Tonight was a good night

Tonight was a good night. I got home from a long hike we took with the group at 5:00. I had been still drunk/hungover for most of the hike and confirmed my suspicion that I had established a reputation for myself in the short three weeks I've been here as "the kid who parties too much and skips class" (an almost verbatim quote from a girl after I introduced myself and she told me she knew who I was). I had forgotten a decent portion of the night before, including a wrestling match in the middle of the Metro and parts of a long and pretty emotional conversation with Briana, my ex-girlfriend and sometimes best friend (at school at least). I'd been pondering the implications of this new reputation for most of the day and wasn't sure if I liked how the some of the other people here saw me, but at the same time decided that I was willing to ignore their uneducated opinions of me and continue living the way I've enjoyed living here. After a nap and dinner with my host mother I went back to my room to think about planning the night. The kids I hang out with here (some of whom I think I can call friends now) had made some plans to pregame in one of the residencias before going out. I stayed in my room, reading Cracked.com articles and watching the first two episodes of The Office. I really like The Office. At 1:00 I left my apartment to meet my friends at one of my favorite bars here. They were all pretty drunk already and were happy to see me. I think they were surprised that I hadn't I drank a couple beers and felt pretty good. We stayed until closing time, the group splitting up as half went with girls to a club and half went home. I went home.
I'm more than just "the kid who goes out too much." I knew that already, but doing my own thing for a while and having a relaxed night the way I wanted to helped me prove it to myself. They might think I go out too much. Fine. I think they don't go out enough. (They don't at all). I can go nuts and party with the best of them, at least the best of them here, and I can also go out on my own and have two beers and watch the best of them be drunk like I usually am. I'm happy with that.