Maine Collegians Doing Their Best To Have Fun Without Hard Alcohol

So how are students at Bowdoin, Bates and Colby surviving this semester with no hard alcohol allowed on their campuses? The outright bans-decided on over the summer, when the students were not able to riot and take over administration buildings-seem particularly cruel for these bright young things, cut off as they already are from the rest of society by virtue of their being in college. And Maine. I mean, where and when does an 18- or 19-year-old really need a glass of something strong if not snowed-in in some musty old dorm room during finals week? It's gonna be like The Shining up there this winter.

Judging from a quick perusal of their respective college newspapers, though, nothing so gory so far.

Bowdoin students are making do with beer. The Bowdoin Orient's William Albuquerque and some friends celebrated the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest by taste testing Hefeweizens.

After managing to get the pouring technique down (read: beer shower), my group of Hefeweizen compatriots and I were able to truly enjoy the various beers assembled, which included not only authentic Bavarian imports, but also some American takes on the classic German wheat beer.

Colby co-eds, on the other hand, are replacing whiskey and vodka with a more permissive attitude towards beer-and-wine fueled sexual encounters than their peers at other colleges nationwide. From an informal campus poll conducted by The Colby Echo:

"Interfering in a friend's drunken hook-up might actually go against accepted social codes. 'Who wants to have their friends intervene in their sex life or be the one to intervene in their friends' sex lives? No one,' Kristine Walters '12 said. 'If both you and your friends are in agreement that the situation is safe then why not have a little fun?'"

Batesians, meanwhile, are doing their best to remember a time before the ban, years ago, when Absolut ruled the scene and, according to the title of an article in The Bates Student, "What Happens On The Dance Floor Stays On The Dance Floor."

"In a swirl of spandex, legwarmers and jean cutoffs, the '80s dance returned last Saturday night, September 18th, while gangs of students got their grind on underneath the library. The live band rocked the arcade with classics like 'I Think We're Alone Now' and 'Your Love,' renditions that would make Tiffany and The Outfield proud… Although some didn't manage to ever make it to the dance, those who did were rewarded with raucous dancing and perhaps more bodily contact than they had bargained for."