party culture — an inside look at drugs, alcohol, and partying in university
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Hey, Nadia. Hi, it was really nice to see you this weekend.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Hello. Hi.
It was nice to see you guys too.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I think you've become more affectionate since you moved to college.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, probably art. Um, what is the saying? Yeah. And I feel like I-
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. So you're more affectionate and you actually love us more.
Nadia Herrera-Set
No, I'm just more affectionate. I feel like I like miss I have like time to like really miss you guys
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, yeah, and we have less time to annoy each other. Okay, so I wanted to talk a little bit about upcoming events. We have Halloween coming up, as we're recording this, it's October 16th. We have Halloween coming up, and that I think means that there's gonna be like some Halloween parties. So I kinda wanna talk a little bit about Halloween and a little bit about partying culture in college. What do you wanna start with first?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Okay.
Whatever one you want. They go hand in hand in college actually. I said I think they go hand in hand. It's holo weekend. Or some colleges literally celebrate Halloween the entire month.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay, what are you gonna be for Halloween? What'd you say?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Really? Okay, I guess we'll talk about party culture first. I was gonna ask you what you're gonna be for Halloween. Actually, let's just get out of the way. What are you gonna be for Halloween?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Oh, wait.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, I'm going to be Jesse slash Woody from Toy Story with, it's like a group costume. Um.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So how are you gonna be Jesse and Woody?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Well, like, if it would be the same costume, kind of, you know, like, so I'm just gonna be whichever one I feel like. You know? No. Jessie's the girl and Woody's the... And they're both cowboys. So it's like the same thing. They kind of, like, their costumes would be the same.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Oh wait, are Jesse and Woody the same thing?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Ah, I see. I see, I see. I guess it's also like a slight political statement too. It's like a gender fluid cowboy cartoon.
Nadia Herrera-Set
if you want to think about it like that then yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Which actually leads me to my next question is there is like, I think, especially for your age, this pressure to be dress up sexy or use Halloween as an opportunity to dress a little dress a little sexier.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I feel like, well, okay, my other costumes are like men in black and also, well, it's like, or just trying to use what I have. Um, but I don't know if it's like a, maybe some people feel pressured. I don't feel pressured. I feel like for me, it's like, well, I did say to use things I already have, but it's like an excuse to buy things that I'd wear later. But my excuse is that it's for my costume.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I see. I see. But then, like, do you notice that, like, you could be men in black and wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt and sunglasses, or you could be men in black wearing a miniskirt, high heels, black tights and a tube top. Which version are you going to be?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Well, um, I have a miniskirt, and I bought a blazer. And I bought, well, I mean, I'll see the day of. It really depends, but I bought a blazer.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I guess maybe I should be grateful that it's... Okay, so I should be grateful that it's not like just the blazer and no bottoms.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, basically. I'm just kidding. I mean, I guess people like to dress a lot more.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I'm sorry.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
provocatively maybe, or an excuse to be.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, on Halloween, but like, you could do that in college anytime you want. So, I mean, I guess you couldn't really wear like bathing suit bottoms out, but like for Halloween you could say, I'm, I don't know, fill in the blank, but...
Alyssa Herrera-Set
That's true. That is true.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
A lifeguard. Yeah. Okay. I think we could go on and on about Halloween, the sexualization of cartoon characters, the... Just all the things. But I don't necessarily think we'll come up with any answers, except for maybe me being a little bit stressed thinking about you on Halloween, walking around in cold Boston with a blazer and no bottoms.
Nadia Herrera-Set
But I don't know.
..
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I would do that regardless of Halloween.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Great. Okay. I guess I should just accept it. You get to wear whatever you want to wear, your body, your choice. You choose.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, exactly. I choose. And I choose to wear a blazer and a miniskirt when it's really cold outside.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay. So then with Halloween, it doesn't have to come with partying, but I guess let's talk a little bit about partying. So you happen to be somebody that likes to go out, right? You like to go out. Maybe there are other people in college that don't want to. So are you around, are all of your friends people that like to go to parties or do you have friends that some do and some don't? Do you have to segregate based on, I like to party, I don't?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I feel like I definitely have friends that do and don't. I think I like to go out but I also can stay in but like I want to have fun so I'll just I'm usually the person that like if someone wants to go out but has no one else with them like I'll go out with them.
