I’ll drink to that

Finally at university, I decided to take it slightly easier on the sports, despite providing me with so many fond memories and fun times in the past. I had to find other hobbies and ways to spend my time at university and for my life thereafter. Some hobbies were quite harmless, but others turned out to be quite a problem and possibly the worst experience in my life happened during this time.

Easy hobby
After my second invasive heart surgery, the first year at university seemed very boring to me as I cut back on sports completely and only joined the ski and snowboard society. I didn’t even go out clubbing as much as I used to in Germany, but that was mainly due to my needy long-distance (now ex-) girlfriend. I did however have fun flatmates in my student halls who liked to game. A few weeks in and we had four PlayStation 3’s for some fun multiplayer action.

I had always been into computer games when growing up due to the influence of my older brother and this continued through to university via my PlayStation 3. It was great to play with friends and not have any physical handicap. Although not a very productive hobby, it was far better than what started to happen during my third and final year at university. The summer ended badly going into the concluding year of my course… a rough break up with my girlfriend.

Ready, steady, drink
It was now time for me to try and fit three years of university parties into one, and I succeeded. Many fun (un)forgettable nights out reminded me how exciting it is to be active, and not just sit at home and play games with a headset. I shook hands with the president of the university and took my bachelor certificate back to Germany. Two years later my life style hadn’t changed too much. During a six month internship, it was handy that my local bar was just in between work and home, so I often popped in for a beer or two and on occasion more.

It wasn’t uncommon that i’d find myself waking up to a ‘Just got home’ facebook status time stamped at around 7am. Mostly just down to the fact that I could not keep my eyes open in the tram home, but that just goes to show I probably should have not had those last rounds of Jäger Bombs. There were definitely more nights I couldn’t remember than the ones I could. It was a running joke from friends; where i fell asleep or when i got home. Only once did a friend surpass my prowess, by waking up in another city.

Some friends and I had made it a yearly thing to attend at least one festival a year (house/electro/EDM – Beer festivals not included in calculations). Because 2013’s event wasn’t running a year later, we decided to go to Balaton Sound festival in 2014. Even with its very mixed weather conditions, it was an astonishing festival with a great line up. What made it better was the public viewing of the FIFA final where Germany won, it couldn’t have been better… and it only went downhill from there.

Not the way to go
I only forgot one of those four nights at the festival, so I didn’t think I drank too much. I had been back home for three days and living sensibly again when I started to feel very drowsy. Sleeping a few hours didn’t help, and my stool was very tar-like and black. Having to go for another goopy number two just an hour and a half later, I knew something was wrong. But how wrong?

Always go to the doctor! Don’t be stubborn, is what I’d recommend, but it is a hassle going to the hospital, especially if you have no pain. I thought it was probably me just being a hypochondriac. I told myself ‘I’ll go to hospital tomorrow if it gets worse, but I probably just need sleep’. It is here that I think the friends to whom I was speaking about it at the time probably saved my life. They all said I should go to the hospital. I arrived there at about 00:20 on 18.07.14. Within a few hours the doctors had put me in a medically induced coma as I was bleeding internally.

Hop(s) to it
Recovery time from this ordeal was like no other. I am not quite sure if it is because I was an adult of 23 and not so youthful anymore or because of the actual coma, but it put things in perspective. Life is too precious to waste. My #YOLO attitude towards having fun was not the way to go. I realised that I needed to stop drinking so often, which can be difficult in the beer-proud state of Bavaria. I was determined to change after having such dangerous times behind me.

It is in this part that I had another motivator. A special someone very dear to me, who disliked alcohol in general and drunk people even more so. In trying to improve myself for health reasons and to impress her, I can definitely say I have drastically moderated my monthly alcohol intake. Worth it for either one of the reasons, but even more so for both. A long life with some good experiences is years better than a shorter life with crazy ones. Be sensible.

Sebastian