College Students Forced to Hide Alcoholism While Living with Parents During Pandemic

People say that you’re not an alcoholic until you graduate college, but the coronavirus pandemic has required college students across the country to return home pre-maturely, leaving many college students struggling to reconcile their lifestyles with that of their parents. In addition to messiness, late wake-up times, and a demanding tik tok schedule, rampant alcoholism has become another lifestyle difference with which college students returning to live with their parents have had to deal.
 
Darties (day-parties for our older readers) may be a staple of college weekends, but Chad Briant’s mom didn’t approve of him shot-gunning a beer in their kitchen before noon last Saturday, to which he replied, “It’s noon somewhere.” While some parents are accustomed to having wine with dinner, Caroline Tresstan’s mom expressed shock when Caroline opened a second bottle of wine for herself during their family movie night. While Christina pointed out that drinking a bottle of wine at night is a regular occurrence at her college home, seeing her daughter drink pinot grigio out of the bottle was an uncomfortable sight.
 
Now, college students have begun hiding their drinking, choosing instead to fill water bottles with wine and mixed drinks before going downstairs for lunch. Without being able to go out, students have told their parents they have online class and group meetings at odd hours and return to their room to enjoy the vodka they stashed in the back of their closets and under their beds, kept in water bottles and replenished through clandestine trips to the liquor store under the guise of body-wash and snacks.