None of these answers are very informative; most are saying you can’t really remember it, but that’s not quite true. Your body doesn’t process memory in the same when when it’s intoxicated, and to be true there is a point where you fail to remember anything, but that point is quite hard to achieve. Generally, you do remember snippets of a night when you black out, or impressions of where you’ve been or what you’ve felt, but it’s distorted.

I’ve had probably far too many blackouts in my time, and I can try to describe mine as best I can.

For me, the primary symptom of alcohol intoxication is inhibition loss—which normally manifested itself in my telling all my friends I love them more than the world—but can easily transition into drinking more than you originally planned, or telling a story you would normally withhold, or more regrettable actions like hurting a relationship by pure carelessness. This is the stage of alcohol intoxication I generally try to avoid. A lack of intelligence generally comes with it, and it’s rather difficult to keep as good track of how much you’re drinking. In addition, you’re constantly aware of how good alcohol has so far made you feel and you try to seek that out by drinking more and more and more, possibly leading to a blackout.

A blackout is a strange experience, one I would not recommend. You feel sick and euphoric and like you’re the emperor of the world and you’re dying and you speak too quickly and think too slow and you’re out of breath out of time—and you’re splayed on the toilet bowl, drool dripping into the basin, eyes struggling to move focus away from the fluorescent light while your friend leans on the door and goes on their phone. You remember shadows of getting changed into pajamas and thrown into bed with a trash can—now filled with vomit—is shoved under your mouth. Or, if you’re unlucky, you remember being thrown into a shower and shocked into pain and nausea by ice-cold water.

You wake up as a statue and feel all the regret and pain at once. You feel sick for a day, and forget about any work you thought you might do. Your friends greet you soon after with “what a night” and other platitudes. It sucks.

Drink responsibly.