My new year party horror story.

"Some feed off the vulnerability of others rather than protecting it"- Ania Botha

It's new year's eve and we are heading for Itaewon for a jol, dancing into the new year and to dream about the excitement the new year might hold in for us. As travelers Beca and I believe that everyday is a new adventure and we live for everyday to be the best day of our lives. We went out with that picture in mind, dressed up, feeling sexy and confident and filled with life.

We took the subway, I organised us a beer and some snacks for the journey to town. We got to the pub at 11pm and things were super relaxed and kind of weird actually. We expected new year parties to be quite big and town to be quite busy but that wasn't the case. That didn't stop us though. We got ourselves a table and some drinks and waited a little for the rest of the crew to pitch up. Then we made our way up stairs to the dance floor. We had so much fun dancing, singing, screaming and laughing. We bought ourselves a bottle of champaign to celebrate properly in style when the clock strikes 00:00.

3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

And it was the year of 2016. 

Whilst we were dancing and having fun there was a Bangladeshi guy who started dancing with me. It's really normal for me to dance with strangers for a song or two having fun. But this one was a little different. This guy's sole purpose was to kiss me. I can still remember asking one of the guys I know to help me get rid of the guy but he didn't care. The more I refused the more he danced with me and tried. At some point just after midnight I ran out to call a friend to wish him happy new year. Taking a break from dancing, this Bang-guy bought me a beer and asked that I come and enjoy a drink with him. It's new year; we are all celebrating. 

 

I was a student at university for 5 years and was smart enough to look after my drink every single night and never did anything bad happen to me. That didn't change as I know the dangers of leaving your drink unattendend. Yet this very night in a strange country I somehow during the night managed to make a mistake. I drank a beer I didn't get from the bar. 

 

My drink was spiked. I still remember having fun with my friends at the second pub but everything after that is a blur. I can't remember that this Bang-guy followed me the whole night through basically stalking me and my friends. I don't remember anything. The next thing I remember is being in the third pub and throwing up. I never forget things no matter how drunk I get. It just doesn't happen. And this particular night I drank no-where close to enought to be drunk to the point of throwing up. I didn't drink that much. It was only later that I realised what possibly could've caused my body to react the way it did. And then the aftermath came - the stories of that happened in the hours you weren't in a conscious state of mind. 

 

Bang-guy took advantage of the fact that I was sleeping and started touching me sexually. Luckily two other guys saw this and sorted him out and looked after me for the rest of the night till the first train home. Beca looked after me the entire time and I can't say how much it means to me and how important it is to have friends who look out for you. Things could've turned out way worse and I'm glad it didn't. 

 

This could happen to anyone and things could've been way worse. We all let our guard down some or other time and somtimes bad things happen. it's sad that as a girl you can never be yourself and just have fun without the worry of someone trying to take advantage and by this I mean in any way possible.This was one big learning experience for me. As a girl it's a tough world out there. you want to trust people and believe that they are really nice but then on the other hand there are so many people you can't trut that you end up trusting no one as it is safer that way. You have to constantly be aware of everything going on around you, you can't be to friendly with any guy since most will take advantage of your friendliness or see it as you leading them on to wanting more even though you are just having fun. What happened to just just making friends? At the moment I don't know if I'm more freaked out by what happened or the fact that you can't trust anybody. How do you go through life not truting those around you; in constant fear that something might happen.

 

Telling this to one of my friends from back home he said: "And keep it as a story for the grandkids when they say you're old and uncool." And that's exactly what I'm doing writing this blog. There are still so many lessons to learn in life and it's only the start really. By the time you are all wrinkled you have wisdom and knowledge to pass onto the generations after you oh my will I have stories to tell...