Good times at university!

[musiq]

Firstly a brief intro about me (if anyone is cares..otherwise skip to second paragraph) Really shy kid...teenage years turned into social anxiety..spent first year of uni confined to my room (jail!!)..next two years stayed at home but pretty much a loner at uni..since then gradually finding coping mechanisms to get through and becoming more outgoing...getting hold of a job...and actually having good times (in the mix with bad ones!!)....Anyway so yesterday...

I was out on a regular gettogether with my close friends and the chat turned to the usual...."uni was great"...these conversations i hate and am quite comfortable just listening and not contributing....unfortunately each one starting stating their greatest memories...alarm bells rang...and yep it was my turn..

Here is a rough transcript....
"Time for you to tell us your best moment!"
"err....haven't got one to be honest!"
"come on, there must be something...what comes to your mind"
*seriously nothing came to mind...i drew a flippin' blank cos i have no good memories...zip...nada...none*
So i say...
"i wasn't really a drinker at uni..never had any mad nights"
"okay you didn't drink...but there must be some awesome nights"

They wouldn't give me a break...i was surprised that i kept my anxiety levels low..(guess the alcohol helped)...a few more badgerings but in the end they huffed and puffed and got nothing and it was time to move to the next bar!!

It was probably the perfect time to break open the SA jar but i didn't quite have the bottle to do that! Although...in saying that..it probably came across...and in any case later that night..i did mention to one of them in passing that I was way introverted at uni and i'm better now!

If you have read this far...wow...and my question is what do you say when you get this question...do you have a readymade fake story...do you go for the truth...cos this question is invariably gonna pop up at christmas work parties...and boy could i do with some fake stories!!!!!!!!!!! So if you've got any....feel free to post them!!

[bb]

Don't tell fake stories under any circumstances. What would be the point? Your close friends are your close friends for the reason that they like you - producing a cock and bull story about "that night in club XS with the lap dancers..... I was like sooooo wasted, so wonder we got kicked down the stairs" is not going to change how you're perceived. Everyone goes through bad times in their life, and that was yours - just because it's not what you usually hear from students about their time there doesn't mean it is a personal failing.

I found university to be a hateful and expensive waste of time, dominated by depression, boredom and anxiety. That doesn't mean that I say exactly that, but I don't lie either. Explaining that it just wasn't for me, I was never a clubber or drinker, and I've got more out of working and the people I've met there is a perfectly acceptable response. If you didn't have other things to talk about then you wouldn't be out with these people in the first place. If you start making things up about that then where does it go? Someone out there will have stories that you won't have, and will have done things that make you envious - it's not obligatory to keep up with them.

[hobo_girl]

I would agree with that. Dont get too hung up on it, the conversation is over and has past now so theres no point in thinking about it too much (easier said than done i know).....and besides, i expect half of their stories were subject to 'embelishments' and exagerations anyway, so i wouldnt feel any sense of inferiority that u havent matched them....

[Xaeryx]

If getting totally bladdered and waking up in a hedge is a "great time at university" to most people, then sadly my time at uni was very boring.

[musiq]

Thanks for your replies.

bb: You're absolutely right and I'm pleased that i didn't make up a fake story. Although it was a very awkward moment, i'm glad the question came up.

hobo_girl: there were definitely some exaggerated stories last night!:D It's not so much the past i'm worried about...it's more answering the question to a stranger/work colleague who i would prefer not to tell about my SA!!

Xaeryx: my time at uni was boring regardless of which barometer one decides to use...be it drinking/studying/friends/parties etc etc...

Thanks again for the replies and I hope our chrimbo work parties don't get me in the same hotspot because I have literally wiped those 3 years of my life out of my memory...it's like it never happened...so talking about uni is nigh impossible!!!