But I do have friends that don't like to go out as much. And I feel like because like Northeastern is not necessarily, you don't have to go out to parties if you don't want to. I know a lot of other colleges, like it's like the partying culture is a lot more intense. And so you're going out, like you could essentially go out every night of the week. Whereas at Northeastern, I feel like it's like a strict,
thing of most people will go out Friday and Saturday, some people will go out to bars on Thursday, but nobody's really going out on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and sometimes not, usually not Sunday also, which is like not the same like other colleges. So I feel like, I mean from friends, social media, like you can tell like, I know some of my friends like to go out or like
Alyssa Herrera-Set
How do you know what's going on at other colleges?
Nadia Herrera-Set
They like to go out more, but they also have the opportunity to go out more. Like, Northeastern, it's kind of... I mean, for me too, like, I don't necessarily only go to Northeastern parties, I can go to other colleges. So it's the school, plus like, we're in Boston. I don't know. I feel like Northeastern is just not a typical party school, so it's easy to do whatever you want.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So, okay.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, you don't feel the pressure. Like maybe some people at some schools feel like their only social life is if they go out to parties.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right. Yeah, exactly.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay, so I guess let's get to the juicy stuff. How much drinking is involved? And let's just put it out there that let's not name any names about who's drinking and not. How much drinking is involved? And how much underage drinking is involved?
Nadia Herrera-Set
I feel like, obviously there's a lot of underage drinking. You're not like legally allowed to drink until like I, like third, like usually third year or fourth year. No, your third or fourth year of college, but like, although this is not a party school, there's still a lot of people partying. So like your first and second year, you're gonna go out. It's not like you're gonna wait until.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
21, you mean? Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
But do you feel like you have to drink when you go out? Like you can go to a party. I mean, not necessarily do you feel like you have to drink, but like, do people feel like when they go to a party that they need to drink?
Nadia Herrera-Set
You could go, you don't have to.
Nadia Herrera-Set
It's not, you're not being forced to. Some frats that I go to, like, will make it a little bit harder. Like, not all frats will give out drinks, but most of the Northeastern ones do. But like other schools.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Oh.
Okay, so you walk in and there's like cocktail, there's like a bar or there's like a keg or there's like closed bottles or are they just like open containers that you just hope that they're fine?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Umm...
It depends. It depends. Sometimes, most of the times, they're like closed cans. And they're not usually like in the front. Sometimes that's kind of hard. You kind of have to like walk towards it. But I guess it just like depends on the place you're at. Some do like mixed drinks. But if they do, it's not like they're giving you like a whole like cup of it. Like you're getting like this much.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
shots you mean.
Nadia Herrera-Set
So it's not like a shot, but like it's a mixed drink. So it's like really small. They might not even give you a full shot because like they're paying for it. They don't wanna give you like more than they have to. I have had places like, like rats, like they'll give people, I've seen like, like little cups, but they have like a top on it. Like
Like a coffee cup, that's like a plastic cup. It's kinda cute, but obviously that's not everything. And I think that most of the MIT frats, it's, you don't, like, I feel like it's harder to get. It really just depends on the frat.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. OK, so what about bars and stuff like that? I guess what it comes down to is, are there a lot of people with fake IDs?
