Although there are many ways for students to unwind from lectures and have fun, there's no doubt that the social side of university is dominated by alcohol. It's an undeniable fact. So here's my confession - I am one of that rare breed of student who doesn't drink alcohol. At all.
I've tried alcohol before on several occasions, but I didn't like the taste of it. There were other drawbacks too. I didn't like the way it made me feel, even though I never went overboard, and also the fact that my family seems to have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism convinced me that it wasn't really worth the risk. In any case, I've always been able to have a good time without it, and the things I love to do in my free time are completely unrelated to alcohol. It's just not something that features in my everyday life, and I'm happy with that decision.
Of course, other people often don't see it that way, and I'm not just talking about people from my own age group. Even people who are much older than me sometimes have a hard time accepting the fact that I don't drink. On my 18th birthday, for example, everyone quite naturally wanted to buy me a drink, and I had to politely say, "That's very kind of you, thanks... but I actually don't drink." This kind of admission usually results in an incredulous stare, followed by a bombardment of questions such as: "What's wrong with you? Do you have a medical condition? Are you religious?" To which my answer is no - it's simply a personal choice. Others take "I don't drink" to mean "I don't want a drink", which is a completely different thing. In that case the response is, "Oh, go on, have a drink" - but I stick to my guns and eventually they let it go, though it does result in me being labelled a lightweight or boring.
I've never been able to understand why it's such a big deal for other people, particularly when I go out of my way to make it not a big deal. I have never looked down on anyone for drinking, so it's not like I'm sitting on my high horse silently judging everyone around me. These days if someone offers me a drink, I've taken to saying, "I'll have an orange juice, thanks." This is what happened at a family party last summer, and a relative of mine said, "No... I mean a real drink." Cue explanation and subsequent pressure, finally culminating in, "Oh, you're boring!"
Funnily enough, even though there is a big drinking culture at university as I've mentioned, I have found that so far there has been less pressure from people at uni than I've encountered in other walks of life. Most people haven't questioned it at all, and if anyone does, they simply shrug it off. One evening a couple of weeks into semester one I was sitting in the bar with a group of people on my course. Naturally people were drinking, and naturally I wasn't, but no one questioned this. I noticed that one of the lads wasn't drinking either; in fact I hadn't seen him drink since we'd first met. Then in conversation he casually mentioned that he was a non-drinker. I said, "Oh, really? Me too." I think we both felt more than a little relieved that neither of us was the only one, and he has since become one of my closest friends at uni. I also have a couple of other close friends there who don't really drink either.
I know that the important thing is not to limit yourself socially, and I hang out with drinkers and non-drinkers alike. That said, I've never been interested in clubbing, so I tend to stay away from that. Apart from anything else, the music is terrible! One advantage of being a non-drinker is that I tend to save money, and another is that I don't have to deal with hangovers. For me, it's a win-win situation.
I suppose the purpose of this post is to point out that not only is it okay to be a teetotal student, but it's also possible to live your life to the full without alcohol. And if anyone does call you boring along the way, just enjoy the fact that you'll always be the one who remembers exactly what happened the night before!
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