When I went into my first year of college, I’ll be honest and say that I did go out a lot more than I had planned I was going to. There is so much pressure to make college the greatest time of your life that it's easy to lose control and get lost in it all. As a result, my grades were not as high as they usually were, and my parents began to notice. I assured them I had everything under control; we both knew I didn’t. Still, they let me go about my business, and I’m pretty sure it was to teach me the lesson I have now learned.

As I look back at the last two years in college, yes I have had fun, but there were times when I did regret going out. I witnessed both good and bad things. I have nights that are unforgettable for the wrong reasons. I witnessed a guy slip and crack his head open due to his drunkenness. I saw girls whom I knew were too drunk to function be hit on and persuaded to do things in front of crowds at the party, and they would just go along with it. The list goes on, and I realized that I was just a bystander in these situations. There were times when, thinking about it now, I feel I could have helped, but in the moment, the entire college party scene is such a culture shock that you don’t know what to do.

The more I went out, the more I noticed it was just the same thing over and over again. Walk up to some strangers house party to see if you could get in; when you did, you would walk into a crowded living room that would reek of sweat, spilled alcohol and marijuana, and by the end of the night, girls are being carried out, someone is almost always puking outside and more times than not, the party ends because police get called. It doesn’t sound fun at all now, and to be honest I don’t know why I continuously went out.

There was a time when constantly the nights were ending poorly for someone, and the night would just get ruined. As I would get ready to go out with my friends, I would hope that nothing bad would happen to me. Luckily, the worst thing that ever happened to me was getting drinks spilled on me. However, my safety shouldn’t constantly be on my mind when I’m trying to have fun. Having fun shouldn’t have been giving me the amount of stress it was giving me.

I turn 21 this year, and I’m not planning on going all out. I’ve seen too many bad things happen as a result of partying so much, and I want no part of it anymore. But just as I said before, there were some good times. Although, I believe that in this case, the bad outweighs the good.

When I decided to not go out so much anymore, I learned who my real friends were. I lost several people and made new friends too. Now I enjoy only partying with reason, like a friend's birthday, for example. I spend my time focusing on studying, like it should be, and even though some may argue that I have a crappy social life, I’ve never been happier. College ruined my partying experience, but making the decision to not be a part of the party scene is probably one of the best things I could have done for myself.