Nadia Herrera-Set
I definitely think that there are, I mean in college like it's Like if you want to go out to parties like it's and you or you want to drink or whatever like you kind of need it
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Do they card you at frat parties?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Frap parties here. No, I've heard like at other schools that they do But I guess I don't know like I have never been courted at a frat party Because with these wounds in Boston, it's definitely really hard to help till bars and stuff in clubs
like some schools and college towns like, you know, you have like, I'll hear stories of like, oh, like, there's this one place that all students go to, blah, blah. But like, because like, we're in the city, it's really hard to and sometimes it's just not that worth it. But that being said, a lot of people do go out and have fun at those types of things. But you do have to find your own way.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
On a scale of one to 10, how hard do you think it would be to get a fake ID? 10 being it's so hard, like practically impossible. And one is like it's practically like going on Amazon and just getting whatever I want.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Uh...
Nadia Herrera-Set
Uh, I would say like a four.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay. All right. And like, would you say that most people under 21 have a fake ID or it's like, not that common?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um... What do you mean? Like, I mean, obviously people under 21, if they have an ID that says they're 21, it's fake, but... Heh heh.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I know, but like, um, like, do a lot of, like, is it just, do you feel like it's kind of standard for people to, like, go to college and get a fake ID?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Uh, yeah, I would say so. I mean, I mean, it could be different at other schools. Um, yeah, I would say it's pretty standard. That's why I say it's easier because you'll hear people talking about it and, you know, like, it just makes it easily accessible.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
What about drugs? Is weed legal? Use of marijuana legal in Massachusetts? So how common is it that you'll see marijuana use and other kind of drug use?
Nadia Herrera-Set
I think so. Like, I think it was like, you know.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Umm... personally, like, I feel like it's pretty normal. I'm not really surrounded by a lot of people that do, like, other drugs. Like, I feel like it's as, like, I mean, I don't really know. It's like, I feel like it would be as accessible as it would be in any other city. Like if you want it, you could probably find it, but, um...
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I'm not surrounded by people. Like that stuff, drug use, like that isn't definitely, I mean, apart from like, marijuana, but I feel like other drug use, like, I don't know. You have to be like with a certain group of people. I don't like, it's definitely not a big thing.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
It's not like so common like, oh, there's everybody at that table snorting coke or whatever, you know, it's not like that common.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Right. I mean, it's, I guess, it could be like the people I'm, I've surrounded myself with, but yeah, that's how I feel.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
How worried are the people that you're around about the possibility of overdose and accidental overdose like fentanyl overdose?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, I would probably say it's a little bit, I have a bias thinking on that because I'm a public health major, like we talk about that all the time as like a topic in class. So in that way, it's definitely like a concerning topic, but, um, fortunately, I haven't like
like there hasn't been or I haven't heard of any incidents of that happening. Um, but we do live in a city. So while I don't hear about it with students, um, there's a lot of homeless people around the campus and like a certain street that's like considered like to be really dangerous with all that type of stuff. So, um, but that's the same with any city.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Right. So you had a terrible nickname for that street. But you like if you walk down that street, you feel like if you if someone wanted to get drugs, they know that they can go on that street and pick it up.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I don't know, like, obviously I've never tried, but, like, and I haven't... I don't know if it's like people get drugs there or there's just a lot of drug users end up on that street and I think the name of the street is coined because a lot of ambulances have to go there and there's just a lot of overdoses there. So I don't know if it... I don't know.
It's a big street, so like, you know, and we live in the middle of Boston.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah. All right. So what about like, is a school talking at all about, about like what to have what to do if you're at a party and someone passes out and you don't really know why?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, sorry, I couldn't hear the first part. What did you say?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Oh, are you, is your school at all like telling students about what to do if somebody passes out, you don't know why, like it could be, are they educating you on what happens if you have blood alcohol poisoning or if someone like potentially needs Narcan or something to counteract like fentanyl basically?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um...
There are not directly tall students. I think some classes offer, there's like one specific class I've heard that someone was able to get Narcan trained as a part of the class. I don't know if it was required. There's, I can't remember the name. But like, if you see, if one of your friends passes out or something's happening like that, you have like...
