I Lived

So I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden I think I hear a knock on the door. I open the door and it's Rebecca, dressed up. Apparently everyone was going to san li tuan (三里屯) which Wikipedia describes as having a lot of bar streets and international stores and she wanted to know if I wanted to come. So totally I did and she helped me figure out what to wear because I still don't have down what you wear clubbing.. certainly not out of my limited choices here (how did I bring so few clothes??) and we left. They were pre-gaming in Wudaokou at this place called Pyros which has some pretty good pizza actually. I hadn't even sat down yet when Erin goes "Courtney! Tequila shots!" Somehow this turned into Rebecca and I buying our own tequila shots and I taking three instead of two. So we get them and Rebecca says we down the first two and then wait for everyone to get theirs before we drink the third. I gulp the first one and it is totally disgusting... as I expected. However, as the minutes tick by I start to feel worse and worse. Finally I accept I'm going to throw up. So I go to the bathroom and while I'm in there manage to calm myself down and keep myself from actually throwing up. I leave, still feeling totally sick but don't tell anyone because, I mean, I'm freakin' 24. There's a 19 year old who's downed a rum and coke and a couple shots already and he's totally fine. Then there's all the other girls there who are also younger than me, heck everyone is younger than me!
I sit down and Rebecca goes "Hey, you haven't taken your second shot!"
I figure, what the heck, I'll finally be able to throw up and get it over with.
This one I however decide to sip it because I just don't want to have that feeling again. Erin notices and she's like "No no no, you have to open your throat and down it in one swig." How the heck do you open your throat?! I have always wondered about this!! When ever I drink I feel like it hits a wall, how do you open it!?
I actually ask this and Rebecca says "just drink it all at once and then swallow" in a way like, 'it's okay Courtney, you don't have to be a pro."
All the others get their drink and Erin shows me how it's done. She goes really quick, I mean, lick, swig, and lime- five seconds tops! So my turn, I lick, I... something.... and then they're all like "lime! lime!" and I get the lime which does make it better.
The biggest thing I took from this was I must have done the first one wrong because I don't feel like throwing up and I just did two shots in a matter of minutes. That's three shots of tequila in less than 30 minutes.

Do you notice the orange haze? I actually have pictures that are better quality but I liked this one at the time because it was when things started to get loopy.
So I hadn't eaten since 5pm, I missed lunch, and we walked around all day at the Forbidden City. I also am not that great at keeping myself hydrated.
Yeah, I was loopy. I remember my eyes were super huge, like I was trying to keep them open and I just kept looking around. Someone would say something to me and I would suddenly smile and I can only think I looked like George Carlin during one of his last stand up gigs.

So I didn't get talked to too much for a little while. Then we decided to finally go to 三里屯 and begin the gaming. Apparently the subways close around 11:30pm here. I was having a hard time walking and nearly tripped over another street, concrete, thingy and Devin offered to be my walking buddy. Seriously, those things are like just the right height that I don't pay attention to them and they're everywhere! So we get to the subway and find out we probably won't make the transfer. So when we get off we bolt.
Okay, so I don't run. I also have asthma. Running and I really don't get along.
I was freakin Usain Bolt dude. I mean, I was flying. I don't know if I was actually flying but it felt like I was flying. I've never felt so fast and composed in my life. I didn't even feel like dying once we stopped running!
So we miss the transfer and have to take a cab. Actually we have to take a couple cabs because there are too many of us to take just one. We manage to all get there and then we hit the bar streets.

We end up going to this bar that's a rooftop deck that had a pretty nice view. Unfortunately my camera is crap and refused to do it justice. My camera really doesn't handle night pictures well. So we dance at the bar and Rebecca and Devin make some new friends from Africa! Unfortunately  these friends don't really want to leave them alone once they leave the dance floor, in particular Rebecca's friend. This is about the time I sober up.
Eventually Rebecca's "friend" leaves and I ask if this is normal, like, guys not leaving you alone and she goes "basically." Yeah, I wanted my boyfriend to dance with really, really bad. I constantly worried about the guys around me who just kinda stood there or would sway behind you and like, I don't know. I felt like they were getting pleasure out of fantasizing that they were dancing with a girl. I was semi okay with these guys though because they didn't talk to me and I figured that was because they were afraid if I noticed I would move. I felt they were easier to deal with than Rebecca's "friend."
So after her "friend" left we try to gather everyone up and hurry out of there but two wanted to stay behind so Nick stayed with them. We all went to this club with lots of lights and heart-pounding bass. That was pretty cool but we soon tired of that (and were thirsty) so we left.
Then they all started pretending they were Spanish and talking in Spanish much to the amusement of this Spanish dude nearby. I have no idea what they were talking about because I took French and apparently no one else did. That is the one thing that sucks about French; I can't really practice it at random whereas it's like everyone took Spanish at some point.
Anyway we get some drinks, Adam gets a chicken, and we decide to head out. They were talking about hitting another club in Wudaokou but by the time we got back everyone was tired so we all hit the hay.
And thus I lived :)