So I've really been losing it over here. It's not like this isn't a beautiful place (at least in part), its just most discouraging that my choice not to drink is clashing 100% with the norm for students here. In a city of 600,000-- what-the-heck-was-I-thinking moment--, with 10 public and 10 private universties, for a total of 720,000 people, a country girl like me is like a trout in the Sahara. Literally.
There are pubs everywhere, and most of the students that I know go out clubbing every night.
I wouldn't go down the hall in Feeney to hang out with friends who happened to be drinking when someone I didn't know well was down there with them.
So, being in an overwhelming place, with unlit streets, construction everywhere, where I don't speak the freaking language is a complete and total nightmare on its own. Throw the fact that I've never changed who I am as a person just to 'fit in' with others into the mix, along with alcohol being served EVERYWHERE and I have become a total basket case.
The reality that you can get sick from drinking the water is probably some factor in the popularity of drinking beer all the time (heck, that's why they drank wine back in the day- it was clean and safer than contaminated water supplies), but that doesn't make me feel any better. When a barmaid walks by with an eight liter beaker of beer-complete with spigot- I'm simply at a loss for words. I mean, the alcohol content of beer here in Polska is like 7%.
Ugh, I feel that I can walk into any given bar back in the Good Old US of A without a problem now. And I'm not so happy about that.
I did not come 5,000 miles to drink. I came to look at museums, old buildings, and travel. I want to see Prague, maybe Berlin (they're both like 2 hours from here), go to France and visit Nancy, and stop by Venice on the way back and see Drs. Laughran and Vianello. I mean, when else will I happen to be in Europe and have a chance to see these places? I don't want someting as trivial as beer to get in the way of my plans, but it's hard to try and get to know people when they get upset that you won't come out clubbing with them until 4am. I just want to be a student for the learning, not for the "nights I can't remember." Back in the States, college life isn't complete without the random partying on weekends or for special occasions. Here, it seens to be the reason for attending a university in the first place.
Anyways...
Thank God for the internet, now that I have it I can at least listen to FRANK online while talking to my friends and feel like a normal person again. Except for the six-hour time difference. When I'm heading to bed, my SJC-ers probably haven't been to Bon Appetit for dinner.
Aww, I miss the Caf too... :(
There are pubs everywhere, and most of the students that I know go out clubbing every night.
I wouldn't go down the hall in Feeney to hang out with friends who happened to be drinking when someone I didn't know well was down there with them.
So, being in an overwhelming place, with unlit streets, construction everywhere, where I don't speak the freaking language is a complete and total nightmare on its own. Throw the fact that I've never changed who I am as a person just to 'fit in' with others into the mix, along with alcohol being served EVERYWHERE and I have become a total basket case.
The reality that you can get sick from drinking the water is probably some factor in the popularity of drinking beer all the time (heck, that's why they drank wine back in the day- it was clean and safer than contaminated water supplies), but that doesn't make me feel any better. When a barmaid walks by with an eight liter beaker of beer-complete with spigot- I'm simply at a loss for words. I mean, the alcohol content of beer here in Polska is like 7%.
Ugh, I feel that I can walk into any given bar back in the Good Old US of A without a problem now. And I'm not so happy about that.
I did not come 5,000 miles to drink. I came to look at museums, old buildings, and travel. I want to see Prague, maybe Berlin (they're both like 2 hours from here), go to France and visit Nancy, and stop by Venice on the way back and see Drs. Laughran and Vianello. I mean, when else will I happen to be in Europe and have a chance to see these places? I don't want someting as trivial as beer to get in the way of my plans, but it's hard to try and get to know people when they get upset that you won't come out clubbing with them until 4am. I just want to be a student for the learning, not for the "nights I can't remember." Back in the States, college life isn't complete without the random partying on weekends or for special occasions. Here, it seens to be the reason for attending a university in the first place.
Anyways...
Thank God for the internet, now that I have it I can at least listen to FRANK online while talking to my friends and feel like a normal person again. Except for the six-hour time difference. When I'm heading to bed, my SJC-ers probably haven't been to Bon Appetit for dinner.
Aww, I miss the Caf too... :(
1 comment:
You're fighting the good fight! If it helps, you could always tell folks that you're allergic to alcohol. :-)
But seriously, imagine being VEGETARIAN there! A friend of mine who was would go nuts cuz she'd ask if there was meat in something at a restaurant, they'd say no, and when it would arrive it would have ham or something on it. "I thought you said there wasn't meat on it," she'd say, and they'd reply, "Well, there's not *much* meat..." They just didn't get it AT ALL... So she finally started telling people she had a food allergy to all meat and couldn't metabolize it, and BINGO! No more problem!! :-)
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