Traveling Abroad Can Change Your Perspective On Alcohol Use

I am at heart a wonderer, traveler, seeker of the sights with a 9 to 5 gig. So when my friend moved to Spain, I jumped on the opportunity to visit and explore a new place. Since college I had struggled with my alcohol use. Sometimes I felt like I was drinking too much, happy hour was becoming an everyday thing and I felt I had to stop or considerably cut down on my drinking. I had never missed work or gotten into trouble based on my alcohol use. It wasn’t even necessarily because it was impacting my life or job, but strictly because of the opinions of others in our society.

My perspective on my alcohol use completely changed when I got off the plane in a small town in the South of Spain, called Jerez de la Frontera. Drinking in Europe is completely different than in America for many reasons. First of all the idea of drinking is very relaxed in Spain. Alcohol is introduced in a family setting around the age of 12 according to the locals and teens can legally drink at the age of 18. Many however, drink before this at home. Secondly many people in Spain walk to local bars, cafes or tapas so drunk driving is a considerably less worried about problem than in the states.

It is not uncommon for Spaniards in any profession, including teachers or professors to drink wine during their 3 to 4 hour lunch breaks in the middle of the day. In America, a teacher would be immediately fired for coming back to work if they had consumed alcohol. It is also not taboo to drink early in the day, but my point is, it’s simply not a big deal to drink in their culture period. Throughout my two weeks of travel, I had wine or a beer with almost every meal, alcohol is readily available at grocery stores or markets too and is quite inexpensive in smaller towns and cities. The average amount I spent on a wine or beer was around 1 to 3 Euros which averages anywhere $1.30 to $4 in the US.

I don’t remember ever being extremely intoxicated mainly because meals were consumed slower and over a long duration of time. There wasn’t the pressure of get drunk quick and go as I experienced back home, as everyone took life at a slower pace. Alcoholic drinks were light and refreshing and often were served with olives, cheese and bread which would soak up the alcohol.