veramente, un buon compleanno

Tanti Auguri a Me!

Well, the day finally came. I have twenty one years under my belt. I made it out of the danger zone with a clean slate, hurrrrrrayy! The celebration for the big day couldn't have been more perfect for me, as it was euro-style.

At school, my newfound friends and classmates sang to me and treated me to a mid-morning dolce. Naturally, when local shop-owning Italians discovered that it was the "americana's" big 2-1, champagne was on the house. This trend seemed to last all day, ending with my house-mother's extra sweet, homemade chocolate cake and, yet another bottle.

Italians laughed at the idea of not being legally allowed to consume alcohol before twenty one years in age. One man even asked me why we were allowed to kill another in war by law, yet not enjoy a warm shot of grappa. Maybe it was because I am still shaky in my language skills, or maybe it was the excessive vino/champagne, but I was speechless. Another man joked, "We start drinking vino at 10 years, liqueur at 15 and we stop drinking at 27!"

Questo "punto di vista" (point of view) regarding alcohol saturates Italian culture. Perhaps this is inevitable as vino is a leading export for the country's survival, but people approach drinking quite differently. Drinking to get "smashed" happens here, of course, but it is a rare animal. Furthermore, it is legal to drink on the street, as my parents will verify after our New Year's Eve experience. I have also discovered a phrase reflecting this relationship: "Lo ha bevuto?" (did he/she drink it?) This expression correlates to, "did he/she buy it?" in English when attempting to convince someone of something that may be gray with truth.

That's all for now.

Love your (finally) legal friend,
Kelsey