This is what it's like to work again

The day after your bachelorette party

When you want to tell your boss how your weekend was but physically can't because you have no voice left, you know one thing for sure: it was a successful party.

Crying, I embraced my fourteen dearest friends, including sisters and sisters-in-law. How could I be so surprised? Damn it, they really pulled one over on me. And how. I receive a video from my best friend. He says I need to go to Rotterdam from Amsterdam to buy a pineapple. In the Markthal. A pineapple. And I hear nothing more. It's 26 degrees outside and while cursing and fuming, I puff through that hot hall searching for that damn piece of fruit. This can't be the start of the party, I still think. They just let me do all these rotten tasks only to cheer that the real bachelorette party starts a day later. After the pineapple selfie, I get to take a photo at Coolsingel. Then a photo of a famous statue, yes, just google where it is, is the instruction I receive. And then... I hear people singing. Off-key singing. Loud singing.

I take a good look and then I see all fourteen of them standing on a boat. In sailor outfits. Including golden palm trees on the railing and golden flags on the mast. They are singing the theme song from Titanic (which has always been the last song we sing along to at any random party for about ten years now). It really screams nicely over the quay. Once more, you ooooooopen the door. Yeah, try to keep it dry then. Because they know me so well.

They thought of everything. There is a pillowcase made with photos of all my ex-flings on it. ‘Can you sleep with that one more time.’ Next to the bed is a box of Advil. Next to that is a Flügel and next to that is a bottle of water, with a photo of my head on the bottle from when I had one of my worst hangovers. Hangover water with hangover photo, so to speak. There is a photo book of my wild years, friends giving speeches and reminiscing about all the adventures we've had together, and other friends even made a whole quiz about my entire bachelorette history. By the way, there are photos of my boyfriend from 15 years ago hanging everywhere on the boat, when he still had long hair in the back, slippery hair from the gel he smeared in daily, and when he still had a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth and thought that was really cool.

What a special experience it is to go through something like this, with all your besties together. It's hard to explain and what's even harder is: how can I ever thank them all for this? I honestly don't know. Especially because it was all so perfect. How often are you together like this, with all your buddies? I enjoyed every second. It was summery, we laughed until we cried, drank trays full of blue shots, danced for six hours, and sang a whole, whole, whole lot. Yes, definitely the Titanic, multiple times even.

And now, a day later, I'm happily working, without a voice. With terrible muscle pain. My eyes are still half closed and I swear to you that I will never want a Flügel again, but it was worth it. These are memories for a lifetime. And friends for a lifetime.

FACTS

• 72% of the women receive a sex toy as a gift during their bachelorette party
• Of the visitors in Las Vegas, 35 percent are there for a bachelorette party
• At 47% of the male bachelorette parties, there is a stripper present compared to 18% of the female bachelorette parties.