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"Here&amp;#039;s what I want to talk about this week: alcohol. It&amp;#039;s a word that, to many kids my age, has become nearly synonymous with &amp;#039;college.&amp;#039;  Throughout high school, I was very involved with a drug and alcohol prevention program called Operation Snowball (shout out to my stellar Snowballers!). Almost all of my friends were also involved with the program, so I was never around alcohol. I never felt pressure to drink, and I had no desire to do so. In that light, college is a very different atmosphere for me. Alcohol is everywhere \u2014 it&amp;#039;s almost unavoidable. Regardless of if they are 21 or not, kids are drinking constantly. People pregame \u2014 drink before an event \u2014 just about everything imaginable. The weekends revolve around drinking. And, unlike responsible adults, most people drink just to get drunk. At Drake, going to bars is really popular, so lots of freshmen and sophomores use fake IDs which, like drinking underage, is illegal. Cops do occasionally bust the bars and parties, so having one might not be the best idea.  I do understand why drinking happens so often. With no parents around and easy access to it most of the time, people abuse their newfound freedom. With so many people drinking, lots of kids \u2014 especially freshmen \u2014 will drink just to fit in. Part of me finds this frustrating. For 19 years, my friends and I had no problems having fun without being under the influence. Now, it seems, everyone thinks that they can&amp;#039;t have fun if they&amp;#039;re not intoxicated. Truthfully, there is some pressure to drink. It&amp;#039;s easy to feel left out when everyone is going out to the bars, but you don&amp;#039;t want to. Even so, the pressure isn&amp;#039;t too intense. If you&amp;#039;re at party and tell someone you don&amp;#039;t drink, they usually won&amp;#039;t ask you again. Plenty of people don&amp;#039;t drink, so it&amp;#039;s no big deal if you decide not to. Plus, watching drunk people can be pretty hilarious. For those sober-minded girls out there, never fear! There are still fun things to do without alcohol:    host a movie night in your room (you&amp;#039;ll be surprised how many people you can squeeze in there!) treat yourself to a nice dinner (there&amp;#039;s tons of cool restaurants around campus and in the city!) go to on-campus events (we got free cotton candy during homecoming week!) stay in and do homework (there is nothing wrong with getting your work done ahead of time!) scope out sweet concerts (so far this year I&amp;#039;ve seen Mayday Parade, All Time Low, The Cab, Neon Trees, My Chemical Romance, AND Blink-182!)  Much love, Kristin "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a16749/have-sober-fun-in-college/>