<p>Hehe. I went to college:). A very loooong time ago. And I went to parties. And was completely bewildered by them. I mean, it was normal to get passed down the stairs over the heads of fellow students? Not coming from Northern California it wasn't. And boys dancing with eachother, "gatoring", apparently at the time a Southern custom? Eeek. I was used to a party meaning going to your friends' houses and, um, well let's just say the intoxicants weren't liquid.</p>
<p>Just pretend we are Margaret Mead, roaming from undiscovered island to undiscovered island. Parties have always been a part of human society, although we used to call them festivals maybe, but we've always thrown parties. So what do the parties at the various colleges tell us about the culture of that college society?</p>
<p>I would have guessed that Chicago was more about 6-10 people in a room. Not a lot of talking about intellectual themes can happen when there are 150of you and music and Chicago is known for a culture of "purer" intellectualism, right? And I love the description of parties at Yale. Sounds like there was a fairly open approach to all kinds of gatherings.</p>