Ever since my mother decided to place me in kindergarten at the age of 4, I have been cursed. I was the last person in my class to pass the five-foot mark, the last person to obtain a driver's license and the last person to reach that vital legality of 18 years. Oh, and one more thing: I'm still waiting to be able to legally consume alcoholic beverages. What is the only thing worse than being unable to drink on the weekends? Being a third year who is unable to drink on the weekends.
First year you didn't have this problem -- you were all stuck in your suites or were left to venture out to Rugby Road. Second year you were engrossed in the land of house parties and Lambeth get-togethers, so the bar-going friends didn't have the opportunity to make you feel slighted. But third year? In third year everyone has found their legal bar-hopping freedom, and you can only sketch out so many first and second years in the effort of finding new friends. Ironically, even those pals get disappointed when they find out you do not have that magical ABC purchasing power -- sorry, guys.
I have hope, however. A few weeks into the school year, sitting at home on a Friday night, not wanting to brave the throngs of first years at my neighboring fraternity houses, I had an epiphany. As I received call after call from drunken friends forgetting that I could not just "meet [them] at Bilt. in 20!" I decided that enough was enough.
Charlottesville is teeming with activity. I do not need to sit at home on the weekend, staring at the wall even though I have much-needed homework to get done. Homework can wait until Sunday night, which is what Sundays are for. The weekend is our oasis to have fun and I was destined to find it.
So off I went to Club Clemons. No, just kidding. I did make a trip to Sakura, though. Sakura provides all of the amenities of a frat-tastic dance party coupled with your local bar. Except you can enter when you are under 21, the students in attendance can actually dance and women can wear heels without getting stuck to a floor swimming in fermented barley.
Friday night out of the way, I settled down into my Saturday routine. While my friends slept away their hangovers and went for 2 p.m. McDonald's runs -- "I need something greasy, man, my head hurts soooo much" -- I cozied up with some of my other friends for a movie marathon, complete with puppy chow, cookies and other gooey concoctions that we made in the kitchen for this special occasion. Getting splashed with melted chocolate is somehow much more rewarding than having a bad punch mix poured down your shirt.
By the time my bar-going friends were taking their mid-afternoon naps in preparation for the long night ahead, I found a trip to Fashion Square to be amply rewarding, and consoled my card-swiping buyer's remorse by reminding myself that the skirt I bought might have seemed extravagant, but a night at Mellow Mushroom would have been twice as much with nothing but the added weight of a beer gut to show.
By the time I returned from the mall it was only around 10 p.m., but I squirmed under the blankets and set the alarm for 4 a.m. Jolted from sleep six hours later, I piled into my car, grabbed some friends and skirted out of town, past disarrayed fratsters returning home. There is nothing to get your Sunday started like a sunrise hike up Humpback Rock, and it is rewarding to know that the only soreness you may feel afterward is from your incredible physical feat.
This is just one weekend. Think of all of the things you can do in 52 weekends. Why had I wasted so much time lamenting my year of conception when I could have such a varied lifestyle all in two days' time?
I am just one personality, too. There is some alternative to bar and over-21 concerts for everyone. Take the word of other students around Grounds:
"A few weeks ago I was talking to some fellow fourth years about how many great things there are to do in Charlottesville that we still haven't done," fourth-year Commerce student Lauren Bruce said. "So, we made a pact to do some of the activities that all U.Va. students should do: pick apples at Carter's Mountain Orchard, shop at the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, eat at Crozet Pizza, explore Skyline Drive. It's been a great change from the typical college scene, and I recommend that all students set a similar goal before their time in Charlottesville runs out."
Fourth-year College student Laura Wagner had some other suggestions along that same vein:
"If I am still in a 'going somewhere' mood, minus the alcohol, I love going to the Tea Bazaar downtown or getting gelato and enjoying it over a long conversation with a good friend," she said. "Also, a lot of people seem to pass up the opportunity to see the nature right outside of Charlottesville because they are so focused on only going out to get drunk at night. If you drive up 29 into the Shenandoah Park and Skyline Drive, you can make a day trip out of hiking ... which is definitely much more memorable than a blackout."
Even club activities provide a much-needed social life for those of us in the under-21 crowd.
Third-year Commerce student Naseh Kausar said many groups offer social nights at restaurants, fun events at a member's house or excursions to the greater Charlottesville area, Richmond and even Washington, D.C.
I still might count down the days until my identification allows me into the hallowed Bacchus environment of Vivano's on the Downtown Mall, but until that day comes, I will not continue to spend my weekends staring at a wall, thinking of what I should have done, and letting time pass on what I could be doing.
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