Gen Z college students ditch boozing for sober freshers’ weeks

For many graduates, freshers’ week was all about cheap booze, club nights, and a lack of sleep. 

But for a new cohort of Gen Z students across the UK, it’s shaping up to be a completely different experience, with many opting for a teetotal week.

Many of Scotland’s universities have replaced freshers’ week with ‘Welcome Week’, offering students a programme of events reflecting modern trends, instead of binge drinking and all-night parties.

In Bristol, student newspaper Epigram has shared information on the ‘best non-drinking events for sober students’ over freshers’ week. These activities include cold water swimming, drum and bass boxing, and park yoga.

Students have taken to TikTok to share their experiences of sober living at university, revealing their top tips on avoiding alcohol.

In Edinburgh, Stirling, Strathclyde and St Andrews, students can take part in other alcohol-free activities, including Taylor Swift parties, singalongs and tribute acts.

Yoga classes have proven to be a particularly popular choice, with some universities even offering ‘puppy yoga’ featuring ’30 minutes of puppy cuddles and yoga poses’ for students.

For those keen to share their green credentials, some universities are holding vegan picnics and walking tours featuring environmentally friendly local businesses.

Other alcohol-free fun can be had at sober ceilidhs, as well evenings where students can enjoy pizza, board games, and bracelet-making workshops.

Sai Shraddha Viswanathan, president of the National Union of Students Scotland, said: ‘It is encouraging to hear examples of welcome weeks becoming more varied, reflecting Scotland’s diverse student body, which includes carers, parents, and people of different faiths and perspectives.

‘As students struggle with crises in housing, the cost of living and under-funding of education, they need and deserve to have fun and blow off steam.

‘There is nothing inherently wrong in partying but this trend towards a more diverse range of activities benefits everyone.’

Welcome Week has been introduced at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Abertay, Napier, Heriot-Watt, Queen Margaret, and West of Scotland.

At Edinburgh, with 6,500 new undergraduates arriving this month, the student association stated: ‘We do not use Fresher’s terminology. All official events will be under the banner ‘Welcome Week’ – an opportunity to have fun, make friends and find out what’s on offer.’

There are visits to a farmers’ market, a ‘books and coffee crawl’ exploring the city’s literary heritage, pony trekking in the Pentland Hills and sustainable food demonstrations.

The only official pub crawls are organised by the Actuarial and Chemical Engineering Societies.

At Glasgow, there is a murder mystery event, charity shop crawl, houseplant sales and a trip to Ikea.

Meanwhile, at Aberdeen, yoga classes are on offer as well as pizza-making sessions, a games night and a girls pamper event.

However, freshers’ week is still honoured at Glasgow Caledonian and Robert Gordon universities as well as Strathclyde, where students can enjoy a Glow Rave and Sunday Sesh.

Meanwhile, in Bristol – a city renowned for its partying scene – the student newspaper, called Epigram, highlighted ways in which sober students can enjoy freshers’ week.

‘As more and more young people are embracing a sober curious lifestyle, alcohol-free meetups and nights out and now becoming popular social alternatives, and Bristol is no exception,’ the article read.

Students at the University of Bristol have a choice of 101 boozeless activities to pick from, like drum and bass boxing or playing frisbee in the park.

A second-year teetotal student spoke to the newspaper and explained that the university offers sober students places to enjoy ‘without judgment’ allowing them to feel like a ‘part of a community’.

The article also highlighted a group called Sober Circle; a non-profit Facebook group that helps young people connect with each other without alcohol, which has gained 1,800 members since its genesis in 2019.

Elsewhere, student discount brand Student Beans has promoted studying without alcohol since last year.

Representatives for the organisation took to the streets of Manchester to ask students about their attitudes to drinking. Alongside a TikTok video featuring the vox pops, it shared the caption: ‘Let’s normalise student sobriety. Freshers is still fun without the drink.’

In the video, the first interviewee said: ‘So, I actually don’t drink…you can have a good time without needing to drink.’

The second added: ‘There are tonnes of activities in Manchester where people don’t drink, there’s a board game society… and even then, you can still go to clubs and stuff with your friends and not drink, you need to find people who respect your choice.’

Meanwhile, a student accommodation search engine TikTok account, called Accommodation for Students, also took it upon themselves to give advice to sober students.

‘How to enjoy freshers’ week sober,’ the post began. It continued: ‘Here are some ways you can enjoy it sober.

‘First, check out your welcome week app and sign up to lots of events, freshers’ week is a great chance to try hobbies that you always wanted to do.

‘Secondly, use the time to explore your new city and do lots of tourist things that you won’t have time for once term has started.’

‘If you do decide to go out, it’s totally ok not to drink and you’ll be surprised at the amount of people who are in exactly the same boat as you,’ it concluded.

Student content creators have taken to TikTok to share their experiences of being sober at university and during freshers’ week.

Content creator Freya explained the university choice she thought is the best for sober students.

She said: ‘Loughborough is probably one of the better universities to go to if you don’t drink… I know that in freshers’ week, my halls had a whole freshers’ schedule for sober activities.

‘There is so much to do that doesn’t involve drinking, I’m involved in multiple societies where we do stuff that doesn’t involve drinking… there is definitely a lot to get involved in.’

Elsewhere, Elysia Sanders, who is now in her third year at the University of Bristol, explained what she would do differently during freshers’ week if she was to go back in time.

She said: ‘I’m in my third year now, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect. The first thing I’d do is I’d care a lot less about what people thought about how much alcohol I drink.

‘I just came off the back of a post A Level summer where I didn’t drink anything… I came to university and thought, “everybody is going to think I’m weird if I don’t drink”… but do whatever you need to do to have fun.’

She added: ‘Particularly if you’re up front about it and not trying to come up with excuses for it.