Between working, school, hobbies, family, friends and life in general, we all need a little R&R on Friday night. We polled our writers and editors to find out just how twenty-somethings love to kick off their weekend.
[divider][/divider]Ella:
Making cookie brownies (yep there’s a such thing as the two put together) while sporting my favorite pair of pajamas, in the company of the best people I know. I also love doing spontaneous photo shoot outings in the city with my friends and exploring new places.
Lindsey:
I might be the most boring person in existence, but some of my favorite Friday nights were spent in my room watching TiVo with a friend. My last semester in college I had a friend that was tired of her roommate after living together for three years. Often she would come over on weekdays just to get away, and we also spent many Friday nights going to movies, going shopping, or running errands to get ingredients to bake something.
Haley:
It’s hard to choose, but my favorite Friday night activities include either a) going hermit status or b) enjoying a nice dinner out with good friends (before heading back to the house and then going hermit status). What’s “hermit status,” you ask? It usually involves ordering a pizza (though it is unfortunate the pizza still has to be delivered by an actual human), queueing up any and all TV shows I missed during the week, and wearing no pants.
Angela:
My favorite way to spend Friday night is on the couch with my cat (and dog), because after a long week, the only creatures I can stand to be around are of the four-legged variety. Any movie will do, but right now my favorite genre is Benedict Cumberbatch, so I might be watching re-runs of “Sherlock” or “Star Trek: Into Darkness.”
Kelsey:
I work in my advisor’s research lab until about 6:30 p.m. or so, which is far too late to be anywhere near my university’s campus on a Friday evening (in my humble opinion)—but such is the life of a graduate student. Thus, after a long week of classes, lab, unpleasant social interactions, and attempts to keep my brain from imploding, my activities generally involve throwing some leftovers in the microwave, making a cup of herbal tea, and settling in to catch up on TV shows with my cats. Usually I am buzzing around on social media at the same time, as my frazzled brain attempts to multitask. As the night wanes on, ice cream usually comes into the picture as I am a consistent devotee, irrespective of the temperature outside. Friday evenings are usually when I am especially introverted, and tell my friends I am retreating to my hermitage. Occasionally I will go out to eat with some friends—at which my lovely therapist rejoices that I am being social, for whatever that’s worth. Oh, and when I get out of lab I have to send out a tweet that says, “#ThankTheForceItsFriday”—because I can, duh.
Katie:
A few years ago my perfect Friday night came to a crashing, never-to-be-repeated halt: Borders closed. My go-to Chipotle and Borders evening was forever halved. I could be with my sister, my closest friends, or my mother and it was always my exact favorite thing to be doing. I could be in public but not really interacting and lost in endless rows of books. I tried to repeat it with Barnes & Nobles and ended up throwing a hissy fit and storming out at their inability to ever stock the entirety of a series. Since that tragic day, my Fridays generally involve Tumblr and texting GIFs to Hope. Without Borders, I fear I might never be sociable again.
Eric:
This is easy: ordering a half-pepperoni-half-hamburger pizza and watching the most outrageous shark movie on Netflix I can find. Did I mention “Sharknado” is on Netflix now?
Bridey:
Back in my reckless youth, my preferred Friday evening involved getting tipsy and weird at the local bar. Now, I get weird on greasy pizza and fall asleep early or stay up late watching 90s TV on Netflix and the weekly NBC lineup on Hulu. That’s the nice thing about domestic partnership—I don’t have to leave the house to have a partner in weirdness.
Erin:
I don’t know why this is coming from the ancient 28-year-old instead of the spritely 21-year-olds still in college, but my favorite Friday nights are those that start as a simple happy hour with friends but then devolve into all-night bar hopping and food from a trailer. Don’t get me wrong: I’m no wild-child and I definitely spend my fair share of Fridays getting in some QT with the ‘flix, but I really love going out to try new things and meeting/observing interesting people. I guess I’m old-fashioned?
Kirstie:
My family had a weekly tradition when I lived near them in Houston called “Margarita Fridays,” and yes it is exactly what it sounds like. We picked a local Mexican place and invited any and all who could attend to stop by after work every Friday to have queso, food, margaritas and mas margaritas. Many hilarious and wonderful memories were made on those Fridays. Now, whenever we are together we have a margarita regardless what day it is.
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