From the UK's smallest city...A non-drinkers journey
I'm Morsey and in under a week i shall be endeavoring from the comforts of rural life, to begin my 6 hour car journey up to Sheffield.
I thought i would make the blog not only to show the rural-urban changes i will face, but also how freshers week will end up being for me, a non-drinker who dislikes the social norm that is excess drinking and clubbing. This is not a religious choice i made, since i am an agnostic-atheist (i couldn't really care for religion), however i have grown up to dislike the whole social aspect which revolves around clubbing or excessive binge drinking, something that i have no interest in and something that i feel uncomfortable around.
Initially i had planned to go to the University of Bristol, but my results didn't pan out as the teachers expected (i did foresee a grade drop), however i am more than happy to say that i will be studying at the University of Sheffield. The downside however due to me getting into my insurance choice is that i have been placed in probably the worst type of accommodation i could have wanted, that is catered and shared-bathroom. The halls themselves are single-sex and appear to be old traditional halls so logic would dictate that i might find another non-alcoholic somewhere within them.
So far i have purchased all my stationery, which for me will only be basic items with the addition of a scientific calculator. I have also bought new clothes, since trackies will hardly be the most attractive appearance, therefore i have bought various types of trousers ranging from jeans to cargo's. Additional t-shirts and jumpers have also been acquired. These shall all go inside a large wheeled holdall instead of the traditional suitcase, so that it will allow me to travel with it much easier on the tedious train rides home over the holidays.
Today i plan to print off all the various paperwork that i shall need upon arrival and for registration, such as the accommodation contract and a copy of my introduction week timetable. I also plan to do a brief 'jog' of my memory since we do have a maths test during introduction week, therefore i need to give my memory a reminder of the content.
Only 5 days to go...
I thought i would make the blog not only to show the rural-urban changes i will face, but also how freshers week will end up being for me, a non-drinker who dislikes the social norm that is excess drinking and clubbing. This is not a religious choice i made, since i am an agnostic-atheist (i couldn't really care for religion), however i have grown up to dislike the whole social aspect which revolves around clubbing or excessive binge drinking, something that i have no interest in and something that i feel uncomfortable around.
Initially i had planned to go to the University of Bristol, but my results didn't pan out as the teachers expected (i did foresee a grade drop), however i am more than happy to say that i will be studying at the University of Sheffield. The downside however due to me getting into my insurance choice is that i have been placed in probably the worst type of accommodation i could have wanted, that is catered and shared-bathroom. The halls themselves are single-sex and appear to be old traditional halls so logic would dictate that i might find another non-alcoholic somewhere within them.
So far i have purchased all my stationery, which for me will only be basic items with the addition of a scientific calculator. I have also bought new clothes, since trackies will hardly be the most attractive appearance, therefore i have bought various types of trousers ranging from jeans to cargo's. Additional t-shirts and jumpers have also been acquired. These shall all go inside a large wheeled holdall instead of the traditional suitcase, so that it will allow me to travel with it much easier on the tedious train rides home over the holidays.
Today i plan to print off all the various paperwork that i shall need upon arrival and for registration, such as the accommodation contract and a copy of my introduction week timetable. I also plan to do a brief 'jog' of my memory since we do have a maths test during introduction week, therefore i need to give my memory a reminder of the content.
Only 5 days to go...
(edited 6 years ago)
Good luck! 
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
Best of luck, but I don't think your assumption that traditional styles of hall and non-drinking is correct. You probably will find people who don't drink at university, but I wouldn't assume there'll be any in your flat. If you don't want to drink or go out clubbing then that's fine, but be prepared for your flatmates to want you to go with them. You have four options as far as I can tell:
1) Go along with an open mind and try to appear cheerful but let your flatmates know it's not really your thing.
2) Respectfully decline to go, saying it's not really something your interested in.
3) Go along and complain all night.
4) Decline to go and tell your flatmates they're terrible people for drinking and going out.
I'll let you work out which are the sensible options and which are not.
As above, you state you are a non-alcoholic. I drink alcohol and I'm also not an alcoholic because I'm not addicted/dependent on it. If you start referring to people who drink alcohol as alcoholics then you may struggle to make friends.
