A month from now a lot of guys in the US will be graduating high school and possibly heading to colleges far from home. Odds are you'll be in a new SPAM, and fortunately for you, I'm not drunk yet. So gather around while I impart some of the wisdom my 4 years of school left with me on how to kick start your social life on campus.

1. Meet everybody. Orientations usually include a ton of rather nerdy meet and greet sessions where everybody is thrown into awkward situations. Thrive on that, show some personality. At the very least, you can use these as exercises to work on any AA issues that may be bothering you. But more importantly, explore your surroundings and just introduce yourself to people as you walk by. In your dorm, class buildings, and lounge areas will be other people who are in the same boat as you. That may be the most important thing to remember, that all of the other freshmen are just as eager to kick things off as you should be. And don't restrict yourself to women, either. You'll wanna find friends and wings, and there is no better time than the first couple weeks to just strike up a conversation with anyone nearby.

2. Make buddies with the student staff. Colleges have a lot of upper classmen working while you newbies are coming in. Many schools place strict rules on fraternization outside of the organized activities, but the moment classes start those end. Then you can ask those students where to go for parties, which organizations on campus are worth checking out, and most importantly you can get real answers. During orientation its their job to say everything on campus is awesome, wehther it is or not.

3. Your dorm room should be the most exciting place to be. If not your room, because sadly roommates do not always work out too well, then you should know where to be. One of my best friends was in my orientation group, and within a couple months I was friends with every guy that lived on my floor. If you really want to kick start things, a simple thing you can do is to leave your door open while you're there. whether you watching a movie, blasting music, or playing cards with your roommate(s), opening the door and talking to people as they walk by will let you meet people effortlessly. It also will make your room more inviting on weekends when you suggest that the group meets there before doing anything else.

4. Booze...it has to come up because of the American culture related to drinking. At the end of the day it is illegal to purchase, possess, or consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. Even if state laws allow exceptions, most schools ignore those. So...yeah I am smart enough to know many of you will ignore that, and I don't think I'm gonna change that. This is such a massive part of your college experience, whether you drink or not, that I need to further expand on this down below. What I will include here is that you should avoid defining yourself on either extreme of drinking. If you don't drink, cool, just dont be a judgemental ass to anyone who pours themselves a rum and coke. If you drink, also cool, then you want to avoid drinking to excess. I am not sure where ti comes from, but blacking out isn't cool. It just makes you look like an idiot. If you are trying to become the big man on campus, you can't be a raging drunk. You can be raging

Alcohol and you (yeah, sounds responsible I know)
a) You need a way of obtaining it if you are going to be the party guy. If you read everything thus far you probably made friends with a couple of upper classmen during orientation. If you made friends in classes or organizations, those are possibilities too. And I can say this from experience, most 21 and over students will be willing to buy booze for underage friends. That's true because they were in your shoes, and generally its understood that they "owe" something to the younger students. There's a cultural debate to be had there, but its not why I'm typing. Thing is, don't take advantage of that generosity when you encounter it. Don't ask a friend to buy 6 bottles, don't tell the cute girl from your spanish class you can get her a bottle of schnapps. At the end of the day this is a black market like other drugs. The fewer people that know, the better.

I tell people to avoid fake ids. They're expensive, and just add other charges if you get caught. I am an economics major, I deal in risk vs reward. I will not give you advice or ideas that go beyond what my research suggests as acceptable risk.

b) DO A SHOOOOT! Your dorm room is limited in terms of space, and odds are you have a fridge thats about 3 feet tall. I like beer, but anyone can tell you are not in an environment conducive to low-risk beer storage. A fifth of liquor contains about 16 shots, being defined as 1.5 oz of spirit. Its also easier to load into a bookbag. If you dont like the taste use chasers/mixers. Try different things, experiment til you find something you like. Odds are you dont have a lot of experience.

c) Remember, its called PREgaming. there is this tendency I saw more and more for people to drink large amounts before going out. Drunk gaming is sloppy gaming, so you need to know how much is too much and be disciplined about it. If you and a wingman are downing a bottle of vodka before going out, that's eight shots at 1.5 oz each. That's too much for just about anybody, and halfway through that night you stopped pregaming and jumped into regular ol' gaming.

This is just the start, and there is way more I will add as time goes on. But right there I've covered 2 of the biggest points for you to start your college social circle in meeting people and dealing with alcohol. Criticism, comments, and suggestions are all welcome, and til the next run through, peace out!