You're no worse than me!

You have an excuse. As a student, if you don't wake up with a hangover and a painful region that you can trace as the outline of your liver, you're not normal. I found taking a bladder of cheap wine to a lecture took the edge off when I was studying. Oh, Fruity Lexia.

Yes, I would say that you are an alcoholic if you need to be semi-drunk on social occasions and every day.

Sounds like you are. Occasional weekend drinking is one thing but it's another if you need it every time you go out. You might want to look for help or find friends that don't drink so you're not as tempted and can get out of the habit.

Yes you are.

I on the other hand, will never drink alcohol, and will never understand why people choose to waste their money like that.

@OP You are definitely an alcohol abuser and quite possibly an alcoholic. Drinking everyday is extremely unhealthy and it leads to physical dependance. This is nothing to joke about. You get the shakes and feel physically ill when you aren't drinking. I know because I've gone through this. I suggest quitting immediately. If you need help, get some. Don't worry about what your "friends" might say about you doing this. If you quitting bothers them, than they aren't your friends.

I drank a lot but I have barely drank the past few weeks. Just give it up for a few days. A true alchy (I know a few friends) would get the shakes after a day or two. So if you can go an entire week then that is a start. Alcohol is fun and all but eventually if you realize it is pretty boring if done repetitively.  Also, if you start cutting back then only 1 or 2 beers gives you a decent buzz.  If you drink all the time like I used to then you would barely feel 1 or 2.  So instead of spending all the money on drinking 6-20+ beers you can just drink 1 or 2 beers and feel a pretty decent buzz.  Lowering your tolerence is awesome start if you don't want to give it up completely, and drinking 1 or 2 beers a day is pretty much beneficial to the body.  Once you pass 2 or so beers then you are negatively affecting your body.

LMAO! its so true! no-one judges anyone else at festivals, its like an unspoken rule.

If you need alcohol to feel 'normal',
If you drink to an extent that it makes yourself uncomfortable but continue irregardless,
If you find your own mind making up paltry excuses as to why you should, which sound damn convincing at the time but afterwards you're like 'what was I thinking?',
If you obsess over it,
If you get the shakes when you don't have it,
If even a beer ad totally sidetracks you from what you're doing to be thinking about drinking,

If you relate to many of those then you are showing alcoholic tendacies. Do not take it lightly. Get help. Better to be over cautious than to live in denial and wake up one day wonder how your life got so out of control.

Trust someone who's been there.

Sorry, but you sound like an alcoholic to me. I've used many different drugs but never relied on any of them in the same way that you rely on alcohol.