It’s that day of the week again. 

You’ve been studying hard in preparation for what you hope will be your best night of the semester. After attempting to finish most of your work for your Friday discussion, you decide to begin making plans. Frat party? Bar? The possibilities are endless.

The popularity of Thirsty Thursdays began when college students realized the freedom that came with late Friday classes. Questionable behavior and late night eating became customary practices on Thursdays and the Friday hangover was likely, if not inevitable.

So how did this happen? Throughout most of my young life, Thursdays were reserved for family dinners and Grey’s Anatomy re-runs. My only exposure to alcohol on a Thursday consisted of a DIY manicure where the smell of rubbing alcohol reeked for hours afterwards.

If I’ve learned anything in college it's that Thursday nights are a thing. It’s even gotten to the point where if you stay in on a Thursday night, you’re either on your deathbed or so swamped with work that there is no possible way you can party anywhere, but the library.

Asher Roth was spot on when he described college:

"I wanna go to college for the rest of my life,
   Sip Bankers Club and drink Miller Lite,
           On Thirsty Thursday and Tuesday Night Ice,
  And I can get pizza a dollar a slice."

When did Thirsty Thursday originate? Were Harvard students in the 1600s grabbing kegs for a rager, knowing full well that their organic chemistry class was about to be hell in the morning? Do all college campuses experience Thirsty Thursday? These are the questions that boggle my mind. Of all seven days of the week, why Thursdays?

There are Messed Up Mondays, Tipsy Tuesdays, and Wasted Wednesdays, but they just haven’t stuck like Thirsty Thursdays have. I guess it’s the introduction to the weekend, a time to blow off a little steam from the work you’ve been grinding out for the past week.

Wednesdays are the ideal night to go out. It’s hump day, which means you are halfway done with the week and have put in a great deal of work, thus far. A little partying and socialization to keep you sane and focused for the rest of the week makes complete sense to me, yet partying on Thursday seems silly unless you have Friday classes off.

I guess I’m still stuck in a high school mindset. Thursdays were relaxing and meant for getting excited about the weekend, not getting a preview to the weekend. As I grow older, will Thursdays take on a different meaning? Instead of Thirsty Thursday, will it be Thankful Thursday or Threading Thursday? It’s hard to know what the future holds for Thirsty Thursday and participants everywhere, but the promise of being able to let loose, if only for one night, will remain a true college practice. With the stress that college generates, it seems only necessary to create a night when you can be wild and forget about being polite.

Whatever mistakes you make on Thursday, you still have Friday and Saturday to make up for it. Cheers.