I remember my first year in university; I had the intention to party – a lot. The music, the drinking, being able to meet new people – I wanted to be this cool party girl for once, but that wasn’t me at all and I couldn’t seem to turn myself into that person.
I was never the type to get drunk – the only time I ever have a drink is when there’s a special occasion or if I’m out with a few friends, but nothing over the top.
University and college parties tend to cause people to go incredibly insane; they all gather around one another and drink until they pass out, and that just wasn’t my style at all.
Not only that, but trying to fit in with a group of people who loved to party and get drunk wasn’t exactly my ideal vision of a “fun time”. When we’re invited to college parties, some of us don’t even realize how dangerous it could be; feeling pressured into drinking alcohol, using drugs, and even having sex.
Sometimes people (like myself, in this case) tend to go out with a few friends to simply dance and have a good time, but many of us aren’t even aware of the consequences of these college parties.
Alcohol consumption is one of the risky factors towards college and university partying.
An example of excessive partying and the abuse of alcohol consumption was about a month ago or so – when Humberto Moura Fonseca, a 23 year old student from the university of Julio de Mesquita in Bauru, Brazil died after downing 25 shots of vodka during a drinking competition at a university party. The group decided to see who could drink 25 shots in less than 60 seconds. But after downing the alcohol, the 23 year old told his friends he felt ill, then suddenly collapsed. Fonseca did not have the intention to down all of those shots in such a short amount of time, but the competition with his classmates and friends was great factor within his approval towards this terrible accident.
You see, Fonseca was awaiting for his friend’s approval, and the competition between them on who was able to down more shots in less amount of time was a way of feeling approved.
Aside from the alcohol consumption, drugs are also incorporated within the college party lifestyle. The most popular “party drug” in today’s society is what we call Molly. The drug causes the individual to feel a sense of euphoria, as well as experience psychedelic effects – causing the person who takes the drug to hallucinate.
Although this is a drug commonly used within clubs, it has also seemed to be the most popular trend amongst college and university students.
There is always pressure for yourself when the majority of your friends or classmates are using drugs, but you disapprove of it.
You want to fit in, but you don’t want to do any of the things your friends are doing – you have different priorities – but somehow you always get pressured into doing something…
Could this mean that you just want to be approved by people who you thought were cool, but in reality they’re just not cool at all?
Postsecondary parties are a great way of meeting new people, but if you need to seek approval from individuals who smoke, drink, use drugs, and pressure you into following in their footsteps, then maybe it’s time to open your eyes and realize that these are certainly not the right people to have a good time with, or to befriend.
Sometimes these people aren’t even your true friends, but just want to test you on whether you will do what they say or not. They don’t even care as to whether you’ll get hurt or not – so we have to make sure that we’re not alone and that we have at least one good friend around to guide us and warn us that what the others are forcing us to do is just not right.
We often discuss moments that occur during the party, but don’t realize what happens after the party; Social media. We all know that it’s a great part of our lives and the majority of us can’t live without it.
Social media can also be a risky factor. You have to stay lucid throughout the whole party, otherwise you’ll be getting some pretty shocking after-party photos posted to either Facebook or Instagram, and no one ever wants that to happen.
What will happen if one of your family members finds a photo of yourself from last night doing something that they’d disapprove of? Not only is it embarrassing, but it could be heartbreaking for a parent to see their son or daughter just up to no good at a school party that they thought was “innocent”.
Another thing about school partying is to make sure you’re staying safe – and I mean sexually. Let’s say that maybe you did have a few drinks, and you decided to go home with someone – you have to make sure that you’re using contraceptives, otherwise you’ll regret it in the long run… We shouldn’t get pressured into acting a certain way at a party because we feel that we need an “approval” from a specific group.
If you’re being pushed into doing something because everyone else at the party is doing it, then there are two options; the first is to simply leave. If you dislike the environment you’re in, you are not obligated to stick around. The second is to find another group with whom you have similar values on what you think “partying” is. Each person has their own version of what a party truly is to them. In my case, it was being able to dance and socialize without having to drink or use drugs – to just have a good time with good people.
So make sure you know who your true friends are, and safe partying!
