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Paris Holds The Key To My Heart

Watching Midnight in Paris, it became extremely clear to me that this film is based on my life and my experiences in the City of Lights. Good times spending my days shopping along the Champs-Elysees and my nights traversing the space-time continuum to the 1920s. Or as I like to call it, getting drunk beyond comprehension.

Stepping into the grand Peninsula@Docklands was more like stepping into Moulin Rouge than Midnight in Paris. With muted red lighting, Eiffel Tower and red mill centerpieces, and large cabaret posters dotting the spacious room, I definitely felt as if I had stolen a TARDIS or time-turner for my night out.

As a third year, I have attended my fair share of faculty run balls, parties and events. Based on experience, I can say with total confidence that the Monash Law Students Society (LSS) never fails to put together an amazing function. So what goes into making such an enormous event go off without a hitch?

Step 1: The décor. Normally, I hate themes. I find costumes to be an unpleasant inconvenience as I inevitably resemble a walking primary school art project rather than whatever I’m dressed up as. However, as previously mentioned, the immaculate room and the explosion of formalwear created the perfect mood.

Step 2: The food. What amazed me about the food was the attention to detail. It was straight out of a little bistro along the Seine – steak frites and chicken with mushroom risotto. La Pièce de Résistance was naturally the dessert, a perfect lemon tart. As much as I normally avoid food at these events (there was a bad experience with an enormous whole soggy green chili at a ball whose faculty shall remain nameless), I was quite happy to make my dress feel a bit tighter for this menu.

Step 3: The booze. There is nothing worse than a ball where getting a drink is more difficult than getting the lollies off the top shelf at the supermarket. Thankfully, with two well-stocked bars at either end of the hall, I certainly didn’t dehydrate.

Step 4: The music. Aside from a couple of awkward repeats that left the entire floor confused and abandoned, you can’t go wrong with classics like Call Me Maybe.

Step 5: PHOTOBOOTH! Enough said. I want one in my house.

Monash LSS ticked all these boxes tenfold. Hobbling home from the after party, heels in hand, I pondered the idea of university balls. Whilst I can’t really go back in time to the days of masquerades, debutante balls and Jane Austen dances, I love that these faculties give me the chance to get all fancy and dance till I die.

Olivia Tolich

The author Olivia Tolich

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