£27,000 is a lot to spend on a hangover

We've got another post from our intern Alex. Here he is going to tackle the complex issue of getting waaaaaasted.

I heard a person say that they’d fail a year of university so that they had one more year to go drinking all the time (Excuse me?). Yes, some view the university experience in a significantly different way to others. I’m not shedding light on any institution in particular, but I am commenting on the people.

With university fees now rising to an eye-watering/ soul-destroying £9,000 (yes I sound like your overbearing parent), it is more crucial than ever to graduate your course with a good class of degree. So does this mean that we should all pack away our DIY hooch (alcohol) kits replacing them with 'Writing a Dissertation for Dummies' (yes it exists, ironically)? In short, No.

It’s alright to go out and enjoy yourself, just do it in moderation (I’m really plugging the parental view this time around).

Personally, I will see myself as having wasted three, very valuable, years of my life if at the end of my degree I walk away with anything less than a 2.1. We all like to think we’re capable of achieving a first, but I would like this to being a bit like the childhood idea of being a fireman when you grow up. There comes a point when you’ve got to be realistic (and hang up those Velcro fireman’s trousers to boot). But then again, I would also consider myself wasting the university experience if I stayed locked inside my slowly decaying student house all the time.

Good ol’ time management is often the key for me. I don’t particularly venture (stumble) into town the night before a morning lecture. Instead, I would rather go out on a night where I am not required to be a functioning member of society the next day. I realise that this occasionally leads to going out at times that don’t correspond to others, but in fairness, it’s easier than getting the urge to vomit every time the lecturer mentions how ‘groups of men, circulate women among themselves, according to a rule known as the incest taboo.’

As the title of this post suggests, with all these expensive tuition fees, you are looking at investing a lot of money to stay in bed, developing an unhealthily high tolerance to paracetamol. Plus, despite popular belief, it is actually less humiliating when you socialise in and around lectures. You may think that girl was impressed last night when you opened that bottle with your teeth, but come the next day when your eyes are bloodshot she doesn’t give you a second look as you pass her on the way to the dentist for a missing molar.

I know for a fact that going out on ‘alternative’ (not the buttoned up, skinny jeans wearing type) night yields some great experiences. Where I’m at university, some of the best nights out have been on a Thursday. Tuesdays are also great. But then again maybe it’s because I can go out safe in the knowledge that I’m not going to throw up on my copy of Ulysses the next day – though I would hazard a guess that some people have.