College Q&A: Sober Fun?

By CC Staff

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Need to pad that resume? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”!

Question:
I don’t like drinking but I feel like that’s all there ever is to do in my college town on the weekends. What are people supposed to do in college who don’t like to get wasted every night? And how are we supposed to find friends when all they ever do is go out and get drunk?

GPA Girl:

Wow, do I ever feel your pain. In my experience, there are lots of us non-drinkers out there, especially at the beginning of undergrad, but as time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to find people who want to do things other than get trashed. Not to mention that people who don’t like to drink are usually introverted, so it can be harder to find them and befriend them in the first place. Sigh. The deck is stacked against you, girl. But here is some good news: I managed to find amazing, incredible, awesome friends in college even though I didn’t drink a drop. Most of my friends did drink occasionally, but they shared my lack of interest in getting blasted at large parties every weekend. 

Since it’s basically impossible to tell who drinks and who doesn’t just by looking, I recommend you go all out and try to make a bunch of new friends of all types. Find these people in your classes, at your extracurriculars, or even in the larger non-college community. Most people don’t drink EVERY weekend, so in your mix of new friends, you should have at least one or two people available at any time whom you can contact and ask if they’d like to hang out. You can do plenty of things with these friends: snag a lounge and have a movie night, do one of those boxed murder mysteries, study together, go out for dinner or dessert, play games, do sports, work on art, etc. Just play to your (and their) interests.

And to finish, here are two more quick snippets of advice: 1) Don’t act elitist about not drinking or give people the impression you think drinkers are stupid, and 2) Try going to a party sometime. You don’t have to drink, and you might meet fun people there whose goal is to have a good time rather than to get totally drunk. Good luck!

Party Girl:
I’d like to offer you some advice, but I don’t think I’m the best woman for the job. I’ll leave it up to the other two to guide you on this one. If you do decide you wanna try a little saucin’ sometime, hit me up. I have plenty of advice, tips and tricks to share.

Busy Bee:
I absolutely love this question because I am in the same boat as you – I don’t drink either. Now, many college girls might say “Wow, that’s crazy. Alcohol is the best!” and some might say, “Finally, college girls who are sober!” It doesn’t matter what your views on drinking are, but that you create the college experience that you want. So, what is it that I do instead of drink? I have my best friends who don’t drink either. We have fun by heading out to restaurants for dinner, hitting the drive-thru right after, running around town gossiping about the latest news, hitting up local parks to relive our childhood, watching the latest chick flicks, embarking on spontaneous adventures, and creating new memories. You see, people in college who don’t drink every night, we throw our own dress-up, singing, dancing, and crazy sober parties. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s possible to have your own version of fun.

You need to start out by seeking out that one friend who doesn’t drink and then you’ll find yourself attracting more people of the same crowd. After a while, you’ll have a creative group of alcohol-free friends. Can’t seem to find a sober friend? Try seeing what your school or town has to offer. Maybe there is a monthly movie night on campus (great place to meet like-minded sober people!), or maybe you could join a student group that interests you and meet people there. Just branch out a bit and get involved with as many different things as you can; you’ll have your own circle of sober friends (and great friends) fast.

And girl, I’m proud of you for not falling to peer pressure standards. Do what makes you feel comfortable!