80s Prom!

ChristinaL — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:08:00 GMT

One of the things that the juniors and seniors at Butler are most proud of is our status as children of the 1980s. Yes, we are the babies of the decade, and we really don't have too many coherent memories from it, but it still makes us feel way more retro and cool to say we lived in such a ridiculous and out-of-date era.

We celebrated this cultural golden age last night at my sorority's 80s Prom.

Dances, usually called formals or informals, are another long-standing tradition of Greek life. We rent out a space at a hotel or restaurant to host a dance, and then we all take buses over there together. If you were on the Homecoming decoration committee or if you went to prom four times in high school, then you would love this aspect of being Greek. I, on the other hand, went to precisely three dances in all of high school: two Homecomings and a Disco Dance. I left the Disco Dance early to see Harry Potter in the theatre at midnight. A lot of my friends went to dances, but that just wasn't my thing at the time.

By the time I got to college, I was a bit more of a dancer but formals were not a priority in my schedule. In my sorority, we typically have a formal and an informal dance each semester. The informal ones are the best, in my opinion, because they usually have a fun theme that involves dressing up. However, up until now, the ONLY dance I've been able to attend was a formal two years ago when I was a sophomore. I usually have a super busy schedule in the spring where I'm traveling for different conferences and am out of town on a lot of weekends, and last fall I studied abroad so I obviously couldn't go. However, here I am, a senior, now finally ready to go to my first informal. Thank goodness we picked such an amazing theme as 80s prom.

My little sister happens to be a Goodwill guru, so I asked her if she had anything she could lend me for an 80s prom. She, of course, just happened to have a bright purple, full-length, vintage 80s dress hanging in her closet. HUGE poufy sleeves? check. Bow the size of a small child on the back? check. My cousin lent me big gold hoops earrings, and I was ready to go.

Working the 80s with my old roommate, Kim!

I decided to bring my friend Jared as my date, because he was one of the 17 Butler kids in my study abroad group in Spain last fall. I love my Alcala family to pieces, and Jared and I are especially good friends because we lived across the street from each other in Spain and our host parents were close. We spent our first day in Spain exploring Alcala together with my host dad; we would walk together when we went out at night; one time, Jared even lived with my family for a week when his mama had a family emergency.

Here we are together with Don Quijote on Day 1 in Spain:

But the most epic bonding experience that Jared and I ever had was when we decided to try the gym just down the street from where we lived. We got passes for a free trial, and I convinced Jared that we should go to a group fitness class. The one we happened to pick turned out to be a mix of hip hop striptease aerobics led by a young man wearing women's workout clothing. The class was entirely populated by middle-aged Spanish women. We were definitely the only Americans AND the only ones under 30. However, the situation was so funny that we just had to get into it and dance like fools! Jared is a great dancer and not afraid of anything, so we ended up having a really fun time. After that, we would always laugh and try to recreate our aerobics moves when we went out dancing with our friends. Since the 80s were a time of aerobics and bad prom dresses, I thought I would combine the two by bringing my good old study abroad buddy.

Mini reunion at the Prom! Jared and I with our friend Chelsea who also went to Spain with us.

Although we couldn't remember any of our Spanish aerobics, we still had a great time, and it was so much fun to catch up with an old friend and hang out with all my sisters for my very first informal. Somewhere along my college career, I have become a person who actually likes dancing. I learned a lot about looking like a fool in Spain and, of course, being a Student Orientation Guide this year was all about letting loose and looking silly to help the freshmen lighten up.

If the 1980s taught us anything at all, it's that looking ridiculous is cool - as long as you're having fun!

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80s Prom!