First Drinks in College

I didn't start drinking until I went away to college at the age of seventeen. The drinking age in New York state was eighteen but it didn't stop me. I turned 18 three weeks after I started my freshmen year.

At that time, four years of college seemed like an eon (translation: graduation was a long ways away). I skipped most of my classes and went full swing into party mode.

I was the oldest of nine children from a good Catholic family. Naturally I couldn't wait to be "on my own" at college. Several of the people who were roommates and friends I'm still in touch with today. And some of them have had their own problems with alcohol. And drugs. We were from the "Make love not war" generation.

I was too innocent and too scared to latch onto the the "free love" mantra but I loved alcohol. For at least six months, I had the proverbial "hollow leg". I could drink a lot and never have a hangover. Alcohol made me feel happy. And silly. And less uptight.

I went home for Christmas break and my report card came in. My cumulative average was 1.6. Yeah. My surprised and enraged father just about knocked me into the middle of next week. I went back to college knowing I had to buckle down and stop partying. Well, at least buckle down.

And I did. The next semester I had a cum of 3.0. But the partying didn't stop. I was still having a love affair with alcohol.