More free alcohol on campus
I was leaving the Mensa (cafeteria) and I saw some girls drinking some green alcoholic drink. Wierd, I thought. A little early to be celebrating, in more ways than one. First, it was noon. Second, there are still two weeks left of semester. As I walked down the dirt path I noticed more and more students drinking the same thing: a distinctively nuclear green drink, clearly containing alcohol. It was also freezing cold outside, and the idea of a nice cold drink didn't quite do it for me. More students. More. I got to the main plaza and it appeared that every student there was drinking green stuff. More than a thousand students indulging at midday. I solved the riddle when I saw three little VW bugs, trunks open, stuffed to the brim with green stuff. A promotion of a new drink, of course.
I should be used to it by now, but free alcohol on campus continues to astound me.
This new brand of fruity beer thingies just hit the market. Beer with additives, including dragon fruit flavoring*. They can't be called beer, since that woud go against the beer purity laws put into place hundreds of years ago in Germany (one of the only laws to survive all German governments, including the Third Reich). The common name for them would be alko-pops, which always sounds to me like something alcoholic to feed your baby. That name, however, implies some sort of hard alcohol too, like Smirnoff Ice or something. So they don't have a name, and they don't have a market yet. For the past two weeks young energetic students with logoed jackets have been passing them out on the campus main drag. Yes, free alcohol for students. Once again it seems to be taken for granted that alcohol and studying seem to go together. American universities also know this well, but I usually think of alcohol as a nighttime pasttime, which doesn't intrude on daytime studying activities.
I admit, I took some. I tried it. I don't recommend it.
*Dragon fruits are native to South East Asian. Beautiful fuschia plants, they are much prettier to look at than to taste. They are rather bland actually.
I should be used to it by now, but free alcohol on campus continues to astound me.
This new brand of fruity beer thingies just hit the market. Beer with additives, including dragon fruit flavoring*. They can't be called beer, since that woud go against the beer purity laws put into place hundreds of years ago in Germany (one of the only laws to survive all German governments, including the Third Reich). The common name for them would be alko-pops, which always sounds to me like something alcoholic to feed your baby. That name, however, implies some sort of hard alcohol too, like Smirnoff Ice or something. So they don't have a name, and they don't have a market yet. For the past two weeks young energetic students with logoed jackets have been passing them out on the campus main drag. Yes, free alcohol for students. Once again it seems to be taken for granted that alcohol and studying seem to go together. American universities also know this well, but I usually think of alcohol as a nighttime pasttime, which doesn't intrude on daytime studying activities.
I admit, I took some. I tried it. I don't recommend it.
*Dragon fruits are native to South East Asian. Beautiful fuschia plants, they are much prettier to look at than to taste. They are rather bland actually.
posted by Nina at 1:27 PM
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