When I walked into the biggest party I’ve ever been to, everybody started cheering. It was packed—nowhere to sit, barely any room to stand but as I made my way through the crowd, face after face lit up and yelled, “Allie Petrie’s here!” Then people started chanting my name so I stood up on a chair and pounded my fist in the air, which of course brought an uproarious cheer.

I’m not sure why this happened. Maybe it’s because I waited until my last semester at Graceland to ever drink or party and even then, I only did so a handful of times with close friends. This one big party was like…my coming out. No longer some “holier than thou” saint, I walked into the room the same as everybody there and they were glad to see me.

That night, some people taught me how to play a game called “quarters,” I had a few good conversations, cheered on some “ping pong” players, used an ipod with speakers to play dj and then left when the cops came because of the noise. I walked home with some friends to their house, lay on their roof and talked about life. It was a beautiful night. I’m sure nothing like that party will ever happen again in my life because, well, I’m done with college and moving on. I’m not opposed to big parties, I just only experienced one and now, I don’t see why another opportunity would arise.