Column: Bad decisions and good weekends

We all wait for that eager moment when our last classes on Fridays end. All assignments, tests and homework lays forgotten in a corner of our minds—a corner we conveniently ignore until the waning minute of Sundays or, for braver creatures like myself, until the break of dawn on Mondays.

Two nights of crazy and two days of relaxation! Sounds like a holiday package advertisement, but this is what the weekend means to most of us. Most people want to let loose and get all the stresses off themselves before the new consignment of some fresh anxiety arrives next week.

Coming back to letting loose, we are a creative lot when it comes to that, but as cliché as it sounds, college students love to party.

But this love for debauchery sometimes makes us oblivious to things that happen at these parties that absolutely shouldn’t.

One of the more common issues is underage drinking.

Bars don’t allow minors inside, and minors aren’t able to buy alcohol from stores. They live for parties where the only ID check that happens is identifying people who are on your Snapchat stories from the last party you were at.

If you’re hosting a party, you should be aware that serving alcohol to a minor is illegal and you could get into much more trouble than just a red tag. Most of you will make the argument that age is just a number and I agree with you. Not because I think underage drinking doesn’t lead to stupid decisions, but because I firmly believe that excess drinking leads to more stupid decisions, even if you’re legally able to drink.

Drunk driving claimed 9,967 lives in 2014. Thirty-one percent of all traffic related deaths result from alcohol-impaired drivers.

I’m not implying that all of them are student drivers, but look at it this way—they were all students at some point. Nobody stopped them from getting behind the wheel then, and they don’t see the difference later until something tragic happens. The question is, why should you wait until something bad happens to stop?

The designated driver’s theory is a brilliant one and we all should swear by it.

Misconception: Alcohol makes you do stupid things.

Truth: Lack of judgement makes you do stupid things—not alcohol.

Though I agree alcohol lowers your inhibitions, I will say how much you want them to be lowered depends on you.

You need to asses your limits and stop behaving like a fish swimming in a sea of alcohol when you go out.

College students have crazy hormones and raging libidos.

Both of these don’t mix well with alcohol. The concept of random hook-ups sounds very endearing under the influence because you are letting your mind play tricks on you. A guy you generally wouldn’t even consider standing next to suddenly seems irresistible.

News flash—it’s still the same guy, but probably with more hair wax on than normal because he doesn’t want to wake up with bed head, in case he doesn’t wake up in his own bed. You may deny it all you want, but it sounds familiar to most of us.

I realize that I may be stepping on some toes here, especially of people who are genuinely okay with hook-ups but that wasn’t my intention, just a word to the wise—stay safe.

Morning after pills and infections are not fun.

Your weekends are what you make them.

You won’t be in college forever and believe it or not—the party fever wears off sooner or later. Try something new—trekking, baking, reading, sketching. Also, switching from vodka to whiskey counts as a new activity in my dictionary because it means you’re learning to enjoy your alcohol instead of just gulping it down. The list of new things to try doesn’t end but the list of mistakes you make at parties can definitely be shortened.

Cheers to a new weekend that’s around the corner, but hopefully this time with better decisions.

Follow Megha Raghunathan on Twitter.