Friends

Celebrate friendship

Two young women taking a photo Schoolies is all about your friends. You've been through so much together over the past few years and now your high school days are ending. This may be the last summer that you're all together and it's inevitable that soon you'll all be moving on to start something new like study, work or travel. Schoolies is a time to celebrate all your hard work and all those special times you shared - and to create some more great memories.

Just because you are all going off to do different things, doesn't mean that you can't remain good friends. Use your schoolies break to plan how you'll stay in touch in the future. You may decide to organise a regular night out, continue to SMS or IM each other regularly or even form a team and sign up for a local sports competition.

Look after your friends

Take care of your friends during schoolies. Friends don't let friends do anything stupid or act in ways they'll regret the next day. Watch out for your friends who may have had too much to drink or have taken drugs that are making them sick. Keep an eye out for drink spiking and sleazy toolies who might be hanging around looking for the opportunity to take advantage of your friends. Help your friends stay out of trouble and keep them away from situations that could be dangerous or don't seem right.

Avoiding conflict between friends

Everyone disagrees with each other sometimes and occasional tension or arguments are a normal part of life. Living so closely with your friends during schoolies and sharing your space during an intense emotional time is bound to bring up a few conflicts.

To avoid conflict in your house, set up a few house rules with your friends before you go to schoolies. Points to consider include:

Money issues

Sort out finances before you go. Know how much everyone has to pay for their accommodation. Split things fairly. If you're running a household kitty, decide up front how much everyone is going to chip in and what that entitles them to. No one wants to chip in $20 only to find out that they've only eaten $5 worth of food while someone else has eaten more than their share.

Household chores

Set up a daily roster for people to do the dishes, take out the rubbish, cook and clean up etc. And stick to it.

Respect

Always treat your friends and housemates and their property with courtesy and respect. Consider the feelings and mood of those around you and treat them and their property as you wish yourself and your things to be treated.

Space and privacy

There might be a time when a housemate needs a bit of space and privacy. Be a good friend and give them that time and space! You may even come up with a code to indicate when privacy is needed, such as hanging a towel on the door or leaving a pair of shoes outside.

Bringing strangers home

Before inviting people back to your accommodation, think about it from your housemates' perspective - will they welcome and trust this person in their space and around their things?

Peer pressure

Peer pressure is when you are influenced to do something that you may not usually do because you are worried about what your peers might think.

Schoolies may be a time when you find it hard to resist peer pressure. Your friends may be pressuring you to drink too much alcohol, take drugs you'd rather not or have sex before you're ready. Or you may find yourself pressuring others to do things they don't want to do. If so, back off and respect your friends' choices!

Here are some suggestions to conquer peer pressure:

stick with friends who share your interests
remember that it's okay to say 'no'
respect everyone's choices no matter whether you agree with them or not
stand up to peer pressure or help a friend who may be influenced by peer pressure to say 'no'