Binge Drinking Freshmen :: Personal Narrative College Papers

Binge Drinking Freshmen Emily* is a typical female college student on the outside, with a shocking story hidden on the inside. Emily began drinking before most students rode on their first bus †¦ school bus! At the age of 4, Emily wasn’t given candy, but alcohol instead. As an incentive for repeating words back to her aunt she was given red wine. As Emily got older, her mother brought her to family parties, oblivious to what was going on. At these parties, Emily would typically drink scotch or whiskey, provided to her by the older men in the family. When 6th grade rolled around, Emily began drinking with friends, sneaking it into her room for sleepovers. High school was the same idea, although now, Emily consistently found herself drinking alone in the mornings, even before going to school. After graduation, Emily left home in D.C. for Boston’s Northeastern University. She described her first year in the city of Boston. â€Å"I went all out; I didn’t have to worry about having my mom catch me drunk, I drank as much as I wanted to, whenever I wanted,† she said. While, "going all out," Emily made other bad decisions, as a result of her bad drinking habits. â€Å"I slept with a couple guys and never used protection. I had to use the Morning after pill on one occasion.† Even after testing herself for HIV and other STDs, she continued to binge drink every weekend. This went on until last fall, when she nearly lost her life leaving a bar downtown. It was a cold, dark, rain driven late night/early morning in Boston and Emily wanted nothing more than to go home to bed. Yelling obscenities after leaving the bar, she was hit by a cab. Her head slammed into the pavement and she had a seizure. Her friends called 911 immediately and she was rushed to the hospital. After spending a few days in the hospital, Emily realized like always after a night of drinking that she was having trouble remembering the details. Only this time, things were different, she told me she couldn’t form short/long-term memories or even remember things in her past. Emily decided to take a look at her life, ultimately realizing she wasn’t happy with herself. Cold turkey appeared to be her only option with alcohol at the time and she gave it a shot. Even with stories such as these being published in newspapers throughout the country on a daily basis,