Finally, from my (admittedly limited) experience of Sheffield, wearing trackies is definitely not out of the ordinary.
1) Go along with an open mind and try to appear cheerful but let your flatmates know it's not really your thing.
2) Respectfully decline to go, saying it's not really something your interested in.
3) Go along and complain all night.
4) Decline to go and tell your flatmates they're terrible people for drinking and going out.
I'll let you work out which are the sensible options and which are not.
As above, you state you are a non-alcoholic. I drink alcohol and I'm also not an alcoholic because I'm not addicted/dependent on it. If you start referring to people who drink alcohol as alcoholics then you may struggle to make friends.
Finally, from my (admittedly limited) experience of Sheffield, wearing trackies is definitely not out of the ordinary.
Original post by jackisback
Good luck!
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
Yep.
I've met people like this. Nobody likes their shiity attitude, they thus become friendless and isolated. They hate anything fun, people dislike them and they then suffer from depression and hate life. And that's the funniest part.
Original post by jackisback
Good luck!
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
May I kindly suggest not calling people who drink alcohol "alcoholics"? Alcoholics are people who are dependant on drink, and it isn't fair to label everyone who drinks alcohol as alcoholics, regardless of your own opinion on consuming alcohol.
Original post by Manitude
Best of luck, but I don't think your assumption that traditional styles of hall and non-drinking is correct. You probably will find people who don't drink at university, but I wouldn't assume there'll be any in your flat. If you don't want to drink or go out clubbing then that's fine, but be prepared for your flatmates to want you to go with them. You have four options as far as I can tell:
1) Go along with an open mind and try to appear cheerful but let your flatmates know it's not really your thing.
2) Respectfully decline to go, saying it's not really something your interested in.
3) Go along and complain all night.
4) Decline to go and tell your flatmates they're terrible people for drinking and going out.
I'll let you work out which are the sensible options and which are not.
As above, you state you are a non-alcoholic. I drink alcohol and I'm also not an alcoholic because I'm not addicted/dependent on it. If you start referring to people who drink alcohol as alcoholics then you may struggle to make friends.
Finally, from my (admittedly limited) experience of Sheffield, wearing trackies is definitely not out of the ordinary.
1) Go along with an open mind and try to appear cheerful but let your flatmates know it's not really your thing.
2) Respectfully decline to go, saying it's not really something your interested in.
3) Go along and complain all night.
4) Decline to go and tell your flatmates they're terrible people for drinking and going out.
I'll let you work out which are the sensible options and which are not.
As above, you state you are a non-alcoholic. I drink alcohol and I'm also not an alcoholic because I'm not addicted/dependent on it. If you start referring to people who drink alcohol as alcoholics then you may struggle to make friends.
Finally, from my (admittedly limited) experience of Sheffield, wearing trackies is definitely not out of the ordinary.
Thank you both for the advise. I had no intention to offend anybody with the 'non-alcoholic' comment, at the time i could not think of another word to express a non-drinker
, so if i did offend anybody then i do apologise.I don't have anything against people who drink, many of my friends do it and i wouldn't not (double negative woo!) be a friend with somebody because they do drink, however it is an activity that i will generally tend to avoid if i can. I have minor social anxiety as well which doesn't normally help the cause. I don't mind pubs or bars since they are more relaxed i find, and i also enjoy a good game of football or rugby on the big-screen, however it is very much the clubbing events or excessive drinking that i find off-putting and an uncomfortable scene.
As for the trackies, if it was me then i would wear them since i find them more comfortable than other clothes, however i do acknowledge that i have to make some effort to be a semi-normal person and trying different clothes i thought would be a good starting point.
Original post by morl92
Yep.
I've met people like this. Nobody likes their shiity attitude, they thus become friendless and isolated. They hate anything fun, people dislike them and they then suffer from depression and hate life. And that's the funniest part.
I've met people like this. Nobody likes their shiity attitude, they thus become friendless and isolated. They hate anything fun, people dislike them and they then suffer from depression and hate life. And that's the funniest part.
With great respect, many people also hate people who think people who don't drink are boring and don't want to go out. I am on the contrary, i like to play sports, go to the cinema, go for a walk around, go out for lunch or whatever, but just because i couldn't think of a better word for non-drinker (which i have now changed) doesn't make it acceptable to start generalizing people.
