I have this love hate relationship with New Years Eve. I love the idea of starting off new in a new year where anything is possible. However I hate how it’s the one evening of the year where you are forced to have an amazing time. The one night that is supposed to represent how the rest of the year will unfold. There is way too much pressure. Parties are the best when they are spontaneous but with all the pressure how can New Years be spontaneous and fun? Plus most people spend the two months following up to New Years going to Christmas parties, work parties, seeing friends from out of town, seeing family, getting drunk with creepy relatives and overstuffing themselves on treats and Christmas dinner. When it comes to New Years you just don’t have much left. Then there is that awfully depressing New Years Eve song, Auld Lang Syne. I know this is a blasphemy to my Scottish roots to be saying but I’m sorry Mr. Burns could you not have written something just a little more upbeat to bring in the New Year.
Years ago I swore I would never listen to that song on new years and I wouldn’t worry about what party to go to or who I would be with because if I was traveling in the world all of that wouldn’t matter. I have spent the last six New Years in a different country and each one has been unique and memorable. Even if I only drank hot chocolate it was more because I drank hot chocolate at Cleopatra’s path in Egypt. It didn’t matter if I had a date or not because I was with friends in Mexico spraying them with foam in the central square.
This New Years I was in Buenos Aires Argentina. I didn’t go to a hostel that was hosting a party or to a night club. I was invited by my friend Tracy from Australia to a quiet intimate rooftop party at her friend’s apartment. It was a potluck so I brought my infamous Guacamole and bottles of Chandon. I got to meet her friends from when she lived in BA and other random foreigners. I really hit it off with a Colombian couple due to my obsession with their country.
We had the host of the party conduct our countdown to midnight and when we finished the sky lit up with fireworks from around the city. We all stood on chairs to see over the rooftop walls.
After it was over and done a few people left to check out some more happening parties. I helped my friend clean up and we walked together back to my hostel and to her apartment. I only had two drinks I was completely sober, I woke up without a hangover and in my own bed. To some this may have been a boring New Years but I was with great people and one of my closest friends, I saw the night sky of Buenos Aires light up, I had no regrets and I was going to the coast. I am a traveller and every day of my life is an adventure and memorable this was just another evening on my journey.
