I hate going out, but I'd like to be able to so I can experience life more. Any ideas?

[WaterBird]

Sorry for the rambling title.
I'm still a university student, but I am very introverted. I have quite a few hobbies, but they're more solitary ones.
I only like going out when I'm with my family (I still see them quite often) or with a small group of friends to places like restaurants or seeing a movie. But I've never cared for parties or late nights. They're just really crowded, and I don't like being around alcohol. (I've tried various types of alcohol before and don't really like any of them).
It's fine during the week, but in the weekends most of my friends seem to really enjoy going to parties and crowded events, when they aren't doing scheolwork.
I'd really appreciate if anyone has any ideas of how I could branch out more. My hobbies (I'm a bit of a nerd) are reading, writing short stories, birds, and Celtic folk, none of which my university peers are largely into.
Thanks.

Have you looked at the website ‘Meet ups’ - aim for groups of people with similar interests and age and challenge yourself to go along to theee or four at least.

www.meetup.com Have a look on here. You can search your area and find something that interests you. Some groups meet more often than others but well worth a look.

Great minds Eva

It's hard to be or feel a bit different to your peers and parties are not for everyone - you won't be missing out if you don't enjoy them!
Why not try volunteering (RSPB or something along those lines)? You are more likely to meet like minded people and that might lead to the sort of socialising that you feel happier with.

Are there no societies or sports clubs at your uni that you might be interested in?

There will be people like you at uni. You just have to find them. If there isn't a relevant society and you haven't got the confidence to set up your own, go to some different "uncool" or "nerdy" society meetings and meet people that way. You can give them up later but hopefully you will make some friends to do different things with and you never know you might find new hobbies.

Thank you so much for all the replies. That meet up Web site sounds great, and I'll check it out. I also really like the idea of volunteering and joining nerdy meetings, and will definitely look into that.
One of my friends actually did express interest in starting a book club for the particular hall that we live in, and I'm going to help her with that. I'm a little doubtful that it will be popular because most of my friends and other students that I know are too busy to read, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

You might have already ruled this out, but does your university have a folk music society? Or maybe a board game society - I know that's not something you mentioned but I think that would provide the socialising without the emphasis on drinking - thinking of the university I work at I believe they meet in the bar but are just as likely to be drinking soft drinks

Hi,
Thanks so much. We don't have either, but I'd absolutely love to start a folk music group, if I can get enough people interested.
I've never heard of a board game society but that actually sounds really fun.