No Parties, No Problem

Right off the bat let’s get one thing straight—I am in college and I don’t party. What is wrong with staying in on the weekends? Absolutely nothing at all. You see, I’m part of the small percentage of college students who finds myself more or less “turned off” to massive house parties and being wasted from Friday night until Sunday morning. I’m sorry, maybe I just don’t want to get my favorite top stained with cheap beer that I’m not even drinking.

Growing up, no one exposed me to large amounts of alcohol. My parents never drank, and our parties never revolved around alcohol. I only ever saw it at family dinner on Sunday, and even then it was only a small glass of wine. Something about it just pushed me away. Maybe my disdain for alcohol is because I’m still underage and illegal activity isn’t on my agenda, the smell just disgusts me or maybe the idea of not having complete control of my body really bothers me.

In high school there were barely any parties—that I was aware of, anyway—and I’m sure the ones that did happen were #lame. Believe me, my friends and I were just fine “partying” on the weekends without any booze to help us along. Other kids partied after prom? We all went to my house and ate food my mom made us. Let’s be real—food trumps everything.

College rolled around and the thought of weekend parties really never crossed my mind. I started to meet different people and all of them seemed to be concerned with one thing—drinking. Remember when you were younger and your parents used to tell you not to fall into peer pressure? Well, my parents never exactly came out and said it, but it turns out they didn’t really need to, because I hate when people my age tell me what to do anyway.

Another thing is that I like my nights in. I work my rump off from Sunday to Friday and the idea of sitting on my couch watching a weekend-long movie marathon appeals to me like nothing else. Alright, so I made it through freshman year with no problems. Sophomore year I decided that I needed to at least get out sometime. Parties were still a no go for me, but I did go over to friends’ apartments to hang out on the weekends. Come to think of it, I was probably the only one whose water bottle actually held water. Plus, a little socialization never hurt anybody. For a while it was nice. I would get to see my friends in a setting other than a classroom.But as time progressed I started to constantly get asked why I didn’t drink. I became an alien, for lack of a better word, and even some of my friends began to tell me I couldn’t have any fun without alcohol.

Well, they happen to be dead wrong and I don’t need that negativity in my life. It wasn’t hard for me to find other things to do on the weekends. My friends would go out and party and I would hit up a movie theater, grab a burger, go visit a friend or clean my room to a killer playlist—it’s more fun than you think, I promise. All in all, I never felt the urge to change part of my identity just to be “cooler.” I like to think I’m pretty cool as it is. Some of you might be reading this and think I lead such a boring life. Well, that’s your opinion. Just like I will not judge you for having the opinion that partying is the only way to spend the weekends. Believe me, if I’m not having fun then I find a way to have fun, but for me that just doesn’t involve partying. You shouldn’t feel pressured to do it if you’re not comfortable. It’s not worth it in the end.