This thread by Daowajan inspired me. I’ve been at the University of Wisconsin - Madison for just over two years, and, well, I don’t drink.
(Y’all know how these threads work… just waitin’ for your questions. :))
Whaddaya do? 
Well Keith, you’re still invited to come over to The Pub and play foosball, you know.
Are you from Wisconsin?
Do you know the Waukesha/Pewalkee area?
Does St. Joseph’s Catholic school still have Fall Festivals?
I live in Madison. Will you be my friend?
So, what’s yer major?
Daowajan, I’ve found that even at a school where “everybody” drinks, not everybody drinks, and of those who do, a lot don’t care that I don’t.
That said, I split my time fairly evenly between social and independent recreational pursuits. Multiplayer computer games are a lot of fun, especially when you can talk with your friends on a conference call. So are games like Trivial Pursuit or Scattergories… I’ve wasted whole evenings on trivia! My point is that no matter how big or how small a town you live in, a handful of friends can create their own fun.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with finding an individual hobby, either. Have you considered getting involved in any campus organizations or projects? I spent many a Friday night up late in the university’s motor vehicle research lab working on a hybrid vehicle project.
It shouldn’t be too hard to find opportunities… you said you live in a dorm; maybe you can ask your housefellow/RA for advice. Residence halls tend to have programs and activites to help bring people together… maybe you can look into those?
By the way, if you ever need/want to travel to Madison, you can always spend the $12 or whatever it is for a round trip ticket on the Van Galder bus… it drops off in front of our Memorial Union.
(FWIW, my weekend was spent thusly: )
[ul][li]Friday night: Went out to dinner with, and watched a few hours of Star Trek with an ex-girlfriend[/li][li]Saturday afternoon: Attended an embarassment of a football game with friends from my dorm.[/li][li]Saturday evening: Invited by said ex-girlfriend to see her sister’s new kitten. Spent remainder of evening reading the SDMB, testing out a planetarium program I downloaded for my Visor, and chatting with a few friends.[/li][/ul]
I go to Wisconsin, too.
Where were your seats for that embarassing football game?
Since you don’t drink, do yo participate in any tailgating?
Bosda, I was born in Milwaukee and moved to West Bend (35 miles north on US 45, for those unfamiliar) when I was ten. I worked in Pewaukee the summer before last, but I don’t really know the area.
You could always contact St. Joseph’s and find out.
Small world. I was raised in West Bend, then moved to Milwaukee when I got married.
Hey, I’ve noticed that these “I’m a college wuss who doesn’t drink” threads have some suggestions about non-alcohol activities except the best non-booze activity there is!
Aren’t people getting laid in college any more? What the hell’s going on?
Mechanical engineering. Overall, I like the program, though there is a significant variance in both the difficulty of individual courses, and in the quality of instruction-- some great research professors just don’t know how to teach! The extracurricular opportunities, however, are just fantastic. This semester, I’m working with a NASA-sponsored group researching fuel droplet vaporization. Mind you, it’s no ordinary study of droplet evaporation; we will be flying it on NASA’s KC-135a Reduced Gravity Laboratory (the “Vomit Comet”) to compare our (convection-free) results to those predicted by mathematical models.
N 50. Right next to an individual who was chewing tobacco, drooling his disgusting, discolored spit onto the concrete.
I don’t usually tailgate, though brats a wonderful breakfast make. It’s too much of a hassle for the disorganized, small group of friends I normally go with; if I lived off campus, things might be a bit different.
pkbites, small world indeed.
Regarding your other point, I suppose some people don’t need to state the obvious…
:: d&r ::
You didn’t answer my question. Does that mean you won’t be my friend?
::Chiming in::
Hey Wisconsinners…
I grew up near Eau Claire (on the west-central side) and spent eight of the best years of my life in Milwaukee.
I am automatically any fellow Wisconinner’s friend.
Otto, I’m not sure how I missed responding to you.
Sure. I’ll be your friend.
Seeing as easy e and August West also seem to live in Madison, I’ll be their friend too (if they ask).
In fact, I’ll be anyone’s friend if they respond to this thread. Especially if they enjoy Space Ghost and/or know anything about Laplace transforms.
aha!
surely you must drink kool aid.
so…
what’s your favorite kool aid flavor?
Kool-Aid… now that brings back grade school memories. If my teacher wanted to have a little party for the class, we inevitably had chocolate chip cookies and either milk or red Kool-Aid.
So, being the Kool-Aid purist I am, I have to go with Cherry.