It was a big deal for me because it was on the night of my 21st birthday and my first time in a nightclub.

I was lost the entire night because, in spite of the blurring noise of the loud speakers, I felt a bit lonely. I wanted my girls around me; that was all I could think about the entire night, but that never happened.

After the Industry Awards of the Television Awards Ghana at the Best Western Premier Hotel, a senior female work colleague and I headed to Kristal Nightclub at Osu, where the launch of the City People Entertainment Awards 2015 took place. We arrived there around 1:00 am.

My senior colleague suggested we did a little touch up on our makeup to look good for the occasion. We had to hang around the car park for about thirty minutes waiting for two of our colleagues.

During that short period, I had my first shock. I saw how daring some girls my age, and even younger were in their scanty and tight clothes, looking almost naked. And some of them with men who could be their fathers.

What I saw threw me off and I decided not to enter the nightclub. In fact I felt shy for the girls I saw and also shy for myself because I thought "this is not for me - this is not my thing". It took some convincing by my senior colleague for me to finally agree to go in. When we got to the entrance, someone brought my senior colleague two VIP tickets for the two of us and we entered the VIP area.

The first thing that greeted us was the smoke. The loud music blaring from the huge speakers was bad enough for me, but the smoke was just crazy and it put me off instantly. I immediately knew my birthday night was messed up.

The next thing I noticed was the darkness of the place with just pockets of flash lights here and there. In there were a lot more scantily-dressed ladies; lots of them wore what looked like straight dresses that barely covered their "behind".

In one corner, people were playing poker and some were smoking, whiles others watched. In the other corner was the bar, where people sat on long stools drinking. Some ladies were dancing seductively all by themselves, as if they were trying to get the attention of some guys in the club. Some also had male dance partners in a rather obscene position on the dance floor. I spent less than a minute at the VIP  Lounge and walked out.

I also saw hip-life artiste Pope Skinny dancing and seemed to be having a good time all by himself. Myself and my senior colleague could hardly have a conversation because of the noise. We could only manage occasional whispers from time to time. She was much older than me and she was not really my friend so there was not much to talk about.

But after about 45minutes, I moved outside to breathe in some fresh air. It felt really great being in a "sane"'atmosphere once again. I met an old friend outside. I felt better in her company because the shyness left. We had a chat about the nominees especially; I could tell she’s really passionate about entertainment industry just as I was.

Her nickname was Monik. She got the name during her university days. She originally chose Mznaa as a nickname, but there was someone already called Mznaa on campus so she had to coin the nickname Monik from her actual name Monica Adugu.

Apparently, Monik has been attending almost all the entertainment events in town but I don't get to meet her because I hardly go out. My regular day is mainly from my home at McCarthy Hill to work at Kokomlemle and back. I only took advantage of the City Peoples Award launch, my 21st birthday night, and the fact that my dad was out of town, to explore town a bit and that landed me in that nightclub, where I met my long time friend. It was refreshing talking to her. She was with some girlfriends, who left us and joined some guys in their vehicles to only God knows where at that after midnight hour.

After hanging out in the serene atmosphere outside for a while, we decided to take a last shot at the nightclub experience. The bouncer at the gate checked the stamps on our hands and let us in. After about thirty minutes of witnessing heavy smoking, seductive dancing, loud music and having a few drinks, we decided to move out. At this point, my senior work colleague and I were a bit tipsy. It was 4:20am and a lot of people had left the club.

It was Sunday morning and I had to go to church and thank the Almighty God for adding a year to my precious age.  We managed to get into my senior colleagues car alright but we were both tipsy and there was no one to drive us home. We ended up sleeping in the car right at the car park. We woke up at about 12 mid-day. It was funny because my senior colleague had lectures that morning, and I also had to go church and later to work.

That was my first time of drinking alcohol. I had a few shots of what I was told was Jack Daniels. I liked it because I added a lot of ice cubes and coke. I took it for granted because of the nice taste and it left me in a situation I never thought I would ever find myself in; stay in a night club till morning, get tipsy and sleep in a car till midday?! That was not me at all.

We spent seven solid hours in the car sleeping until I eventually woke up and burst into tears, because it was my birthday and I usually spend my birthdays thanking God in church. I was really angry with myself and with my dad for being so far away in Europe somewhere on my birthday. If only he had been around, things would have been different. But I really could not blame anyone. After all, it was by 21st birthday and I am not a child anymore. That was the more reason I was angry about the whole thing. It was supposed to have been the launch of an event, but I ended up doing what I hate to see other girls do.

My senior colleague woke up later and did not seem bothered at all. She said "yes now we can go - I'm already late for lectures but it's cool". She had no idea what was going on in my head, how disappointed and angry I was. But I knew I had only myself to blame.

But seriously speaking, I thought to myself, "gosh! getting drunk can bring out the worst in people." That was one lesson I learnt the hard way. It could have been worse. Some wicked guys could have taken advantage of our state some us harm, but we managed to leave in one piece.

My senior and more experienced colleague might have seen the shock on my face when we woke up at midday. She interrupted by near trance and said "this is not an endorsement of underage boozing by any means, but rather a safety guide. Next time you need to be prepared to handle alcoholic drink better." I managed a smile but that did not take away the disappointment in myself.

I think that people who are regulars at nightclubs must really be on something.

For me it was a lesson learnt the hard way. I really don’t see myself ever going into a nightclub again, except strictly for work. And I am definitely not going to pretend I love it there and touch anything alcoholic.