The drinking culture

I'm sure you're aware of the fact that the majority of students spend a fair amount of time drinking to the point where they get drunk. I'm glad to say that I'm not one of those people but I've often been encouraged to do so.

One of my flat mates has told me that I'm "missing out". Another flat mate has told me that I can't "be at university for 3 years without getting drunk". Before I got to university, I was even told that it was no wonder that I wasn't "invited to parties", if I wasn't prepared to drink. All of these comments have all the same never managed to persuade me that I should drink because I just cannot stand the taste of alcohol.

I used to think that I was one of few people, who didn't like the taste of alcohol. It wasn't until I got to university that I realised/found out that most people don't like the taste of alcohol and that they only drink it so that they can have a good time.

Nevertheless I still can't see the appeal of drinking/getting drunk because as far as I can see it just consists of a night of acting in an idiotic manner and laughing at things, which just aren't that funny. For instance, some of my flat mates were laughing about a night when they went out and got drunk and some guys jumped off a table, one of whom crashed into someone's neck to the point where they could have been killed, and then they got back home and there was nothing to eat so one of them had to make bacon sandwiches. I really cannot see any comic value whatsoever in this story. Furthermore, I can't understand why anyone would want to go through the experience of drinking such nasty tasting liquid and paying to do this in order to laugh at things, which just are not that funny. Because I don't drink alcohol I save enough money to justify the act of shopping at Waitrose and I can have much more fun by buying a nice used CD/DVD from Amazon, that costs £1.26 or a little more with postage and packaging included. These sorts of things bring far more satisfaction to my life than drinking ever could.

People often justify drinking in the name of confidence but there is no excuse that annoys me more. When you consider the late Amy Winehouse, she took to drinking for this reasoning because she found it hard to deal with the celebrity/social elite lifestyle, it's quite clear though that this hardly made her life better though. Generally this justification for drinking is the exact reason why people often become alcoholics, so it's really encouraging people to resolve their problems in the wrong way.

If anything I find the drinking culture sad. I see people almost living for these drunken nights out because they find no other satisfaction with their life when really it would be better to discover a hobby/interest as this would make one far more satisfied with life than drinking ever would or indeed could.