Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

There were two San Francisco and classmate centered nights this year that stand out strongly in my reflections. February 18 had a spontaneous flair of excitement and the feel of a never ending day. Perhaps I will go into public detail about that… or not. But April 3rd had even more excitement, group spirit, sense of fun, and for me at least, a feeling that we’d put aside our academic concerns that night and could (and did) focus on enjoying each others company.

10 out of 15 of us assembled in the Mission District to celebrate our classmate’s wedding. She had given us specific instructions to attend in our best Steampunked outfits and “crash” the reception, due to be held in a nearby function hall. One classmate and I were the first people to arrive at the restaurant. For a little while, it seemed like our friends had forgotten about the dinner prelude, but it became clear that they were actually just fashionably late. We took pride in our outlandish costumes and drew stares of questions from passerby on Valencia Street. I think some people’s meals got mixed up while we ordered dinner. Clearly the focus was not entirely just on our meal!

We migrated over to the reception hall – I was one of the two designated drivers – and reassembled as a whole group. The other classmate designated driver decided to park her car in a narrow parallel spot, but then realized she couldn’t navigate the tight space, so another classmate stepped in to park it instead. I remember the whole process took about double the length of time it should have. We noticed that the reception was in full swing and briefly debated how we would enter, as we were a noticeably large group coming into a room that had already settled for a meal into small table groups of no more than 10 people.

Ultimately we decided to make a full scene and enter in a choreographed line. We strode across the floor in single file, causing many heads to turn (again) at our outlandish costumes. Our classmate was at the other end of the room, and genuinely surprised and thrilled to see us. She later shared that it was one of the highlights of the evening. Other adventures followed through the reception, as we joined in on various dance routines (including a version of Blondie’s Call Me that I particularly remember) and two classmates performed a climactic and provocative dance.

The evening didn’t end there, but I don’t have to spell it all out here. Ultimately I returned home over the Golden Gate Bridge at around 3am with a sense of satisfaction and exhilaration over having done something different and still humane with my school friends.