After having seen these excellent web pages, I thought I need to contribute with my point of view on how things were in New Paltz.I went through my pictures to get inspired and realized that most of them were taken at night. Therefore the idea which occurred in my mind: guide to local bars. I am not sure whether I am the most competent person for this project as there were many others (we all know them - no need to list them) who would certainly offer greater description of places, funnier stories and obviously would accede number of nights spent in local bars. I definitely count with all these contributions from all of you, which will make this guide more diverse and therefore more objective.

Well, local bars, …. Many things could be stressed.

First of all, a foreigner needs to be prepare for a different culture (take Mr. Jackson's class: American culture, you will understand!). The first step for entering bars was a conversation with a bodyguard at the door. Your passport was checked carefully and you were asked interesting questions. In my case, it was always very interesting as none of the bodyguards have ever heard about Czech Republic (no wonder, even in movies such as American Pie they talk about Czechoslovakia which does not exist for ten years). Due to couple of visas with my pictures in a passport they often called my passport a personal album (I bet they missed nude photos there). It is all right, I never had trouble to get in. Another thing you had to deal with was a colored bracelet received upon entrance. Its role was clear: separate "zrno od plev" (pardon me Jitka, Anna, Marta - it is only an expression, nothing offensive). This procedure is identical in all night places, but be careful, being 21 and having the right bracelet does not guarantee you total freedom. As I learned later on, drinking with underage people can cause you a trouble even though you do not know them and never heard about them.

But back to the bars. First one I got to know in New Paltz was Joes. Thursdays college nights were quite popular and the 2-floor building got pretty soon overcrowded to the point you could barely turn around without being kicked or slapped by violently moving students. If I add the forty minutes long queue which you had to undergo before entering this loud place with rap & house music I soon realized this place is not my favorite. It was fun there anyway - especially with my favorite Japanese guy Nao. I tried once to come another day than Thursday, what an experience!! I thought 80's night will be different and I was right. I happened to be on a half empty dance floor with a slightly older generation of divorced men and single ladies. The DJ was full of energy and tried to cheer them up as much as he could. At one point, he started to hand out T-shirts for free to anyone who showed at least a bit of excitement and good mood. That was not a problem for me and Nacho.

Another place worth mentioning is P&G. You can have a look at some of the pictures here. There are some pictures of Federico's last night and last time with the handsome Puertorican Carlos. I still regret one thing - not having sung on Wednesday's karaoke night. P&G became my favorite place - nice people, good music, cool atmosphere and a lot of good-looking men! I certainly recommend this place to single women. There is nothing else to add.

Cabaloosa [upstairs] was sort of extravagant place where you can easily meet interesting people. I got to know there funny artists from Manhattan which invited me for a visit of the city including accomodation [not bad]. By the way it became a base for famous Nacho's speach in Public speaking class - Nacho your turn to say!! It wasn' t the cleanest place but it certainly had its special atmosphere.

Last place I am going to mention here was called Snagg's [it took me a long time to remember the name of the place, I associated it with a similar sounding word sex but once showing this place to an unknown man I called it just sex. I could see the interest on his face to find out what was hidden inside]. Anyway I visited this place for the first time the night before I was leaving, I have a nice memory on that evening. After being kicked out at four in the morning I ended up outside with couple of drunk people and Paulo, the Blondie with automatic weapon. :-}. That is where our path split, I have not seen him since but I bet he had a nice rest of the night with a glass of good wine and ...

There are definitely more things to say, these are only glimpses which stayed in my mind. Looking forward to hear yours!!