Go ahead, tell me I party too much. Tell me that I need to focus more on my studies. Or that I need to pick up more shifts at work if I have this much free time. Tell me that I shouldn't be going out as much as I do because I'm so young and there's so much of the world out there for me to see. That's true, and I am going to make it around the world to see it all. But who says I can't be a party girl AND do that? Who says I can't ace my finals and then have a celebratory weekend of drinking afterwards? Who says that I can't be the responsible party girl?

I say that I can, and that I am the responsible party girl.

Sure. I do go out a lot, and I do drink a little too much. But I'm not just laying around all day afterwards, either. I have two jobs, I am a full-time student, and I workout religiously. Being "the party girl" these days has a not-so-shiny connotation. We are looked at as easy, unmotivated and lazy. People just assume that because I party every weekend, that I'm not an A student. They assume that I'm never going to leave the town that I'm from. They assume that I don't work, or that if I do, that i'm blowing all my money on alcohol or new party clothes. Newsflash: none of this is true.

When you're a responsible party girl, you get shit done. And then you play. I always make sure my responsibilities are taken care of first. And if they're not, I have enough self control in me to politely decline the party invitation. But sometimes, because I am a party girl, I just show up late to the party. Because then, I have either finished my paper or worked my previously scheduled weekend shift, and still managed to have a fun time afterwards.

Some weekends, I completely blow off the party scene. I get too busy with deadlines at work, essays due at school; it's as if all the responsibilities that I have in life catch up to me. I take a break from the party scene for a little, and it does feel good, but it doesn't feel better than if I was at that party with my friends. It's a different feeling.

When I am out with my friends laughing contagiously at 1 a.m. about the frat boys we are with, I feel full inside. When we stumble home at 2:15 a.m., and eat our hearts out, I feel full inside (literally and figuratively). But when I make that deadline, and I absolutely crush my power point in class, I feel full inside, too.

So to me, it's finding a balance between the two. It's knowing that I am an adult now, and I do have responsibilities, but that I am also a 20-year old girl who just wants to have fun.

If you like to party, that is fine, and if you prefer to stay in on a friday night, that is okay, too. And if you're like me, and what you decide to do on the weekends depends on your mood and how your life is currently, that's okay, too.

We shouldn't be expected to be party girls just because we are 20 years old and go to ASU. We shouldn't be expected to stay in every night and do homework just because we have a challenging major. What we should be expected to do, however, is to be us. We should find a balance in our lives to get our work done, and to have fun. If we are constantly stuck behind a desk five days a week and spending all weekend doing homework and studying without getting a break, our lives are not being fulfilled.

That doesn't mean you need to throw back five shots every Friday night, either. It just means you need to unwind, let loose and have a little fun. This is why I am the responsible party girl.