night of the drunken swedes.. alcohol habits

Today is “valborgsmässoafton” in Sweden, the last day of April celebrated with big bonfires and fireworks all over the country, it’s also the night when many young swedes get very drunk for the first time and is therefore, nowadays known as a very messy and drunken night. It’s funny how much alcohol habits differ in countries, here it’s not very common to drink a little every day, e.g. a nice glas of wine with food, like many people do in the mediterranean. The habit is to drink more seldom but when people drink they tend to drink a lot and get very drunk, maybe because there’s a little guilt when it comes to drinking, you don’t want to do it too often. Also, people tend to be a little uptight sometimes, almost shy, and it can be nice to let yourself loose from time to time and blame it on the booze… because you would never behave like that if you were sober (makes me think of holidays when people are drunk for a week straight and act like pigs just because they aren’t home, and just because they can). It’s like people are a little ashamed to drink and must find excuses, like a special occassion or at least that it’s weekend. I think drinking more seldom in that way makes it such a big issue to drink alcohol, and people get more drunk once they drink.

Since I am brought up here I noticed I’ve also got some swedish drinking habits and it can actually be a little embarrassing sometimes. On a trip to New York a few years ago I went to a bar with 2 friends, both American (maybe I should mention that they both were a few years older and more well-travelled than me). Me and one of them ordered whiskey. We sat down chatting for a long time and I remember thinking that he drank so slowly, he never drank up and it made me feel that it wouldn’t be very nice to drink up and order more drinks as long as he had something left. But when we were about to leave I automatically took a big sip and finished my glas, because in Sweden you harldy ever leave something in the glas, it’s seen as such a waste since alcohol is very expensive. Well, he left his glas half full and both of them looked at me in a funny way and asked me if I wouldn’t get drunk when drinking so fast? It made me feel a little embarrassed, and a little unsofisticated perhaps, not appreciating good whiskey in the way you should..

Damn being a barbarian!