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As I pulled up my knee-high stockings, I imagined what it would be like to travel back in time to the 1960s. I would most likely be that girl with Elvis Presley and The Beatles posters scattered all over my bedroom walls. Growing up with an old soul, I loved the idea of recreating a night from the 1960s, and that is exactly what I did.

My mom’s décor has always been retro, so I feel as if I already grew up in the 1960s. We have always had The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker and many more artists in our record collection next to our vinyl record player. When I was in third grade, I remember my classmates had to introduce our favorite singer to the class, and I introduced Elvis Presley. That is when I first felt I was born in the wrong decade.

“Funny Girl,” “West Side Story” and “Psycho” were movies from the 1960s that I have seen multiple times. I traced my memory back to these movies when I decided that this decade was perfect.

Throughout my life, I have always wanted to pull a Marty McFly and travel back to the past. I feel like my generation is extremely different from the 1960s. While in college, I feel like I keep repeating the same hobbies over and over again. To spice things up a bit, I thought it would be a fun idea to trace things back to the past to see what time of experience I would find.   

After asking a couple friends to tag along, we Googled fashion from the 1960s. I found an outfit for the era easily, but my friends had more trouble. I chose to wear the Woodstock T-shirt I bought a few years ago from a thrift store with my navy corduroy skirt. Then I slid a pair of knee-high socks on with some white flats that I also bought from a thrift store last year.

I have always wanted to try making clothes out of curtains like Maria did for the Von Trapp children in “The Sound of Music.” Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to recreate that scene.

After getting all dressed up, we all took a ride to the 1960s-style Drake Diner on Drake University’s campus. We ordered milkshakes because we wanted to sit at the bar and drink as if we were taken right out of a 1960s restaurant advertisement.

Then we traveled downtown and rented bicycles which reminded me of the scene from “The Sound of Music” when they sang “Do-Re-Mi.” We had the time of our lives riding around downtown for an hour. However, we did get a few strange looks from the people walking by.

As we finished our adventure, we looked up slang words or phrases used in the 1960s. I found it funny that I still use some of these terms because my parents still say them. Our favorite was “boob tube,” which is another word for “television.”

After our night out, I realized that this was different than any night out I have had in a long time. I felt more free to be myself. Maybe it was because of the outfit I wore or the people I surrounded myself with, but it was definitely a life-changing experience for me. I encourage everyone to have a themed night out, whether you pick a decade to recreate or a movie. You might even learn something new about yourself.