I was a good kid in high school and, in all honesty, I didn’t drink much. I had really never been drunk until my senior year when my friends and I rented a beach house for four days during prom. That’s a whole other story right there. Needless to say, I was extremely unprepared for the college party scene. Here are the 5 drinking mistakes I made throughout my first years in college.
1. Drinking the jungle juice
Everyone tells you, before you leave for college as a freshman, “Don’t drink the jungle juice at those parties.” Well, of course as a newly independent “adult,” I did exactly the opposite of what I was told.
The truth is when you take a cup of the jungle juice, not only do you have no idea what's in it but 99% of the time it is made with a bunch of different, cheap liquors mixed with a ton of Kool-Aid powder. It tastes delicious so you start chugging until all of a sudden you’re wasted and confused because you only had like three cups. Also, the hangover the next morning, I swear, could kill.
2. Mixing alcohols
There’s a saying that floats around and it goes, “Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear. Beer before liquor, you’re gonna’ get sicker.” That saying is complete and total BS. In my experience, mixing beer and liquor in any order is a recipe for disaster.
After the liquor, the beer goes down like water, so you will likely drink a lot more than you should. If you start with beer and don’t wait a significant amount of time before you start drinking liquor, especially if you’re doing shots, the warm burn from the liquor in your carbonation filled tummy will definitely make you yack.
3. Opening a tab in the bar
As convenient as it is to open a tab and just be able to walk up to the bar and order your drink, odds are you will reach a point in drunkenness that you forget how many drinks you’ve ordered. That, or you just don’t care and keep ordering drinks without considering how much is racking up on your tab.
Then, when you go to close your tab and you spent $90.00 on vodka cranberries, not only will you be broke, but you feel dumb as hell for SPENDING $90.00 on drinks. That is the better situation because, on the other hand, you could forget you had a tab opened all together and walk your butt out of the bar without your card and, subsequently have a massive heart palpitation the next morning because you think you lost it.
Just bring cash. It forces you to budget and you’ll have no worries about losing your dang card.
4. Pre-gaming with wine
When I turned 21, I became such a wino that wine was the only alcohol I drank. Eventually, I got tired of white wine and got a taste for red.
All I can say is drinking a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon before going to drink in the bars is a sure fire way to end the night hugging the toilet and waking up the next morning with the most god-awful hangover you have EVER experienced.
I’m talking nausea, an extremely angry stomach spins that don’t go away, even if you’re laying down with your eyes closed and a splitting headache so severe it feels like your brain is exploding. If you’re going to get wine drunk, save yourself 48 hours of misery and ONLY drink wine.
5. Drunk texting / SnapChatting / calling / etc
If it is the end of the night and you are drunk as a skunk, put your flipping phone away.
Trust me, your ex does not want to hear from you at two in the morning when you’re drunk and sad. Hear me when I say that texting that ex-friend, who is now your enemy, and unleashing all the pent-up things you’ve always wanted to say to her will release a can of worms that you do not want to be released.
Take a few pictures throughout the night but stay off your phone. Enjoy the party and the people you’re with and keep your phone out of sight so you’re less likely to do something stupid on it.
Drinking is a part of the learning during the college experience for most people. You have to learn your limits, figuring out how you react to which alcohol and knowing what you like and don’t like, but save yourself from having to learn these lessons the hard way. I’m trying to help you out here so, please, heed my warnings. Drink responsibly and don’t be a drunk idiot. Cheers!