1 Month Benchmark

Here I am, living in England for a full month now.  I am integrating fairly well into the school life and life in England as a whole.  True, it is a bit different being able to drink at 18 here.  But to be honest, in my observations compairing the drinking culture here to the drinking culture back home--especially in regards to university drinking-- I have found that because you are allowed to drink at 18 here, one learns how to drink responsibly, as it is very common for people to go to the pub after work or college classes and get a pint before going home. It is more of a social thing.  At home in the States, people cannot drink until they are 21.  However, at this point, most of them are in college, which we all know is the time when most people start drinking.  The problem with this is, because they cannot go into a bar or pub to drink, they must do it at home or at a bonfire or in the woods somewhere where the police won't catch them.  Furthermore, because there is a threat fromt the police, people don't drink socially--they drink to get drunk.  This is why we tend to have a bigger problem with binge drinking.  People want to go out for the night, but know they won't be able to get drinks at this bar or that concert.  So they "pre game," at home, taking many shots or shutgunning many beers before they go out so that they will be thoroughly drunk for the duration of the night. 
This then folds over into the drunk driving problem.  Here in the UK, and the majority of Europe for that matter, most people use public transport over owning a car.  This makes getting home from a night where one wouldn't be fit to drive a lot easier--one can walk, take a bus, a taxi, or a train wherever they need to go.  This is nearly impossible for Americans, unless you happen to live in a city with good infrastucture and transport options such as New York, Chicago, San Fransicso, etc. But for those people outside of those urban settings, there isn't much of an option, especially when one is in an altered state of mind.  To make matters worse, because they are drinking "under the table," and aren't drinking at an establishment that could be held accountable for letting them drive, there is no one to take the keys away from someone who is too drunk to drive.  This might be why our culture has such a high drunk driving rate in comparison to European countries.

My friend Luke posted this on Facebook today, and I think that it sheds some light onto our own distinct drinking culture.
This American Life: Penn State Drinking