Thirsty Thursday, F-ed up Friday and SloppySaturday:
The New Slogan for College
By JacquelineEvans
"What time is it?" That's all I could seem to murmur as I awoke somewhere after noon, with a stale vomit taste in my mouth and a splitting headache that seemed to be the only thing that I remembered from the night before. This was a completely different image than the June orientation portrayed. This was what I would find was, for most people, "what college was all about".
Five beers and six shots of tequila later I leaned limply against the wall, waiting for the keg to clear out, while flicking my cigarette ashes into the hair of the drunk blonde girl in front of me. The night was one big haze, starting with pre-game shots in my dorm room, then a few quick games of Beirut at the apartments, before dancing our way from frat to frat, avoiding the five dollar cover charges by flashing the doorman our already halfway covered nipples. Everywhere we went the music seemed just a little bit louder and the guys seemed just a little more eager to take us home. As the room started to spin, and I could feel my stomach turn, I tried to remember how much I drank.
College is a time of change, of growth, and most of all freedom. The afternoons on a college campus are filled with the hustle and bustle of students running to classes, buying books and supplies, and bargaining with the bursars for extensions on parking tickets and phone bills. This is all fairly typical of the college brochure atmosphere parents expect while writing out the checks to pay for tuition. However, in the earlier a.m's, many students can be found still running, only now from parties to apartments, only now trying to scrounge up money for the next beer run. Only one out of every five
college students chooses not to drink. That leaves four out of five students to fill their bags or pull out their dollar bills in order to cram the basements of a fraternity that crests stability, honor, and virtue above its entrance ways, with kegs tucked carefully behind the closed doors. Surveyed college students have reported paying less than one dollar a drink, or a set fee of around five dollars for unlimited drinks, all while being under the legal age of twenty-one. (Wechsler 2)
When I stumbled in my doorway at half past three, I dropped onto my bed, and started getting undressed. I only undid two buttons of my pants before having to run down the hall and barely make it to the bathroom. As I kneeled before the porcelain god, I promised, like many before, that if I could just go to bed I would never drink again. When I awoke, showered, and dressed, somewhere around late afternoon the next day, I made my way to my friend's room to see how the night had left her. She was awake when I arrived, on the phone making plans for the hours to come. I braced myself as she hung up the phone with this evil smile on her face.
"We're going out tonight!" she said, with this excited grin.
"I'm still tired from last night and we're out of beer." I replied, trying to seem disappointed.
"I've got this kid to get us beer. We are all set." She said with a triumphant smile.
"Great." I said, trying to act equally enthused.
Peer pressure is the number one reason that students drink. College is time of new beginnings and students want to fit in. Fitting In with the majority however includes drinking, and some students are both physically and emotionally not ready for this. Twelve hundred undergraduate students worldwide die from alcohol related causes each year. Others face serious health problems such as liver, nerve, and muscle damage, as well as cancer, high blood pressure, and malnutrition. (Royal College of Physicians 3). There are programs at colleges to promote belonging and socialization without alcohol, like OSSIPEE, SADD, and even alcohol free Wellness dorms. (PSC: SCHP 1) Other reasons that students indulge frequently in alcohol, are stress, depression, and lack of other options. According to Kelly Dowell, R.D at Plymouth State College, the students, especially first-year, overindulge in the freedom up here and as a consequence their academics come up as a second priority. Sixty-eight percent of the students that drop out or flunk out of college, have alcohol-related situations. (Dowell,Personal Interview)
"Okay I'm not gonna drink that much tonight" The words rang through my head as we all walked toward the apartments, where our partying would begin. My stomach still had a sour gurgling feeling, but I knew I didn't have any money on me, so I would be able to bail on the party scene early.
"Girls! So good to see you again." an overly large football player said, opening the door to the apartment.
As I walked through the apartment I glanced around trying to remember if I had been there before.
"Jackie, What's up?" some tall guy yelled, as he came running towards me with his arms open.
"Not much." I said smiling, trying to act as if I actually knew who he was.
The party continued with lots of dancing, lots of flirting, and lots of beer. I sat outside on the steps chatting with some other partially sober girls, sipping my Keystone Light beer, trying to make it last.
"Jacks. Ready for another one baby?" My friend asked as she removed a random guys' hand from her inner thigh and stumbled toward the fridge.
"No. I just got another one Hun. Thanks." I lied, raising my first, still quite full,
beer.
" Man. I need to catch up." She giggled out, grabbing two beers out of the fridge.
"We need more beer," some short guy said. I actually think he lived there. "Who's got money?" He continued walking around with his hat out, as people tossed in Washingtons and Lincolns.
"Well, I've got to get going. I'll call you girls tomorrow." I said, reaching around for fake embraces, trying to slip out without everyone noticing.
College is expensive. Between tuition, room and board and books students and their families spend thousands of dollars each semester. Students spend 5.5 billion dollars on alcohol each year. This is more than they spend on books and all other non-alcoholic beverages combined. Averaged out it comes to four hundred and sixty-six dollars per student, per year. That's over four billion cans of beer. These factors seemed a little drastic, but four percent of college students drink daily and these numbers add up. ("Facts and Statistics: Alcohol at College" 1) Many students often find themselves in financial trouble due to alcohol. Students are either subject to fines for property damage done by drunken students, noise violations caused by drunken parties, or fines for possession and public drunkenness. The building fines range in amounts from five dollars to a hundred dollars, and noise violations without being caught for possession range depending on the situation. Possession of alcohol and public drunkenness is handled separately from regular fines. If you are caught with minimal alcohol or you are rarely written up for public drunkenness you are forced to take a class called BASICS. There are two meetings, equaling five hours with a cost of fifty dollars. However, if you are caught with multiple accounts of public drunkenness or with a large amount of alcohol you are forced to attend OFTCA. This is an off campus class that lasts twelve hours and costs one hundred dollars. With OFTCA, a letter is also sent home to your parents making them aware of the situation. Both programs are made to educate students about the problem before it becomes an addiction. (Dowell, Personal Interview.)
When I arrived back at my dorm I found my textbooks still in plastic lying in an empty Budweiser box. I went over the syllabi had received from my professors and was amazed at how much work I had to make up. I laid my head against my pillow overwhelmed with my workload. In the comer of my eye, I saw the unopened red and white can bearing the eagle that could set me free. I fondled the can in one hand and my work in the other. I spent the next few minutes trying to equal them out, trying to find the balance that wasn't there.
Works Cited
Dowell, Kelley Personal Interview: PSC Dec.2000
Heath Matters "Facts and Statistics: Alcohol in College"
Online:
PSC Student Chemical Health Program "What You Need to Know" May 2000
RoyalCollege of Physicians A Great and Growing Evil
New York: Tavistock 1987
Wechler, Dr. Henry "College Students Define Binge Drinking: Results of a National
Survey" Journal of AmericanCollege Health 49:2 Sept. 2000 57-63