Article November 11, 1996 Issue

The weekend party scene: one college student's story

I Didn't drink alcohol during my first two years of college. There were sorority parties every Friday night where I was usually one of the only sober people around, watching as others got "buzzed." After a while it seemed so hard to be the only one not drinking. I can remember thinking that I was tired of being good. So I joined my friends and started drinking at the parties.

I had never drunk before; I hadn't been the least bit interested. None of my old friends ever talked about it or did it. Growing up feeling it wasn't an activity I wanted to be involved in, I didn't think anything would be different when I went to college.

How did I get from that point to drinking? It had a lot to do with how I was identifying myself. I see that now. It's important to be clear about who you are, about your real identity, because whether you realize it or not, how you see yourself has a great impact on your decisions and view of the world. Knowing who you are, you aren't fooled into believing something that isn't really true about you.

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