I do not go out on Thursday nights. Believe me or not, it is true. I make the conscious decision to not go out on those nights and to just hang out in my room. I am more than OK with that.
A lot of people think that coming to college simply means going out and getting drunk because for once you are on your own. No parents? Party! I have never seen it that way. Sure, there are a lot more openings to do the things I want to now that I am not home, but none of the things I want to do include going out and surrounding myself with people I may or may not know drinking alcohol (namely those who are definitely not of age...I hate to burst your bubble, but just because you do not live at home anymore does not mean you are suddenly 21.).
There are also people who just think college is strictly for focusing on your studies. I also do not see it that way--of course I am more on this side of the spectrum than the other. For me, college is both about learning and figuring out new things academically, while also spending time to have fun and figure out who you are as a person. Being a student is fine, but we are all going to be students for the rest of our life. We need to take breaks to have fun and get to know the people that we are around.
However, I do not think those breaks need to involve going out until God knows when and coming back slightly (or more than slightly) drunk.
I do not go out on Thursday nights or go to parties. I do not drink. I do not smoke. I do not do any of those “typical” college things and trust me, I do not feel like I am missing out on anything. Well, OK, that may not be completely true. It would be amazing to be able to go out with friends without having the underlying feeling that they are going to do something I do not want to.
I think that if I were able to go to a party that did not involve any alcohol or other substances then things would be different. As I said, I would honestly really like to go have fun with some of my friends and just do something that I would not normally do. However, I know that no matter what I do (unless it is like going to a museum or something--which is not the point of this), I am going to be surrounded by things that I do not want to be around (aka, alcohol and probably drugs and cigarettes).
I have made a conscious choice to not participate in these things. I made that decision at the beginning of high school, which was before it was even a real problem for me. One of my biggest problems with people my age and younger is that they are so immersed in this culture of underage drinking. If you are of age and you want to drink, party, and get wasted then fine. You do that. It just seems like there is a huge chunk of people, underage people specifically, who spend their time worrying about how they are going to get alcohol and when they are going to drink it.
When I tell someone that I do not drink and that I do not want to, they tend to look at me strangely and ask me, “Why?” Honestly, the answer is that I honestly do not want to. There is also the fact that there are addictive personality traits, and addictions run in families. I do not want to make the mistake of bringing that onto myself from one bad decision.
Maybe someday I will go out and party with people. Maybe I will not. Regardless of what happens in the future, I am living right now. And right now, I am only 19 years old and I have decided that I do not want to do it or be around it. And I just wanted to explain that.