(edited 9 years ago)
...and so i have arrived.
I arrived in Sheffield at about 2.00pm, my key collection was at 3.00pm so in between i went for lunch with my parents.
The key collection process was quick and easy, and i have got a relatively okay room considering it was far from what i wanted, however the bed is placed against the wall sockets and my laptop charger barely reaches from the desk so i will have to get some extension cables at some point. After i said goodbye to my parents, i probably spent the best part of an our shaking and sweating...a lot. I guess i might have some form of hyperhidrosis however it could just be the anxiety and nerves.
Once i had calmed myself down, I introduced myself to everybody in our hall, about 16 in total on our floor with several bathrooms and a kitchen...well it's called a kitchen, i call it an extravagent cupboard. After the initial greetings and hello's i went to my room to get everything in order. There is a lot of engineers in our hall though, none doing Aerospace but still a considerable amount.
At about 6pm, the entire flat went out to get to have a meal although me being silly buggered up the registration of my catered card (wrong e-mail) so i used money, but that was all good.
We got back and until now most of the lads (male only floor) including me, placed our chairs in the middle with some music, them with their drinks and had a good laugh. We did attempt to start Cards against Humanities however that was interrupted by several floors joining us, at that point i backed away.
I can deal with a small group but that was personally too many for my liking and i would have felt uncomfortable so i am now in my room. Fortunately i am not alone, there is another guy like me who also does not like the whole pre-drinking/clubbing scene so hopefully over time i well get to know him more, but i am glad for now that i was able to manage some form of interaction with the other flatmates.
Unfortunately however my room is directly above an archway under our floor and is also situated directly next to the set of stairs on this side of the hall so i do not doubt that i will be woken up at some point tonight.
It was a mixed bag today, however i didn't totally isolate myself, and for that alone i am happy.
The only issue is i now need to use the toilet, which is where about 25+ people are currently sitting/standing....crap.
I arrived in Sheffield at about 2.00pm, my key collection was at 3.00pm so in between i went for lunch with my parents.
The key collection process was quick and easy, and i have got a relatively okay room considering it was far from what i wanted, however the bed is placed against the wall sockets and my laptop charger barely reaches from the desk so i will have to get some extension cables at some point. After i said goodbye to my parents, i probably spent the best part of an our shaking and sweating...a lot. I guess i might have some form of hyperhidrosis however it could just be the anxiety and nerves.
Once i had calmed myself down, I introduced myself to everybody in our hall, about 16 in total on our floor with several bathrooms and a kitchen...well it's called a kitchen, i call it an extravagent cupboard. After the initial greetings and hello's i went to my room to get everything in order. There is a lot of engineers in our hall though, none doing Aerospace but still a considerable amount.
At about 6pm, the entire flat went out to get to have a meal although me being silly buggered up the registration of my catered card (wrong e-mail) so i used money, but that was all good.
We got back and until now most of the lads (male only floor) including me, placed our chairs in the middle with some music, them with their drinks and had a good laugh. We did attempt to start Cards against Humanities however that was interrupted by several floors joining us, at that point i backed away.
I can deal with a small group but that was personally too many for my liking and i would have felt uncomfortable so i am now in my room. Fortunately i am not alone, there is another guy like me who also does not like the whole pre-drinking/clubbing scene so hopefully over time i well get to know him more, but i am glad for now that i was able to manage some form of interaction with the other flatmates.
Unfortunately however my room is directly above an archway under our floor and is also situated directly next to the set of stairs on this side of the hall so i do not doubt that i will be woken up at some point tonight.
It was a mixed bag today, however i didn't totally isolate myself, and for that alone i am happy.
The only issue is i now need to use the toilet, which is where about 25+ people are currently sitting/standing....crap.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by _Morsey_
I'm Morsey and in under a week i shall be endeavoring from the comforts of my rural 'city' life, to begin my 6 hour car journey up to Sheffield. I call it a city, since that is technically what it is due to the presence of a Cathedral, but it is more or less a large-ish village.
Look on the bright side, St. Davids is twice as large as the Vatican (pop 800) and that's technically a country !
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