Editor’s note: This is the first story in a six-part series exploring the drinking culture in State College. This installment follows a Penn State student on a night out and documents the role of alcohol in his life.

When Billy Fortin and his roommates graduate this spring, they will leave behind one of their most prized possessions.

Constructed out of a blue wooden frame and a plexi-glass cover, the structure holds more than 100 different beer bottles.

"It's the coolest beer pong table ever," Fortin (senior-aerospace engineering) said. "It's for sale when we graduate."

Fortin said he and his roommates usually play a couple of games before they go out to the bars.

This past Friday night though, Fortin and his friends started their night at the Allen Street Grill, 100 W. College Ave., for his roommate Pierce Reeves' (senior-industrial engineering) birthday.

Like the majority of students at Penn State, Fortin enjoys the nightlife in State College. According to a Penn State Pulse Survey released in March, 84.4 percent of students at Penn State say they drink.

Now as a senior with a job waiting when he graduates, Fortin said he can enjoy the nightlife a little more.

The group enjoyed a few drinks and laughs over dinner. But it doesn't take

much convincing for the roommates to want to head back to their apartment to play a couple of beer pong games.

While he likes to go out to drink, it's spending time with friends that allow Fortin to unwind after a long week.

Fortin said he goes out about three to four times a week simply because it's fun and he likes to have a good time.

"This semester I've been going out on the weekdays," he said. "[Before] I didn't go out as much because I had to study more. I drank the same. I just can go out more now."

According to the Pulse Survey, the number of drinks the majority of students consume in a weekend is, across the board, between 1 to 20 drinks. About 44 percent said they drink between 1 to 10 drinks, and the average number of drinks consumed in a weekend is 9.59, according to the survey.

Fortin said he and his friends usually go to one to three bars in a night, hitting up their local favorites, including Tony's Big Easy, 129 S. Pugh St., Cell Block, 420 E. College Ave., Bill Pickle's Tap Room, 106 S. Allen St., and Shandygaff, 212 E. Calder Way.

"Sometimes we might stay at one place all night. Sometimes we jump around," he said, adding that it depends on whether a bar is crowded or if he's meeting up with other people.

He'll drink whatever is on special -- in the end, though, it's the specials that kill him.

"When you're drunk you forget the special ends at midnight and you drop money not knowing," he said.

Fortin said sometimes he'll get "a little crazy" when he goes out. Sometimes he'll wind up with a "nasty hangover" or lack of sleep. But the worse he said he's received after a night of drinking is a couple of alcohol citations his freshman year.

Back at the apartment, the roommates scrubbed down the plexi-glass cover of their beloved beer pong table, placed the cups in beer pong formation and filled the cups with Natty Ice.

After a few missed shots, the guys began to sink the ping-pong balls into the cups. Fortin sinks in the winning shot.

The guys then head over to Tony's Big Easy and greet their friends at a table in the back before ordering drinks. They stay at the Big Easy for the rest of the night until returning back to their apartment to hang out until 4 a.m.

While Fortin isn't shy to admit that he drinks in the "double digits," when he goes out, work comes first for this aerospace engineering student.

Besides his course load, Fortin also participates in an aerospace engineering club, Nittany Sat, as a team leader for guidance navigation and control systems. He also analyzes data for the Spirit III rocket.

"I can go out and have a good time, but I definitely have a lot of responsibilities," he said. "I feel like I balance it pretty well."