If you are reading this, you are either an underage student who doesn’t have a (fake) I.D. or a mature student that has an overused I.D. or doesn’t even want to bother with the whole scene. Or you could be in between.
If the first case applies to you, then you’re probably frustrated about listening to your legal-aged friends talking about how hard they partied last night at the Social Club.
“Everybody would leave to go to the bars and you would be kind of left not knowing what to do, and then you hear all these funny stories the day after and they make you feel left out,” said Eliza Lyon, a 17-year-old student at St. Thomas University.
If you are the second type of person you’d prefer to stay home rather than go out to the bars.
“I’m a mature student and my main focus [is] getting the most out of my education,” said Jenn Estey, a bachelor of social work student at St. Thomas.
Estey focuses more on activities outside the common bar scene, like travelling, swimming or catching a show at the Black Box Theatre or the Playhouse in Fredericton, but she doesn’t believe that people should avoid the bars.
“I think it’s best to find activities [that] suit your lifestyle and can be adapted to the time you are able to commit to them,” she said.
“The end goal is to find ways to take care of yourself and that might look different for everyone.”
For those who would like to stay away from the club scene or aren’t old enough to get into them, here are a few suggestions.
If you are more into physical activities, trying laser tag at the Kingswood Entertainment Centre is a great way to have fun. It’s an action game in which you shoot your opponents with laser guns. If you deactivate your opponents you win points and lose them if you get deactivated. If you don’t like big groups there’s also the option to play by yourself.
If you consider yourself a person who enjoys activities that require analytical skills visit an escape room. Whether you’re a first-year student or in your late 20s, you will love it. You are trapped in a room and have 60 minutes to figure a way to get out. Fredericton has two escape rooms, Escape Logic Games and No Escape Fredericton.
If you are not into activities that involve physical or analytical skills and would rather stay indoors, you can go to Unplugged, a café in which you can enjoy some tasty food while playing board games in group or by yourself (if you want to have a good laugh with your friends, I would recommend Cards Against Humanity).
“Any activity with friends is fun,” Lyon said.
“It’s more about being together than actually going to the club, [like] relaxing with them on the weekend after working during the whole week.”
If you are more of a person who likes to spend time alone you can check out some coffee shops downtown like Reads or Coffee and Friends. With the chilly weather approaching, a cup of coffee or hot chocolate comes in handy. Sometimes the cafés even host live music performances.
After doing that, you can take a walk through the streets of downtown and take pictures of the scenery.
So, next time you’re not able to go clubbing or to a bar (or don’t feel like it), don’t feel bad, because there are plenty other options to have fun and really, you’re not missing out on anything.
So, next time you’re not able to go clubbing or to a bar (or don’t feel like it), don’t feel bad, because there are plenty other options to have fun (and really, you are not missing out on anything).
