College Social Activities

Moderated drinking makes sense to me; when the alcohol is not the centerpiece of the good time. I guess I should mention I go to Michigan State, home of Cedar Fest, I've never really had a proper drink, but I have no qualms about trying a few when I'm actually 21. It feels like no one I know is capable of moderated drinking.
This is pretty much the conundrum to me. Does socializing not lead to de-stressing in its own right? I assume alcohol is the exception, not the rule when you socialize and as you describe I wouldn't consider it the focal point of your occasion, but I wonder if the generalized case is that many students are stressed to the point where essentially a drug is necessary to let loose now and then. Or is it some massive conglomeration of peer pressure, social lubrication, and new-found freedom where things go haywire?

Is there as much reasonable drinking going on as unreasonable drinking and I'm just oblivious to it?

I suppose I'm out of the social-standard loop because I have different coping mechanisms. At the same time though, I've been conditioned my whole life to desire social involvement. However, given the nature of introversion, I really feel down right empty after leaving a large gathering. Which creates a funny little paradox, since I'd feel the same way if I got together with an equally sized group of like-minded introverts.

[SIZE="1"]Also uncertain where I should have put this thread...[/SIZE]

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@Throws
There are 38,000 undergrads at MSU, certainly enough for me to find thousands of people I could connect with, there's just the issue of getting us (me) out of our zones enough to find these other people. Which then makes me wonder if the drinking culture I'm perplexed by is just a vocal minority. Also, your list sounds like a great time on paper, but when you stack it up against the kind of insanity that you hear about from stuff like texts from last night... kinda boring

I largely believe alcohol to be a placebo where people allow themselves to act like stupid twats as soon as they let a tiny bit hit their lips. I find it interesting that you are going on a quest to find a good time. But at the same time find it such a waste of time and energy. My freshman year I went out to a scenic overpass with a bunch of friends and drank a bit of what everyone was having. One of our hallmates ended up drowning himself in a whole bottle of Bacardi 151. When we headed back to our dorm, the effects of the alcohol got to him and he fell face first into the concrete steps. He ended up getting his stomach pumped and got stitches. He lost a tooth and his dignity. This was also right before Valentine's Day so his mother came all the way from Philadelphia and sarcastically stated, "Thanks for giving me the best mother's day gift ever." We still talk about that incident to this day.