is a group of sober people in charge; nothing ever really gets out of control. However, there was one frat party on Halloween where we had to go through this two-story maze in the house in order to get to the party in the basement and I thought I was going to die. It was just a tiny bit scary.
4. Themed frat parties are the bomb: Most frat parties have a theme to raise the appeal for us students. The first one I went to was ‘Great Gatsby’ themed. It was called The Great Fratsby party. How cute is that?! It just adds to the excitement when you can dress up for a particular theme instead of just throwing on your sluttiest clothes.
5. Making friends: It is 10x easier to make friends at a frat party. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the alcohol hitting your blood stream or maybe it’s the general buzz of excitement in the air, but I become so much friendlier at frat parties and so do the majority of girls there. The myth of becoming friends with girls in the bathroom is a very real thing.

I know I’ve described frat parties in a highly positive light, but I would just like to throw out the disclaimer that I’ve only been to three. I am in no position to be overgeneralizing about frat parties. I have no idea what the ones may be like in your city or even the other frat parties in my city. This is just my experience and it just so happens that I had a positive experience. Thousands, millions of people have horror stories about frat parties. So, please stay safe. Use common sense. Don’t accept drinks from strangers. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t place yourself in a compromising position. Be smart and party smart kids. My goodness, I sound like a mother, but I worry about y’all. Just have fun, but not too much fun.