a.k.a. "The Alternative Meeting Society"
***This is the article I'm thinking on giving to the editors of my University's newspaper "UNIVERSE". I would first like to feel it's up to MY STANDARDS which, unfortunately, isn't yet. So all critics are welcomed.***
Congratulations to all the ones who have come back, congratulations to all the ones who have decided to embark on the "Uni-adventure" and congratulations to ME for finally publishing an article.
I wouldn't be fair on myself if I didn't start by writing about what I consider the biggest and most widespread cancer of university life: ALCOHOL. Oh yes, the glorious booze. With all the problems related to alcohol missuse, both for yourself and the ones around you, people still drink religiously.
But alcohol is great for meeting people, right? We seem to have reached a point in which no socializing can take place without alcohol. And it's ironic. To put it into the words of a philosopher friend of mine, "the more you drink, the less YOURSELF you are". And is that the way you want your potential friends, not to mention partners, to see you or even more, to "like" you? When you are "less yourself"? Who would they be liking, then? You or the ALCOHOL in you? So after all, it would seem alcohol is not that good for socializing, after all.
"Alcohol is great fun", I've heard many times from many people. There is nothing like not drinking to see how "far from fun" being drunk really is. The common belief is that "the more alcohol, the more the fun". But if the more alcohol you have the less yourself you are, by the time you get to the AWESOME FUN, you are no longer you. For example, imagine I tumble over while I'm drunk and I start laughing senselessly. If I was myself, and I tumbled over, I certainly wouldn't be laughing. However, if I start dancing foolishly while NOT drunk, as I do so often, and that makes me laugh, then I'm having fun while being myself. And believe me, we can all do it.
I know for a fact that there is people who, like me, don't buy in the idea that "you have to get plastered to have a great time". The problem is we are all scattered everywhere, trying to reconcile the "socializing" with the "NOT DRUNKING". Which brings us to the main purpose of this article: the proposal of a Society for "alternative meeting". The "alternative" including activities you wouldn't normally find in a pub; which implies, for start, not drinking yourself into oblivion. The "meeting" refering, obviously, to the get together of people. To put an example we can all understand, less "pub" and more "Central Perk". Also, among the "alternative activities", I would suggest them being anything from plain dancing to go treasure hunting dressed up as pirates. (There is the slight chance I might have watched too much of Pirates of the Caribbean).
So, to all of you interested in having a good time and meeting new people in a non-alcoholic, creative and fun environment, please drop me an e-mail at: M.V.Fernandez-Canel@herts.ac.uk (Uni one) or marytracy9@hotmail.co.uk.
Read More......