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Strange as it may sound, I am a college student who doesn't drink. Such students are like finding a peanut M&M with the nut missing: Rare, but existent, and quite different from the other peanut M&M's. Of course, as I began my freshman year of college, "different" was the last thing I wanted to be. I wanted to fit in.

Fitting in hadn't been too difficult in high school, where I had always managed to avoid drinking parties. I feared, however, that it wouldn't be quite so easy once I started my freshman year at Boston College (Boston, MA). Orientation only reinforced that fear, after I made the mistake of telling my group about my alcohol-free status and one guy, regarding me with incredulity, dubbed me "Chem-free."

"Is it really that weird?" I asked him, a bit testily. His silence said it all. Even though I had applied for  

substance-free housing

 , I worried that I'd only meet people who wanted to spend their weekends drinking until they puked, like the guy from my group. That was what had happened to a girl I knew who was a year older than me and wasn't into the partying scene at her college. Luckily, my worries soon proved to be unnecessary.

Fitting Right In
The day before Labor Day, my parents, sister, and I brought my first load of belongings up the stairs to my room on the third floor of Loyola Hall. That's when I met my roommate Christina. She seemed nice, and very excited to meet me, which was a relief.

By the time I got the rest of my things into my dorm room, a large group of girls had assembled themselves outside my room. As I stood around looking at everything, wondering where it was all going to go, the girls called me over to the door. "Hey," they said, "we're going to have lunch at McElroy, the dining hall, and then we're going into Boston. Would you like to come with us?" I couldn't believe it - I'd already made new friends! "Um... okay!" I replied. I hugged my parents and sister goodbye, and left them to set everything up in my room. (To my relief, they told me later that they enjoyed it.)

That day turned out to be so much fun that, as I walked through the streets of Boston with Christina, Caroline, Stephanie, Julie, Kristen, Mary, Linda, Rea, Shannon, and Laurel, I actually pinched myself. Almost right away, I had found a group of genuinely nice friends with whom I had a lot in common.

I discovered that Christina and I had a lot of the same interests and were both messy (which made us great roommates); Julie and I both loved the color purple and drawing stars; Caroline and I were English majors who loved to write; Linda and I had been on our high school yearbook staffs and liked the same TV shows; and Kristen and I were both lifeguards and former swimmers. We all loved reading, Gilmore Girls, and anything Harry Potter-related. And, most importantly, none of us wanted to spend our weekends getting drunk.

The substance-free housing floor alleviated my initial worries. It not only ensured me a great group of friends right from day one, but also guaranteed me good housing. At Boston College, freshmen are either placed on Upper Campus, which is close to classes, or Newton Campus, which is a five--minute bus ride away from the main campus. Because I had applied for substance-free housing, I was automatically placed on Upper, which was a relief. Also, all the girls I met on the first day have already applied for sub-free housing next year. This ensures that, unlike some sophomores who get stuck living in two-person rooms with freshmen, we will be living in four-person suites, and most of us, including Christina and I, get to keep our roommates.

Our group quickly grew, as we became friends with many of the guys on the second floor of Loyola, another sub-free floor. We also encountered people in our classes, in the hallway, and in our activities who were just like us.

Common Bonds
Remember my nickname story from before? Now that I had a group of friends just like me, we decided it would be funny to call ourselves LSDs, short for Loyola Sub-free Divas. The irony is that after a whole year of college, we've had plenty of fun without LSD, alcohol, or any other drugs. We have movie marathons and Gilmore Girls nights, sing karaoke, play pool, go to football and hockey games, go shopping or to the movies, kick a soccer ball around, eat at great restaurants, have snowball fights, and play board games. We always have fun weekends, and we don't have to worry about getting housing probation, throwing up, or doing things we either regret or can't remember the next day.

Before I started college, everyone -- guidance counselors, orientation leaders, older friends, and even college literature -- urged me to "get involved." By joining activities, they told me, I would meet people whose interests were similar to my own. What I didn't realize was that "interests" aren't just things like writing, swimming, and singing -- lifestyle choices are just as important. Although each of the LSDs and I have our own "distinct personality," as our RA once remarked, we all share an interest in having fun without getting drunk or high, and that makes us alike in an important way.

Although some might be inclined to call us nuts, I think my fellow LSDs and I are more like those peanut M&M's without the nuts. We're rare, existent, and quite different. But what truly sets us apart is that although we're missing the peanut, we have a heck of a lot more sweet chocolate flavor. Who needs nuts when you can have chocolate, anyway -- or drugs when you can get high on life?

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