Things that change when you leave University

[Joyce Summers]

At the risk of sounding Momish....why in the world would you want to be drunk for weeks? *raises eyebrow*

 

[Kean]

At the risk of sounding Momish....why in the world would you want to be drunk for weeks? *raises eyebrow*

Maybe it's just the Irish mindset, but basically its cheap! Poteen is potent so when you drink water you dilute it and so maintain a constant state of drunkeness. I never did myself but i know people who have and they thought it was great craic

 

[Joyce Summers]

Whoa, that's crazy. I don't think I'd want to try that either! Haha

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

That's really crazy. Just imagine you have to go everywhere drunk.
And I don't know if it's the cultural differences, but another rellay big group of drinkers (probably even more than the college students) are teenagers. You see 13-year-olds drinking vodka. And on a classtrip in 9th grade (I was 14) practically our whole class was drunk. And I'm pretty sure the teachers knew about this, they jus didn't care. So maybe it's really to blame on this whole legal age of drinking 16 deal, but teens here drink worrily amounts of alcohol.

 

[Joyce Summers]

THIRTEEN YEAR OLDS?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD!! Seriously, thirteen? ::Joyce nearly has heart attack:: That's...that's...terrible. I mean I'll admit that pretty much everyone drinks before the legal drinking age...but still, thirteen? That's just...shocking!

 

[Kean]

I didn't mean to be so blasé in that last post. I am not encouraging people to down the poteen...it has literally killed people. Drinkibg is just a big part of life here...I mean how many of those points had to do with drinking or being drunk!

 

[Joyce Summers]

You weren't blase. I didn't get a blasé vibe from you. I was just shocked that anyone would want try that Poteen. Because there must be people who do.

But my shock has been overridden by the whole 'thirteen year olds drinking' thing. :jawdrop:

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

Well that's the way things are here. And 13-year-olds mostly even don't have problems buying alcohol. These days they are asked for IDs a lot more often, but when I was younger they maybe asked for your age but didn't care if you lied.
And a parties nobody cares how old you are when it comes to alcohol. You're allowed to go to these parties with alcohol at age 16 (but younger ones are ALWAYS there) so at the bar they don't care about your age anymore. There was actually a huge scandal at my school a few years back when there was a newspaper article on the latest party and on the main picture were two boys from my school everyone knew weren't 16.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

This is creepy, im living this at the moment and that list is so true it's not funny.

 

[Legate Damar]

First, I don't agree with #47. Computers are still for playing.

Secondly, I only miss a few of the items on that list. Most, I'm glad to be rid of. But, oh, those few... ::sniffle::

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I just had my first day/night living with university people (that's right, I'm not even attending class yet) and already I see myself soooo in the college lifestyle. Seriously, I just checked the list

1. 6:00 am is when you get up, not when you go to sleep.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
6. You know all the people sleeping in your house.
11. Seven-day benders are no longer realistic.
12. You don't go to Tesco/Wal-Mart with all your friends.
18. Jeans and a jumper no longer qualify as "˜dressed-up'.
19. You are the one calling the police because those damn kids next door won't turn the stereo down.
26. You don't get ideas for drinks from local tramps.
27. You don't put finished curries in the fridge for later.
28. You don't spend half you day strategically planning pub crawls.
32. You can't persuade your flatmates to drink "˜till dawn.
38. A €3 bottle of wine is no longer "˜pretty good stuff'.
40. You actually eat breakfast foods at breakfast time.
42. Grocery lists are longer than pot noodles and cans of Bulmers.
43. You don't go to Bargin Booze to buy voldka.
47. Over 90% of time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
48. You don't experiment with banned substances.
49. You don't get drunk at home to save money before going to the pub.
50. Lunchtime is not "˜the morning'.

are all I can cross off after just one day/night.
The funny thing was, last night I tried to be good and go to bed at 10:30. Woke up again at 1:30 because the loud music. Then somebody knocked at my door at 2:30 and asked me if I wanted to hang out with them, which I did. And all the people i hang out with were drunk and smoking weed. We went to bed at 6. Well, I guess college lifestyle has started.

