White stuff
On a lighter note, it snowed today!!!!! This is something of a novelty for me, coming from possibly the warmest part of the UK. True, Dartmoor is not far away and gets heavy snowfall throughout the winter, but no one with any sense (or a home elsewhere) would ever risk getting stuck in a blizzard/snowdrift on Dartmoor, so I'm not sure it counts. Lots of Asian students with cameras taking pictures of themselves holding snowballs carefully scraped off nearby cars. If it freezes tonight, getting down the hill to the campus for my tutorial tomorrow will be interesting.
I cooked an enormous pan of chilli con carne today, and froze it in individual portions. That's my dinner sorted out for the next 5 days, then...
I also spoke to my little brother online for the first time in ages, because he's usually out either drinking or fencing (as in swords) in the evenings, or can't get near the computer because our dad is working. He's grown up very fast in the 6 months or so since I left home - suddenly it makes sense that he's the same age as most of the first-years I have lectures with. I say little, but he's actually 6'4'' and 18 years old. And before all you Americans start spluttering, the legal age for drinking alcohol over here is 18, so he is not about to be arrested for underage drinking!
Which brings me to another point that someone may or may not be able to clear up for me - if some states don't allow alcohol consumption until 21, how do students manage? Over here, entrance to university at 18 is for many the beginning of a 3- or 4-year drinking binge... do you not have this in the US, or is it one of those things that is technically illegal but everyone does it anyway? Personally, I've been drinking small amounts of alchohol with meals since I was about 5 and I am now one of the few undergraduates who doesn't drink excessively, but I'll save that discussion for another day!
Anyway, it's 2.40am here, so time I went to bed. The question stays open to anyone willing to answer it!
I cooked an enormous pan of chilli con carne today, and froze it in individual portions. That's my dinner sorted out for the next 5 days, then...
I also spoke to my little brother online for the first time in ages, because he's usually out either drinking or fencing (as in swords) in the evenings, or can't get near the computer because our dad is working. He's grown up very fast in the 6 months or so since I left home - suddenly it makes sense that he's the same age as most of the first-years I have lectures with. I say little, but he's actually 6'4'' and 18 years old. And before all you Americans start spluttering, the legal age for drinking alcohol over here is 18, so he is not about to be arrested for underage drinking!
Which brings me to another point that someone may or may not be able to clear up for me - if some states don't allow alcohol consumption until 21, how do students manage? Over here, entrance to university at 18 is for many the beginning of a 3- or 4-year drinking binge... do you not have this in the US, or is it one of those things that is technically illegal but everyone does it anyway? Personally, I've been drinking small amounts of alchohol with meals since I was about 5 and I am now one of the few undergraduates who doesn't drink excessively, but I'll save that discussion for another day!
Anyway, it's 2.40am here, so time I went to bed. The question stays open to anyone willing to answer it!
posted by Gonetomars at 10:40 am
1 Comments:
First of all, it's illegal to drink under 21 in all states. It's one of the few uniform alchohol laws across the country.
That being said, alchohol is consumed quite readily at most Universities. Many have fraternities, which are organizations in which underage drinking is essentially overlooked. Otherwise, one can find parties, bars that allow fakes, or of age friends to buy you booze. Of course, there are also some students who don't drink, which is quite rare in the UK.
I also agree that learning to drink in moderation at a young age is healthy. Worked for me too.
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