HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE BIEHL!

It's my half birthday today, which got me thinking a lot about legality and coming-of-age in different countries.  Last night, I went to a joint birthday party (pub crawl, really) of two American friends of mine from DIS, who had both turned 21 here in Denmark.  

What does that mean in Denmark?  Well, the Danes drink from a very early age.  I went to a dinner with a Danish family once in September where they let a two year old sip wine.  There are different rumors about the actual legal drinking age, and when I asked my roommate about it, she responded that she really didn't know, since it was generally so ignored.  It's in the early teens, she guessed, since that's when she and her friends had started going to clubs.

How bizarre!  When I go back to the States in December, it'll be a whole 5 months before I can legally buy a bottle of wine.  It's not an interminably long time-- in fact, I kind of relish it in a weird way, since it's the last time the government will care at all about what I do and consider me a kid in any way.  It's been a little disturbing to me to watch and hear about close friends turning 21, even though all of them seem to embrace it with characteristic enthusiasm and joie de vivre.  I'm less well-adjusted when it comes to the aging process.

In other news, "sveske" is Danish for prune!  Therefore, "sveske jus" is PRUNE JUICE.  No matter how much the picture on the carton looks like delicious, refreshing grape juice.