I Never Go To A Single Party In Iowa

By Ziling Xia on May 2, 2016

Photo by Fiona

I am a human being and can never be a party animal. Before I enrolled in the University of Iowa, I watched many videos about crazy parties in this school — people are drinking, dancing, screaming loudly, and playing music which bursts my eardrums.

1. Our school is ranked #1 party school, so what?

To be honest, I was kind of concerned if Iowa was a good place for me to pursue my degree. I wasn’t a nerdy student, but I didn’t favor parties either; I didn’t want to get drunk and then wake up in a hospital the next day.

However, when I first stepped in Iowa City, I felt relief. It was summer, and I felt that I was part of the landscape here. I obsessed with the green grass, tall trees, blue sky, innovative buildings, warm sunshine, and nice weather. People are very nice and friendly; I got lost over 100 times on campus and there was nobody that complained if I needed help for directions.

The conversation about partying between my friends and I is zero; none of my friends invite me to any party, or even mention about parties. I saw students around campus create party events and the scenes were the same as I saw in those videos. However, I didn’t feel like I should go to party just because some students did so.

2. Not everyone is a party animal

Stereotypes are so annoying sometimes because people don’t want to be categorized, and I don’t like it either. Social media, TV, and the internet exaggerate college students’ party life. Just because some students like partying doesn’t mean all the people love parties. For example, not all Americans speak English, not all Americans are alcoholics. I study in Iowa but that doesn’t mean I need to go to a party, since I am not interested.

When people say party, I think of alcohol, drunkenness, a crowd of people, and messy. I don’t know why people like to get themselves drunk and then go to the ambulance.

I don’t know who created the word “party.” For me, party is only a pastime, which makes people relax after study or work. When a party ends, everything goes back to normal, people wake up from a messy place with vomit and trash. I might offend some people who enjoy parties, but I can’t force myself to think that getting drunk, bothering neighbors at midnight, and messing around are OK.

Instead, I have my own crazy things to do. I want to dance 24 hours for the Dance Marathon and raise tons of money for the children’s hospital, I want to run five miles per day and then participate in the River Run 5k Running Race. Besides, I join many student organizations on campus, every small meeting is better than a huge party because I can spend more time communicating with people who I feel comfortable talking to. My campus life is awesome even though I never go to a party.

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