 

[InsaneMystic]

THIRTEEN YEAR OLDS?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD!! Seriously, thirteen? ::Joyce nearly has heart attack:: That's...that's...terrible. I mean I'll admit that pretty much everyone drinks before the legal drinking age...but still, thirteen? That's just...shocking!

Actually, horrendous as it is, 13 can almost be seen as "harmless" already around my local area. 🙁

Our neighboring town, even though it's a burg of hardly over 25.000 people, is a serious regional stronghold of Karneval (that's half a week in early spring more or less like Mardi Gras, with costumes, colorful parade cars and hectoliters of booze), and in the Karneval days you don't have to go out of your way to see pre-teens as young as nine or ten stumbling around drunk. Sad but true.

There's also been this ongoing debate about the legality of "alcopops" here in Germany (don't know if you call them the same in English speaking countries; they're ready-made mixtures of hard liquor with extremely over-sugared lemonades, which are so sweet you hardly taste the alcohol at all and thus don't notice how much you consume), as regularly young teenagers drink themselves pretty much comatose on that stuff. Alcopops are really the reason why German stores have recently begun to go stricter on ID controlling alc buyers... in my childhood years, they were pretty laid back even on young teens buying "soft stuff" like beer and wine.

 

[Joyce Summers]

Actually, horrendous as it is, 13 can almost be seen as "harmless" already around my local area.

Our neighboring town, even though it's a burg of hardly over 25.000 people, is a serious regional stronghold of Karneval (that's half a week in early spring more or less like Mardi Gras, with costumes, colorful parade cars and hectoliters of booze), and in the Karneval days you don't have to go out of your way to see pre-teens as young as nine or ten stumbling around drunk. Sad but true.

There's also been this ongoing debate about the legality of "alcopops" here in Germany (don't know if you call them the same in English speaking countries; they're ready-made mixtures of hard liquor with extremely over-sugared lemonades, which are so sweet you hardly taste the alcohol at all and thus don't notice how much you consume), as regularly young teenagers drink themselves pretty much comatose on that stuff. Alcopops are really the reason why German stores have recently begun to go stricter on ID controlling alc buyers... in my childhood years, they were pretty laid back even on young teens buying "soft stuff" like beer and wine.

That is quite sad. Well, really sad. I mean at thirteen I had had one or two drinks...at family parties, in a small glass, diluted, with my Mother in attendence. But for it to be so drastic?

And now nine or ten? Are you trying to send my body into shock here? They're just kids...oh my god. And I thought it was bad when you see 15 year olds turning inside out from over-drinking. Like you said- horrendous.

And yeah, they're called alcopops here too. They're called other things as well, but generally I've always referred to them as that. I think the sugar in those drinks does more damage than the alcohol! Haha. They're just full of absolute rubbish. But because they taste sweet and are basically like alcoholized soft drinks you see younger drinkers downing them like juice, unfortunately.

 

[Aethra]

Nine an ten year olds... that's wrong. There are reasons for the alcohol laws! These kids are not going to be healthy individuals when they grow up.

Here it's bad, but not that bad. Some of the more industrious middle schoolers have drunk before, sure, and by the time they get to high school it's not even a question. Honestly, here it's easier to get weed than beer, so we've got more druggies than alcoholics. And then there are the weirdos, like me, who don't drink or anything. I'm 17 and I can honestly say I've never had an alcoholic beverage or smoked anything, and I have no desire to. So, college will certainly be interesting for me. I'll just be the designated driver.

 

[T.I.P]

Is 13 not an acceptable age to start drinking?

 

[Lauryn Summers]

In the US, 13 is definitly not an acceptable age to start drinking. I'm 20 and in college and still haven't touched alcohol (albiet a sip of champagne for a toast at home), but many of my college mates have been drinking for several years. But even in the US where many start drinking early, I think 13 is far too early! I am still surprised at how many kids start drinking so young! It's not healthy being the main reason!

 

[T.I.P]

alcohols great, i love it.