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Substance-Free
Housing
by
Katherine Hayes
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| My
friends and I (that's me, far right) all
share an interest in having fun without
getting drunk or high, and that makes us
alike in an important way.
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Strange
as it may sound, I am a college student who doesn't
drink. Such students are like finding a peanut
M&M with the nut missing: Rare, but existent,
and quite different from the other peanut M&M's.
Of course, as I began my freshman year of college,
"different" was the last thing I wanted
to be. I wanted to fit in.
Fitting
in hadn't been too difficult in high school, where
I had always managed to avoid drinking parties.
I feared, however, that it wouldn't be quite so
easy once I started my freshman year at Boston
College (Boston, MA). Orientation only reinforced
that fear, after I made the mistake of telling
my group about my alcohol-free status and one
guy, regarding me with incredulity, dubbed me
"Chem-free."
"Is
it really that weird?" I asked him, a bit
testily. His silence said it all.
Even
though I had applied for substance-free housing,
I worried that I'd only meet people who wanted
to spend their weekends drinking until they puked,
like the guy from my group. That was what had
happened to a girl I knew who was a year older
than me and wasn't into the partying scene at
her college. Luckily, my worries soon proved to
be unnecessary.
Fitting
Right In
The day before Labor Day, my parents, sister,
and I brought my first load of belongings up the
stairs to my room on the third floor of Loyola
Hall. That's when I met my roommate Christina.
She seemed nice, and very excited to meet me,
which was a relief.
By
the time I got the rest of my things into my dorm
room, a large group of girls had assembled themselves
outside my room. As I stood around looking at
everything, wondering where it was all going to
go, the girls called me over to the door.
"Hey,"
they said, "we're going to have lunch at
McElroy, the dining hall, and then we're going
into Boston. Would you like to come with us?"
I
couldn't believe it -- I'd already made new friends!
"Um… okay!" I replied. I hugged
my parents and sister goodbye, and left them to
set everything up in my room. (To my relief, they
told me later that they enjoyed it.)
That
day turned out to be so much fun that, as I walked
through the streets of Boston with Christina,
Caroline, Stephanie, Julie, Kristen, Mary, Linda,
Rea, Shannon, and Laurel, I actually pinched myself.
Almost right away, I had found a group of genuinely
nice friends with whom I had a lot in common.
I
discovered that Christina and I had a lot of the
same interests and were both messy (which made
us great roommates); Julie and I both loved the
color purple and drawing stars; Caroline and I
were English majors who loved to write; Linda
and I had been on our high school yearbook staffs
and liked the same TV shows; and Kristen and I
were both lifeguards and former swimmers. We all
loved reading, Gilmore Girls, and anything
Harry Potter-related. And, most importantly,
none of us wanted to spend our weekends getting
drunk.
The
substance-free floor alleviated my initial worries.
It not only ensured me a great group of friends
right from day one, but also guaranteed me good
housing. At Boston College, freshmen are either
placed on Upper Campus, which is close to classes,
or Newton Campus, which is a five-minute bus ride
away from the main campus. Because I had applied
for substance-free housing, I was automatically
placed on Upper, which was a relief. Also, all
the girls I met on the first day have already
applied for sub-free housing next year. This ensures
that, unlike some sophomores who get stuck living
in two-person rooms with freshmen, we will be
living in four-person suites, and most of us,
including Christina and I, get to keep our roommates.
Our
group quickly grew, as we became friends with
many of the guys on the second floor of Loyola,
another sub-free floor. We also encountered people
in our classes, in the hallway, and in our activities
who were just like us.
| "We
decided it would be funny to call ourselves
LSDs, short for Loyola Sub-free
Divas." |
Common
Bonds
Remember my nickname story from before? Now that
I had a group of friends just like me, we decided
it would be funny to call ourselves LSDs, short
for Loyola Sub-free Divas. The irony is that after
a whole year of college, we've had plenty of fun
without LSD, alcohol, or any other drugs. We have
movie marathons and Gilmore Girls nights,
sing karaoke, play pool, go to football and hockey
games, go shopping or to the movies, kick a soccer
ball around, eat at great restaurants, have snowball
fights, and play board games. We always have fun
weekends, and we don't have to worry about getting
housing probation, throwing up, or doing things
we either regret or can't remember the next day.
Before
I started college, everyone -- guidance counselors,
orientation leaders, older friends, and even college
literature -- urged me to "get involved."
By joining activities, they told me, I would meet
people whose interests were similar to my own.
What I didn't realize was that "interests"
aren't just things like writing, swimming, and
singing -- lifestyle choices are just as important.
Although each of the LSDs and I have our own "distinct
personality," as our RA once remarked, we
all share an interest in having fun without getting
drunk or high, and that makes us alike in an important
way.
Although
some might be inclined to call us nuts, I think
my fellow LSDs and I are more like those peanut
M&M's without the nuts. We're rare, existent,
and quite different. But what truly sets us apart
is that although we're missing the peanut, we
have a heck of a lot more sweet chocolate flavor.
Who needs nuts when you can have chocolate, anyway
-- or drugs when you can get high on life?
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