I'll start this off by saying that I am 22. I can drink legally, and have been able to drink for a year and a half. So far, I have not been impressed.
I was a rule follower through all of high school and college. The only alcohol I had was communion wine and maybe two small sips of wine when my cousin offered it to me (and I thought my mom was going to kill him - he'd be dead if looks could kill) and a sip of champagne to celebrate a case my mom won. When we went out to lunch to celebrate my 21st birthday, the waiter couldn't (and didn't) believe that I hadn't drunk/drank before and gave me a baffled look. I had no clue what to drink, what I would like, or how to even pronounce most of the drinks available. To make things worse, my entire family present at the meal, which was around 15 people, stared at me while I tried to decide what to get but offered no suggestions. Unfortunately, I decided to try a really bad Italian Margarita or something equally gross and had maybe three sips before I passed on it.
Now, one thing I should probably add is that I was raised with two VERY different opinions of alcohol. My parents both enjoy wine with dinner and the occasional beer, but it was always off limits to my sister and I under we were 21, meaning my sister still can't have anything (at least in front of them). My aunt and uncle, who are basically second parents to me, do not drink. At all. And to my knowledge, they have never really been drinkers, although I could just be misinformed or oblivious to this. They were of course present at my birthday lunch, and having them watch as I ordered and then tried my first drink was weird. It was unnerving, having their somewhat anti-drinking stance at the same time as the high expectations of everyone else around me, who were all thrilled that I could drink and wanted to see what I would do. I could almost feel their disappointment as I sipped at the Margarita and tried a wine sample the waiter brought out for me. I truly could feel the disappointment of the other 13 people when I failed to finish even one drink at lunch, not because I couldn't handle my liquor, but because I simply didn't like the taste. That night my best friend took my sister and I out for dinner, and was also extremely disappointed when I didn't get trashed. I drank a spiked lemonade (or maybe a long island iced tea?) and a double gummy bear shot. This did get me a little bit tipsy, but I apparently didn't show it enough for them. I also declined the very nice offer to buy me more alcohol. On the night of my 21st birthday, I went home maybe a little tipsy but not anywhere near drunk, as my sister and friend had hoped.
In the year and a half since I turned 21, I have not been drunk a single time, nor have I had any desire to be. I occasionally try a drink, usually because the people around me encourage me to (cough cough dad). I'll try a small glass of wine with dinner, a margarita when I go to a Mexican restaurant with friends, or a beer that looks cool. Just a general note - buying Cherry Blossom Hard Lager because it's the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC where you are is NOT a good idea - even if the beer is pink, it tastes disgusting. So far I have not encountered any beverage that I can stand the taste of enough to actually finish it. I don't like the vast majority of the wines I have tried, although there was one bubbly one that was good that I can't remember what it was, I hate beer, and I abhor Margaritas because of the tequila. For me, the taste is just so gross that I refuse to power through to get to the drunk stage, which I hear is usually quite pleasant. On top of that, I balk at paying the ridiculous prices for alcohol. At most restaurants I can get a full meal for the price of one drink, or sodas for 4 people. When that is the case, I would much rather have a nonalcoholic but delicious Dr Pepper or Diet Pepsi (God, I hope the soda with aspartame comes back soon).
The conundrum that I face frequently is that I *am* old enough to drink. When I go places with people my age, they expect me to order drinks and give me the weirdest looks when I simply get a soda. Sometimes they question me or pressure me into ordering something. I don't enjoy trying to defend my choices, which people often assume are because I'm a Christian. That has nothing to do with it. I just don't like the price or taste of alcohol. When I go places, I can either give into the pressure and order a really expensive and disgusting drink to sip all night, or get something I am happy to drink and pay for but have to explain myself to everyone the entire we're out. I also feel pressure from myself to try more drinks in the hope that I'll eventually find something palatable that I can drink in social situations. Yesterday, for example, I went to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot at Walt Disney World with some friends and bought a $60 sampler pass. It supposedly works for both food and alcohol, but the food costs $4 while the alcohol is around $10. For my $60, I got 8 tickets, meaning I wasted a crapton of money if I redeem them for food rather than wine. I ordered one drink, a Sangria from Mexico, and promptly regretted the decision to buy the sampler. All I could handle was about a third of the drink, and ended up throwing more than half of it away. It was another one of those times where I talked myself into something out of a made up peer pressure to drink around other people who were also drinking. Hopefully at some point I will figure out a way to gracefully say no to drinking without looking like a prude or bore, and to be ok with my decision, or find a drink that I can stand. That's all for now!
