I’d like to open with a quick statement on underage drinking. While I’m not promoting or supporting the consumption of alcohol by those under 21, underage drinking is a common activity that just about every single one of you has taken part in at least once. And if you claim to have not taken part in this activity, you’re probably lying. Or you’re lame.
Most of your experimentation with alcohol probably began at some point in high school, the time and place in which doing illegal things was “thrilling.” You probably thought you were just too cool for drinking that Four Loko. You were a rebel. While it was fun for you to engage in those underage drinking activities, it was always hard to find a spot to get drunk at. Because of the taboo placed on underage drinking in the United States, especially before you became a fully-fledged college student with a handy dandy fake ID, you couldn’t get drunk in a public setting such as a bar or a frat party. As a result, the places you got drunk at before your glory years of college were most likely sketchy, obscure, and to be completely honest, quite embarrassing. In order to facilitate your reminiscence on those cringe-worthy days of high school drinking, here are ten places where you probably got drunk before you even turned 18:
1. A fair.
Despite the abundance of families and children under five years of age that showed up, fairs were a prime drinking spot for high schoolers. And you probably carried your alcohol around with you at the fair in a water bottle. And your alcohol was probably not the color of water (let's be real, you were probably drinking twisted tea). How clever. Not like you reeked or anything.
2. The bathroom of a public place.
Before high school, when you arrived at your main destination — one in which alcohol was prohibited — you decided to pregame in a random public bathroom. High school you also forgot that anyone could walk in and smell the flowers, including maybe a cop.
3. A Sweet Sixteen.
This was arguably one of the biggest drinking spots for high schoolers. The goal for these pre-college kids was to get as drunk as humanly possible at these parties. At some point in your sweet sixteen career, you probably even witnessed someone drink themselves to the point in which they got kicked out of the sweet sixteen. Classy.
4. The mall.
For many high-school-aged teens, the mall was a seemingly great location for hanging out…and for underage drinking, as well. What could possibly be better than walking around the mall with your alcohol-filled water bottle, your friends, and your new (and potentially very sketchy) mall friends you met while in this state of intoxication?
5. A parking lot.
When you and your fellow high schoolers ran out of places to get drunk at, many suggested both getting drunk and hanging out in the parking lot of a completely random destination. You weren’t doing something potentially pretty dangerous, you were just a ball of fun!
6. Your friends' basement.
…and their parents were probably upstairs the entire time.
7. A camp staff party.
In high school, there’s a pretty good chance you spent at least one of your summers working as a camp counselor. Part of being a camp counselor also included the automatic invitation to staff parties hosted by other camp counselor’s your age. These staff parties were usually pretty small, but occasionally, they blew up. These gigantic staff parties most likely consisted of a huge backyard, over a hundred people, and the presence of the cops after a good 45 minutes.
8. The park.
Let's be honest here, the park was probably the most popular spot for high schoolers to get drunk, especially at night. They were seemingly secluded, easy to get to, and, honestly, getting drunk at a park sounded like a way better option than getting caught by your parents for drinking in the house. It didn’t even matter to high-school you that the park was probably a block away from your house and the police could show up at any given moment…at least you wouldn’t get grounded!
9. At school.
While I personally never got drunk during school, there’s a good chance you may have witnessed a few idiots get belligerently drunk in school or maybe you were one of those idiots. Most of the underage drinking activity occurred in the school bathrooms, but sometimes, it went further than that. There were those of you that thought getting drunk in class was a good idea. You probably put your vodka in a water bottle and tried drinking it like it was actually water. You thought you were slick. And, disclaimer, your teacher most likely smelt your vodka from a mile away and you ended up getting suspended for a good week.
10. Under the bleachers.
For those of you that felt uneasy about getting drunk at a wide-open park, the underside of the bleachers may have been your go-to spot! Being under the bleachers made you feel safe and secure, your unfully formed frontal lobe hadn’t taken into account that you were easily viewed from the open sides of the bleachers.
And that's a wrap, folks. These are the places that encompassed your ancient memories of intoxication. Embarrassing. But, hey, at least this article will help you look back on these days and laugh at your early drinking habits.
