How to protect your peace at a school full of chaos

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College will be the best four years of your life. That’s what I was told so many times as I packed up my belongings and moved to New York to begin my college journey here at Syracuse University.

If the rumors were true, and college really is the best time of everyone’s lives, then I was determined to make sure my four years at SU were the same. So, of course, I came into my freshman year around four months ago with high expectations for what I would do with my first semester.

But, as life often goes, my reality was very different from my plan.

When I originally thought about what my time would look like at a notorious party school like SU, my plan included making a big group of friends and going out with them on the weekends. We would do everything that a college student at SU was supposed to.

I thought drinking and going out to parties was the only thing to do on the weekends here. But, in my first few weeks, I didn’t go out at all. It worked out because my friends weren’t going out either, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.

As time went on, though, my friends began to start going out on the weekends, and while I was hesitant to join, I went along with them. Being at a school that has such an emphasis on Greek life and parties made it hard to deal with feeling like I was missing out if I stayed in.

Don’t get me wrong, being out with friends is always fun, but as we kept going out, I discovered something big about myself.

I don’t like drinking and going out partying every weekend, and I didn’t want to be a part of SU’s central culture.

Each time I would go out I would find myself having fun at the beginning and gradually not enjoying myself as the night went on. It was on a night the weekend before Halloween when a random girl I didn’t know got too drunk to make it home by herself and I had to help her.

After I walked the girl home I couldn’t help but imagine myself in a situation like that or worse, and I was nervous about what I would do.

Drinking didn’t help my mental health either. While it was fine at the moment, the next few days I would be in a slump and my anxiety would spike.

I realized that part of the reason my anxiety rose after drinking and going out at night was because I knew I didn’t particularly like it, but I was nervous about not liking what all of my new friends were doing.

I realized that in order to protect my mental health and peace, I needed to start being honest about what I wanted.

So I told my friends and my girlfriend that I didn’t want to go out for a bit, and they respected that decision. My girlfriend even offered to stay with me as our friends went out.

I quickly learned that there were many other things to do instead of partying. As I stayed in, I looked into Orange After Dark events, weekend late-night activities where I could go with friends to meet new people in an environment that doesn’t involve alcohol.

One of the activities that I really enjoyed was a drag queen bingo that Orange After Dark put on. It was at this event that I got to meet more members of the LGBTQ+ community and enjoy a sober night.

Along with doing more sober activities, I also learned about balancing social life and academic life here in college.

Overall, in my first semester of college here at SU, I had to learn to juggle school work and social experiences. Many schools have big party scenes, but the most important thing to remember is there will always be something to do that you will enjoy.

Claire McBride is a freshman Magazine, News and Digital Journalism major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at Cpmcbrid@syr.edu.