European Culture - Alcohol

     Something I noticed while traveling around Europe was the differences in cultural attitudes towards alcohol. An obvious difference is that the drinking age in most European countries is 18, not 21. But it’s also been interesting to see how well carding policies are enforced. For example, in Scotland we were always carded as soon as we ordered an alcoholic beverage. In Italy however, I have not been carded once when ordering a drink. I was once asked by a bartender in Florence if I was over 18, but he took my word for it and did not check my ID. America, on the other hand, often does not even allow you into bars unless you are at least 21.
     It seems that the drinking “law enforcement” is a lot more relaxed in Italy compared to America. I wonder if this is because people are generally more trusting here or because the underage drinking laws are more relaxed or something else. The interesting part is that despite the more lenient drinking culture, it seems that people in Italy drink more responsibly. Maybe I just haven’t seen any of these people yet, but it does not seem to be a popular thing here to become obnoxiously intoxicated like many young adults do in America. I wonder if these two observations are correlated.