Diving into Decadence

Arriving in a white limousine, Suada Uruci, dressed to the nines, had been toasting her 19th birthday with her friends, music blasting and glasses clinking. She stepped out onto a red carpet, with spotlights shining in her face, as she made her way onto the ship, the Prinz Eugen.

Her brother, Mirsad, had organised the event - a birthday cum Webster party - to celebrate it.  Despite a snowstorm and icy streets, around 400 people arrived on a Saturday night to party on a ship sailing down the Danube.

"I wanted to do something special for her, something different," said Mirsad, who had corralled Anna Lepingwell and Marlon Juenemann to help with preparations. They then had approached the Student Council to have the party designated as a Webster party, one of three official events per term, promoted by the Student Council.

The ship was pretty sleek and modern – red carpet floors, pale beige walls with striped curtains at every window.  Red chairs surrounded tables draped in white linen with ashtrays, candles and glass bowls of snacks next to them.

On board, the ship was divided into several areas. At the entrance was the coatroom, where two men took the coats for a €1 fee. On the left side of the boat was the dance floor with a black chandelier in the air and a screen above the stage. The DJ´s, Dennes Deen, Aldo, Francois and Master Funk, were in the corner playing techno and house music with two skinny girls, a long haired blonde and a brunette, go-go dancing in black tops, tutu skirts, fishnet stockings and their black, open high heel shoes on stage.

There were bars both up and downstairs so the people could get some beverages since there was no competition, nowhere else to go. The prices ranged from €5 for non-alcoholic drinks and €10 for alcoholic ones.

Upstairs there were people sitting and talking on the reserved tables while on the other end there was the VIP area, which was guarded by two security guards. The people were sitting on their black leather sofas, drinking and watching the people dance downstairs, from a balcony.

At midnight, the ship departed; excited people gathered around the windows to watch the shore line retreat. The river was calm – we could barely feel the ship move – and no one got seasick. So people could get on with the business of partying, drinking and hanging out with friends, listening to good music, and finding someone to go home with at the end of the night.

A couple of women gathered in the bathroom for girl talk. "Take a look at these," said one pushing up her breasts with both hands. "Do you think they’ll work?"

The only problem, said her friend, was that the man she was lusting after already had a girlfriend.

"So what," said the first woman fixing her makeup. She was new on the scene; he hadn’t met her yet, she said, apparently inspired by the Pussycat dolls´ lyric "Don´t ya wish your girlfriend was hot like me."

She wasn’t the only one with this attitude. Another woman was busy making out with a guy even while he was talking about his girlfriend. She didn´t seem to mind and just went ahead and enjoyed the kissing.

Love was in the air, in fact, in every corner, people were putting on the moves. Drunk or not, people were getting to know each other…. quite well. Over all, people seemed to have a good time, smiling, and enjoying each other’s company, dancing to a techno version of Justin Timberlake´s song "Sexyback."

In the taxi on the way home, people seemed content.

"I loved it, I had my own republic" declared Josipa Saric – referring to the reserved tables that had a sign saying "the republic of" with the name of the person. And perhaps best of all, the close quarters fulfilled the highest standards of good night club design. "You couldn’t go anywhere!" said Jan Vilimek turning around from the front seat. "So people were forced to get to know each other!"

Student Council president Dragan Sormaz attended the party and was glad that the school had something different and that Webster Student Council was a part of this big event. Amgad Fahmy, who takes care of Webster parties, was also impressed with the results: "Webster students at a party before 12. Oh my God, I think that’s a miracle!"

Some, though, found the glitz offensive. "The go-go dancers looked like B-rate porn stars," groused one man, gagging on the smoke, "and the drinks were way too pricey."

To have a party at a place like the Prinz Eugen costs a lot of money. Around 35 people were working at this event, thereof four DJs, nine securities, nine bartenders, cleaners and employees of the ship. According to the organisers they paid around 14,000 Euro and in the end they didn´t profit. In fact, they barely broke even.

Despite that, Mirsad was satisfied with the result. His sister had a blast on her birthday. She must be happy to have a brother, who´s able to give her a birthday gift like that. Maybe it is like Fahmy said: "no risk, no fun"