Before I went away to college, I would always think about what the media portrays for what happens after all the textbooks are closed, all the pencils stop writing, and the laptops are fully shut down. It is usually portrayed that there is a wild party going on and everyone who’s anyone is there, and if you are not you are not a normal college student. But what if you simply do not want to party? Was a girl like me, who went to a couple high school parties and felt very uncomfortable, going to magically become a partier once I began my education here at Kutztown University?
The short answer that I have discovered is: no. I do not feel the need to drink to have a good time at a place where there are a ton of people that are strangers to me. Drinking at somebody’s house that I do not know seems to give me more anxiety than a happy, carefree rush. I was lucky enough to surround myself with a great group of friends who luckily felt the same way that I did with this kind of college stereotype.
So, if you are someone who feels like partying is not your thing and you don’t want to be pressured into it at a university, you do not have to change your morals and beliefs just to blend in if you genuinely don’t want to. If you are someone who does, that is absolutely fine too, but if you know that a night in with your closest friend’s playing Cards Against Humanity is more so your cup of tea (or coffee), then that is just fine as well.
I have never once felt like I was missing out on anything, or have I felt upset to not have that in my “college experience,” I have still had some of the best times of my life here, and I still have plenty of other fun things my friends and I enjoy doing. I decided a long time ago that I was not going to allow the media representation of what a college experience should be and just do it to do it. I decided I was going to create what works for me, and so far I can say first hand I’ve been having a wonderful time here at KU without a single night partying.