What's immunity? You have immunity if you call.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. But you would call 911 first, right?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I would, but I... Yeah, I would. Um... But yeah, you have immunity with the school.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I guess there's a sketchy situation. There's a girl that you don't know passed out at a party, maybe not passed, sleeping on the couch at a party. She's not supposed to be there. You hear around like, oh yeah, she was super drunk. She's just sleeping it off. You don't know her. What do you do? 911 seems intense, right? So then what?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
It would be like... I would do 911. It also depends on the situation. Like if I was with friends in my own dorm, I would call 911 and then also have someone get like someone at the front desk. But like, if you're at a frat party, I feel like frats here are like very concerned with like obviously like with their reputation and how...
You know, they don't want any liabilities. So if something like that is happening, they will call 911 for you. Like if someone gets hurt, if someone whatever, like they'll call 911 because they don't want that on them, you know, if they just ignore it. That could lead like to a whole lot of other problems. But, and like, same with like, like I said earlier, they're not forcing you to drink.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I feel like they're usually offering water if you ask them for water they'll get it for you. It's hard to... No. It's hard to like... Obviously control all these people and also control yourself if you're like... Under the influence. Um... But I haven't actually been around like to like anyone.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Do they offer food?
Nadia Herrera-Set
that's been, that's had alcohol poisoning like recently. I think it was, that was, well, when we were studying abroad in Greece. Yeah, I mean like, that's, unfortunately, that's kind of normal, but I, it's not normal, it's common.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
recently? You have been around somebody before?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Someone had to go to the hospital.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Common.
Nadia Herrera-Set
But... yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So when you were your first semester, you guys were allowed to drink. It was legal to drink because you in Greece, you were you have to be 18 to drink. Easily accessible. And there were people that had to be hospitalized because of blood alcohol poisoning. How did they get to the hospital?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
You have to call.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
911.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Well, whatever the 9-1-1 equivalent increase, I couldn't tell you. I don't- I never had to use it, but yeah, that's like what you would do first.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
What's, what is it?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Hehehehe
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So that's the only time that you've encountered somebody that like needed to get hospitalized because of too much alcohol. You haven't, you personally have not interacted with anybody when you're out there partying.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Same as here.
Nadia Herrera-Set
You cut out again, would you say?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
You have not had to interact with anybody who has needed to be hospitalized after partying too hard while you're in Boston.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Have I been a have I seen happen not to any of my friends now, but like sometimes you'll see someone outside and like they're like the brothers of the frat who like Help them if like they're on their property like they kind of have to
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So you've seen other people that you were not responsible for.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, exactly.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Have you seen ambulances pull up?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, but it was not because they were like too drunk, it's because they got hurt. I guess because they were too drunk, but they are. Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Oh, my goodness. I feel like I'm getting all the inside scoop on your life and I don't want it to end. But I mean, the inside scoop, the excess partying, that would be, you know, that can end. But the inside scoop on your life, it sounds like, you know, it's, to me, relatively on par with what I've heard and remember from being in college.
Nadia Herrera-Set
It's definitely...
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
And I'm glad to know that there isn't like a ton of drug use that you're seeing, because that's pretty scary for us parents considering the overdoses that we've heard about, especially accidental fentanyl overdose. And I don't know about other people. Maybe it was the people that I surrounded myself around in college, but I did see a lot of drug use beyond marijuana around me. And I'm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So I think that's another thing that scares people of my generation because at least the people that I was around, like I could see a lot of drug use happening and then I imagine that might be happening around you and then if that's the case and there's like a lot of exposure to potential accidental use of fentanyl, that's scary for us to think about. So I'm glad that your public health class is talking about it and I'm glad that you're not seeing it that commonly like around.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I mean that scares me too so probably why like I haven't like put myself in a situation where that was happening um but yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
But you've heard people say like, hey, we're going to go blah, blah. Like, no, not even like people you don't hang out with. Oh, well, that's good. Yeah, yeah. All right. OK, well, until next week. Thanks, Nadia. Bye.
Nadia Herrera-Set
No. Uh... Yeah. Choosing the right friends, I think.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Bye.
