Opinion Piece: Most first years become victims of alchohol abuse.

Coming to varsity is a big step for many young South Africans, especially if you come to Rhodes, because it is famously known for its good education, other than that Rhodents has a bad reputation of being drunkards.This looks attractive to others, but to most it’s not always the case. Most students come to Rhodes with no intentions of becoming slaves to alcohol but this ends up being the case. As a second year student I have seen many first years fall into the trap of alcoholism this is a result of many things, things like peer pressure and having freedom for the first time in their lives.
Many young people leave their parents behind and they have to start a life of their own in varsity (they discover their independence), they get loose in that process because no one sets the rules for them/tells anything (no one tells them where to go, who to go out with, and what time they should come back). This is very tempting for many young people, who have no direction or guidance. Some do this because of friends, they want to fit in or they want to please friends and they want to be seen as cool. This is not only a Rhodes University problem this happens to most universities.
I myself was a victim of this in my first year, I had just come out of boarding school and finally I had my freedom. Varsity was a turning point for me, every weekend I would go out and drink, even on weekdays sometimes, but this wasn’t the case before I came to varsity. Besides myself I know lots of other people (friends) who became slaves of alcohol, some came back the following year some didn’t. This was a sad reality that showed how alcohol can take up your life and mess up your academics
This starts off as a little craze during O-week where you can drink as much as you want because you don’t have compulsory lectures to attend. Most people drink for different reasons but the most common reason for drinking amongst first years is to fit. At first the drinking seems fun, until you fall deeper and deeper, start missing lectures and failing tests that when some realise that it’s too much now. Then the third term which is called O-term (party term for others), this is where things start getting out off control because there are parties everywhere, and the biggest event of them all Tri-varsity. Tri-varsity weekend is a huge event in which most students go binge drinking, from Friday to Sunday, some start as early as Tuesday to celebrate this event. Most people agree that this term is the downfall of most Rhodents; if you didn’t start drinking and partying during you probably start this term.
In the end these are all the ups and downs of varsity life, they all depend on how you deal with them and how adaptable you are to a new environment. Most people get into things not knowing the dangers of them, the sad part is: some make it and some get lost and they don’t make it out.