Last Friday night, the famed anti-party sponsored by North College and the health and wellness theme house took things up a notch. Instead of the customary keg of root beer and shots of Sunny-D, this party featured a myriad of exotic mixed drinks, a pleasant alternative even to Natty Light.

In the offing at the "bar" were virgin strawberry daiquiris, orange sherbet punch, root beer floats and sparkling cider. "Unfortunately we didn't have 'abstinence on the beach' ... because I was looking forward to it," said Elinor Lee '05, a member of the health and wellness committee.

"We had a good turnout," she said. "I had a great time. The drinks were good and we had boppin' music. There was a lot of food ... people were dancing."

The change of pace from the College's normal party scene was greatly appreciated by most who attended. "It wasn't bad," said Greg Dibelius '05. "There weren't too many people, but it was good if you wanted a low-key night more fun than just sitting around."

But, aside from the relatively clean breath of partygoers, Friday's party in Pratt was just like any other Amherst party: music, good people and dancing. "I liked it," said Janet Lydecker '06. "It was fun."

According to Lee, the party was geared towards introducing freshmen to the alternative Amherst social scene. "We wanted the freshmen to know that there are other options available on a [weekend] night," said Lee.

Getting trashed

This weekend's Eurotrash party at Newport House boasted a large turnout, even scheduled against Mount Holyoke's Casino Night and Stone Dormitory's Endless Summer. However, while Casino and Endless Summer are fairly straightforward concepts, Newport's smash-hit event begs a simple question: What exactly is Eurotrash?

Quite simply, "It's a way of life," said Mikiya Matsuda '04.

"Eurotrash provides an environment that allows people to dance all they want to music that you might not hear at TAP," said Cassie Mikicic '03. "But also it's low key enough so that people just come to talk and socialize as well."

Even the walls of Newport basement reeked of the essence of Eurotrash. "They did a good job with the decorations," said Katyuska Eibensteiner '04. "There were garbage bags all over the walls and people were dressed for the party."

Trash-seekers were pleased at the work that went on behind the scenes of the party. "The organizers put a lot of work into the party and it showed," said Mikicic.

Though there was no DJ, the party was a success. "I thought the MP3 playlist was fine," said Matsuda. "We didn't want a DJ because we wanted input from the French TAs since they have personally witnessed European trash culture in all its magnificence."

Others agreed. "The atmosphere was good, and I like the fact that they didn't play as much techno as in the past years," said Eibensteiner. "I think the planning was good."

Though the party was "more scandalous in the past," according to Matsuda, or perhaps "about the same as last year," according to Eibensteiner, there were other forms of entertainment facilitated by conveniently-placed furniture.

"Table dancing is nice. I think it would be nice to have more tables," Matsuda said. "The highlight of the party might have been the make-out couch for recreational use," Matsuda commented. It seems like the party lived up to its name yet another year.