Not Drinking in College

This is a video that has been a really long time coming.  I know that this was something I was really nervous about when I was first heading off to college; if you've followed this blog from the beginning, then you know that it was a main topic in many of my early posts.  I am, however, very proud of the fact that I was able to stick to my guns and made it through college without drinking.

Basically, this video covers everything I wish someone had told me back when I was getting ready to go to college.  Hopefully some of you will find this helpful and if you have any other questions, please leave me a comment and I'll see about answering it!

Random Happenings and Serious Questions

Looking back on all the posts so far, I've realized that this is almost becoming a photo journal. So, in keeping with theme, here are some more pictures!

We had another glorious day of sun! I started the day with a little housekeeping: laundry, cleaning our microwave and refrigerator, and changing my sheets. Afterwards, I decided to walk to the local Boudin Bakery for some lunch. Although I love pretty much everything about their sourdough bread, their turkey sandwiches are heavenly! From there I made a quick trip to Trader Joe's.

On the way to Trader Joe's, the first weird thing of the year happened to me. I was waiting for the light and glanced over my shoulder. Unfortunately, that caused me to look directly at a rather old man wearing a lime green valor sweatsuit, and a semi-bowler hat. He was also riding a scooter. When he came to a stop by the light, he turned to me, gave a big grin, and said "Hello there!" Thankfully, I had my cell phone in my hand and quickly started dialing while completely ignoring him. I wanted him to think that either I was calling the police or that whoever was on the other line would miss me if he tried anything sketchy. It must have worked, because he scootered off as soon as the light changed without another glance in my direction.

Ah, the people you meet in the city.

After returning with my precious groceries, I decided to go sit out on the grass and study. While I did get stuff done, I think I also reburned the arm that I burned on Sunday. I have some really random tan lines!

And now for my "serious questions." One of the first things that happened when I arrived back on campus was that my friends filled me in on what I had missed. I mentioned in my last post the night of in-the-dorm-drinking, vomiting and sleeping with random people. I forgot to mention that they then went out the next night and, failing to find a party to go to, went back to their rooms and got drunk, again.

So this leads me to ask: why do we go to college? Society and the media portrays college years as full of parties and promiscuous sex. Unfortunately, I think there are people who go into college expecting that experience.  Personally, I don't think the point of college is to go out partying every night. Heck, you could get drunk at home without having to pay all the tuition money. Call me old fashioned or naive, but I always thought of college as a place where people who are truly passionate about learning and pursuing knowledge come together. I was looking forward to random, spontaneous intellectual conversations! So far, I've only really had one.

Am I hanging out with the wrong people? I am not so ignorant to think that I am the only person on campus who would rather stay in on a weekend night and read a book or watch a movie. I can't be the only one who doesn't want to drink. Frankly, I don't see the logic of it. If it smells that nasty, it must taste atrocious! As for the stupid things alcohol can make you do... well, I'm surprised that anyone drinks at all!

Thankfully, I haven't been pressured into going to anything that I didn't want to. So I guess you could say that I must have found at least a decent group of people. But I still don't understand why you would pay to come to college (and an expensive private school at that) and spend most of the week completely wasted or hung over. Where's the appeal?

I have a feeling this will be something that I'll be trying to figure out all year.