I went to The Strip sober, and stayed sober the entire night

A typical Friday or Saturday night for my friends and I usually involves pregaming at one of their apartments, heading to a club, and finally, waking up in bed the next morning with no recollection of the previous night.

While sure, it’s always a fun and interesting night, I decided that I needed a break from drinking this weekend, so I did the unthinkable: I went to The Strip sober, and actually stayed sober the whole night. Even though I thought I would regret the decision immediately, I was surprised I actually sort of had a good time.

When I got to my friend’s apartment, the pregame had already started and the Hennessy and vodka bottles were making their way around the room. I kept passing up my turn, watching the others take a swig from the bottle, and having all their worries lifted away.

Later on, we decided to walk to the club, because why not? Well, while the other girls felt the warmness of the drinks throughout their bodies, I felt nothing but the frigid 45 degree weather. There was just no going back at this point.

When we finally got to The Strip, the first thing I noticed was the amount of people who were stumbling all around me. Some girls definitely had way too much to drink, but that didn’t stop the guys from trying to make a move on any of them.

Something else I noticed was how many girls were celebrating their 21st birthdays. You could tell right off the bat who they were because of the champagne bottle in their hands, the huge waltz signs tied around their necks, and their insane outfits. Usually when you’re drunk your dancing skills suffer, but the girls celebrating their 21st birthdays were so on point, you’d think they were professionals dancers.

About an hour into being at The Strip, my friends were dancing and having a great time, but probably due to my soberness, I really was just not in the mood to dance and felt sort of awkward. Instead, I continued to observe the strange things I was noticing while sober.

As the night wore on, I never realized how many guys would come up and talk to me. I thought it was funny how they would always ask my name, as if they would actually remember it the next day. They also always offered me alcohol, which I repeatedly declined. Honestly, the amount of girls that I noticed taking drinks from random guys was alarming, and led to me making a mental note to myself to not accept anymore drinks from guys at clubs.

At one point in the night, my friends and I took a breather, and spotted a dog in the club. I can’t even imagine how I would have reacted to this dog if I had been drunk. Everyone around me was freaking out and throwing themselves on the poor creature. My friend was so excited she gave the dog a hug and almost cried.

At this point, it was 2 in the morning and definitely time to leave. And of course, a night out in Tallahassee doesn’t go without a hitch- my friend got lost in the process. Losing a friend while sober is incredibly more concerning than losing a friend when you’re drunk. After multiple phone calls and random guys trying to help us find her, one of whom was slapped across the face by another friend for no apparent reason, we finally found her and were ready to go home.

Tallahassee is wild. Drunk or sober, it’s always an interesting night. I’m proud to say, though, I went the entire night without a single drop of liquid courage in my system. Although I don’t recommend going to a club sober- too many moments of awkwardness and creepy men- it was a good experience, and I’m glad I gave it a shot.