University may be the first day you start to step outside your comfort zone. Meeting new flatmates, joining new societies and finding new friends may seem daunting at the beginning of the journey – ‘first day’ nerves may turn into a ‘first week’ feeling, and then a ‘first month’ feeling.

Perhaps for this reason, ‘fresher’ culture and alcohol are seen to go hand in hand. Universities will boast about how many pubs and bars they have on campus and new conversations revolve around funny stories of how friends threw up the night before.

If you look at student halls, you will see empty bottles of vodka and gin lining the windowsill as if shouting: “look how fun we are up here”. Drinking culture at university is reliant on the nerves that come with these new social challenges.

Remembering you aren’t alone

Although it may seem to be, alcohol doesn’t define everyone’s experience. In the summer, The Guardian reported that 1 in 4 people aged 16-24 are now teetotal. According to 2022 reports by Drinkaware, alcohol-free beverages are now drunk during around a third of pub visits and the market for alcohol-free drinks has actually grown by over 506% since 2015, according to Forbes.

Celebrities, such as Love Island 2019 winner Amber Davies, now use their social media platforms to talk about how not drinking has uplifted and improved their mental and physical health.

Not drinking is no longer something to be anxious about, as most of the room will most likely already be friends with or know someone with the same feelings towards it.

Ask People Questions About Themselves

If you’re not used to going to events without drinking it may feel strange, but quitting drinking doesn’t have to mean quitting socialising and having fun with new people.

If you feel yourself becoming introverted, an easy solution is to ask new people about themselves: ‘why did you join this society? How are you finding your first year? Where are you originally from?’.

By asking one small opening question, the people around you will naturally start talking and sharing stories with you and each other.

Embrace and Show Off Your Sober Personality

Embracing your natural, sober personality in a room full of new people and drinking students is maybe something that is learnt over time. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done. In learning not to rely on drinking to have a good time, you also will learn not to rely on it to have a naturally strong, funny and confident personality.

Whilst peer pressure is real at university, this is also the best time in your life to find true, lifelong friends who are not only there when you are fuelled by a temporary liquid confidence.

By embracing your natural personality, you will also learn to embrace being a little naturally shy sometimes in new social situations. But through this exploration, you will naturally fit right in.