The Americans have baseball; the French have football; the Australians have surfing.
In the UK, our pastime is to get completely trolleyed.
No, by "trolleyed", I do not mean racing down supermarket aisles at 200mph and knocking over that old lady by the Poultry section and then getting yelled at by the guy who wears the stupid hat and apron and who cuts up dead animals for £10 a kilo. (Although that is really fun. Racing down aisles, I mean. I did that in Tesco the other day. Good laugh. Not for the old lady though.)
Rare are the nights when, walking home from the campus library, I do not see hoards of girls in super-mini skirts puking on student notice boards, or groups of rowdy guys walking around like dogs on local anaesthetics, or students passing out as they're about to enter a cab home.
In recent years, binge-drinking has become a serious problem in the UK. I could copy-paste a bunch of official statistics and numbers that would support my thesis. But I don't need to. I'm a university student. I have seen... things. *shudder*
At university, the pressure is on to drink alcohol and get hammered several nights/days a week.
This pressure takes various forms (some more shocking than others):
I find this emphasis on binge-drinking completely ludicrous. For several reasons:
BUT I digress.
Personally, I'm not a heavy drinker (an overstatement.)
I like to remember what I did on a night out; I like to have fun with my friends; and I like NOT having to be carried home or having my hair held back in a puking incident.
Unlike what most people think, staying sober is cool.
Therefore I find it outrageous that, because everyone does it, and because it is even supported by the establishment, we, the future generations, are brainwashed into thinking that poisoning our livers is perfectly acceptable.
Well I've got news for you. Just because everyone else gets drunk does NOT make it OK.
Alcohol can be dangerous. After all, it's a drug.
In the UK, our pastime is to get completely trolleyed.
No, by "trolleyed", I do not mean racing down supermarket aisles at 200mph and knocking over that old lady by the Poultry section and then getting yelled at by the guy who wears the stupid hat and apron and who cuts up dead animals for £10 a kilo. (Although that is really fun. Racing down aisles, I mean. I did that in Tesco the other day. Good laugh. Not for the old lady though.)
Rare are the nights when, walking home from the campus library, I do not see hoards of girls in super-mini skirts puking on student notice boards, or groups of rowdy guys walking around like dogs on local anaesthetics, or students passing out as they're about to enter a cab home.
In recent years, binge-drinking has become a serious problem in the UK. I could copy-paste a bunch of official statistics and numbers that would support my thesis. But I don't need to. I'm a university student. I have seen... things. *shudder*
At university, the pressure is on to drink alcohol and get hammered several nights/days a week.
This pressure takes various forms (some more shocking than others):
- 1) Most society and club socials revolve around going to bars and getting smashed
- 2) BEFORE going on a night out, students get together in halls with one aim... to get drunk
- 3) The more shocking one: every week, the STUDENT UNION organises a night during which society and club members sit in circles to play drinking games. It starts at 6.30pm (let me tell you, by 7.30pm, it ain't pretty. Especially when your brand new leather boots are covered in someone else's regurgitated pasta bolognese) and is followed by a night of dance and mainly mayhem. AND THIS IS SUPPORTED BY THE UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT UNION!!! (Hence, shocking-ness)
I find this emphasis on binge-drinking completely ludicrous. For several reasons:
- 1) We're students. We're skint. Why spend more money on more booze and thus become more skint??
- 2) If you have to swallow depressants to lose all sense of reality and have a good time, then you are sad.
- 3) Hangovers
- 4) Boys, girls... let's face it. Blaming alcohol for the stupid things you do only means you can't really accept responsibility for your own stupidity.
- 5) Those stupid things. They can have life-changing consequences. Like babies. And babies are gross. Four things come out of babies: snot, puke, poo and pee. Eeeew. Just look at that:
BUT I digress.
- 6) Also, alcohol fries your brain cells and causes beer-bellies. Gross.
Personally, I'm not a heavy drinker (an overstatement.)
I like to remember what I did on a night out; I like to have fun with my friends; and I like NOT having to be carried home or having my hair held back in a puking incident.
Unlike what most people think, staying sober is cool.
Therefore I find it outrageous that, because everyone does it, and because it is even supported by the establishment, we, the future generations, are brainwashed into thinking that poisoning our livers is perfectly acceptable.
Well I've got news for you. Just because everyone else gets drunk does NOT make it OK.
Alcohol can be dangerous. After all, it's a drug.
Copyright © Caffeine Bubbles, 10 Feb 2010, Warwickshire, UK
5 comments:
Right on! Totally compeltely absolutely dead on.
Very wise decision to stay sober -- nothing better than bening able to remember the fun time you had the night before.
If you are dead drunk and puking your brains out, that actually is the meanest and bestliest thing that could happen when you're supposed to be having fun.
Like the article. Sensible and funny!
Brilliant!
That baby pic almost made me lose my breakfast :-)
As to binge drinking it is killing college students in the U.S. It is a favorite pastime and administrators are completely at a loss as to how to control it. Very good article btw.
Andrew: Also a very unattractive thing to do. Would you ever fall for a guy chatting you up with vomit all down his front? I don't think so. But I also just realised you're probably a guy judging by the name "Andrew". So.
MadMike: Someone told me they thought it was chocolate. I beg to differ. Difficult for admins to control it but I think it also comes down to personal responsibility.
Student binge drinking is idiotic.
And you're right, alcohol burns brain cells.
Now, how will students be able to study if their neurons are burnt?
Good article.
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