Good Tuesday morning everyone!

I love Tuesdays. I have one class at 9am then NOTHING for the rest of the day. I can work, I can sleep, I can write really long blogs secure in the knowledge that I have hours and hours ahead of me, hours to fill with doing things I should be doing instead of reading random stories on the internet. Or blogging, I suppose. Since it's not going to get me into med school, raise my GPA, or give me memorable life experiences to write my personal statement about, I suppose it must be relegated to the pile of things labeled "Procrastination".

Anyway, my personal philosophical struggles are not exactly what I want to write about. Or maybe they are, since I just spent a whole paragraph on them. ANYWAY, alcohol. Yesterday I was owning that essay and going over general chemistry, looked up, saw it was midnight, and promptly went to sleep. So let's talk about yesterday.

Monday. The start of the week. When you look at your calendar and sadly observe the many square blocks of weekdays that separate you from the weekend blocks. It's sad, believe me. So, Monday as normal, class 9-12, finishing up chemistry tutorial, filing for a chem exam regrade (I need those four points that TA cheated me out of!), more class 1-3. Chem office hours 3-4, dinner with some friends 6-7, ALAS (Asso. of Latin American Students) meeting 8-9, and floor meeting 9:30-10 (I believe I have already implied my OCD, so don't judge).

For those of you who do not have "floor meetings", it is one of those institutions the university sets up to help transition the freshman into the community, make sure the freshman floor becomes a tight knit group so they feel comfortable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. My floor is somewhere in between. We know everyone on the floor, name, face, generally what they are studying, but, as a whole, we're not the friends who-share-every-deep-dark-secret. It's not anything bad, in fact, I think we, as a floor, function well together, some annoying, slovenly habits, some slightly too sensative complainers, but overall, we're good.

The point of this floor meeting was "diversity". They gave us sheets of paper that had statements like "I identify as multiracial, mixed, or come from a combined heritage" and "I identify as middle class". There was also "I identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgendered" and "I have felt ashamed of myself on the basis of my gender/race/socio-economic conditions/sexual orientation". Anonymously, we put a checkmark by the ones that were true for us and handed in the sheets. Our RAs handed the sheets out, and while we stood in a circle, would read out a statement. Whoever had a checkmark on their sheet would step into the circle. After five statements we all would pass our sheets two to the right.

I was really impressed with this exercise. Without singling anyone out, embarrassing anyone, or outting anyone, the floor was able to see percentages of us who had certain opinions, identified a certain way, or had certian life experiences. During our debrief, talking about our reactions, many students said they would "be more concious of the things [they] did or said", now aware of some of the things they had assumed were not present among us.

One subject of the exercise was alcohol. "I enjoy drinking alcohol". "I am uncomfortable around alcohol". As expected, most of the floor stepped into the circle on the first, but not all, maybe six or seven people out of the forty something on the floor. Of course, that does not mean that they don't drink alcohol, simply that they do not enjoy it, but it was something to think about.

Our floor is pretty representative of WU. The majority drink and enjoy it, alcohol a part of the social scene, a given. There are those who do not like the taste of alcohol, but drink it anyway. However, some students choose not to drink. At all. My representative was one of those people.

Not drinking is a decision I made during high school. I have heard others' reasoning, alcohol has too many calories, it's expensive, it's illegal, etc. I do not drink because of my family. Alcoholism is a prominent condition in one branch. I have seen it destroy relationships, jobs, and people. It is something I simply choose not partake of.

Ok, way too serious! I don't drink. Yeah, you got that. But that doesn't mean that I care if anyone else drinks. My decisions are for me, not for everyone in the entire world. I can't say the same of the other individuals who have chosen to be non-drinkers, but this is my truth. I go to parties, I dance, I hang out with people who drink.

For those of you thinking "oh, she must just hang out with other non-drinkiers," have you not been reading? Did I not write that the majority of people drink? How could I choose to only socialize with non-drinkers!? I can't even tell one from the other!

So, yeah. Most of my friends drink. I still party with them. I play drinking games with them for g-sake! That is one thing I love about WU. Your choice about alcohol really is NOT AN ISSUE. You can choose to drink and not become social outcast #1. You can choose to drink, have the same fun, and no one cares. If I want to play kings or the animal game, no one care if my cup is full of orange juice minus the vodka or just coke (sidenote, yes I say coke for all caffeinated beverages. Want a coke? Sure, I'll have a Dr. Pepper). And, yes, I make it clear that it is just juice. I don't let them assume since no one can tell by the color.

On my campus, alcohol really is a choice, and I am free to choose either way.

Ok, now, back to biology. Only a hundred pages to go! Happy tuesday and good luck studying!

LPin