Drinking Alcohol

Alcohol is highly prohibited to youths under the age of 25 years in our country. Thus, I was surprised when I went to the US and realized that alcohol can be sold to youths at 21 years. In my country, people who are underage are not supposed to take alcohol. The most shocking experience was that even youths under 21 years could access alcohol through various ways.

I had gone to the United States of America to attain my O level certificate. It was one of the prime holidays when few friends of mine came into my room to take me out for a dinner in a nearby restaurant. I was quite amazed when we arrived at the venue. I thought that we would just take considerable meals and go back to our rooms, but I was shocked to hear my friends ordering alcohol, something which was illegal in my country as youths of that age are not allowed to take alcohol. I was happy and thought of enjoying life in the US since I could drink alcohol openly.

As I continued having fun with my friends, I realized that underage drinking is commonly practiced in the U.S. According to the U.S law, people under 21 years of age are not allowed to take alcohol. In the pub which we visited, there were young clients who locked in a certain room in the pub; they were taking alcohol.

At midnight, I decided to leave, but I saw my friends relaxed and not even concerned about time. I insisted that it was against the law since in our country, people are not supposed to take alcohol after midnight. They reminded me that the U.S was “freeman’s land”, thus people could take alcohol 24 hours a week unless restricted by local rules. I was told that the only day prohibited to take alcohol was Sunday and during special holidays where the country needed presence and participation of every citizen in the occasion.

In our country, people drink to the extent of staggering on the road when they are going back home. Surprisingly, it turned out that the greatest mistake to do in U.S is to stagger along the streets of the cities.

In my own country, people can acquire wines and spirits at any bar. However, in the U.S they are more strict on wines and spirits than other beers simply because the only place people can buy this alcohol is the state-operated stores; children under 21 years are not allowed to enter this place.

Parents in the United States of America are totally different from our parents back home. The reason why I am saying this is because children lack role models of their parents; instead, they encourage their children to drink alcohol but under controllable environment. Back in my country, parents cannot imagine seeing their children with a bottle of alcohol under no circumstances. The rule in the U.S is that parents are allowed to furnish alcohol for their own children, and it is illegal to give alcohol to children in absence of their parents.

I got interested in the drinking style in the US as I realized that the youths in this country were organized. They took alcohol while observing discipline since they were not restricted by their parents or law. In our country, youths are denied that chance but when they attain the expected age to begin drinking, they become irresponsible by taking more than enough. The duration of drinking in the US has also contributed to responsibility since people are not in a hurry to drink alcohol hence taking their time and drinking with “great respect!”