melanieli:

heayoon:

On Tuesday afternoon, I met Albert who is a friend of my friend at the library. We spoke about partying in the U.S. and South Korea. First, we found some similarities and differences between our cultures. In Korea, some college students force drinking alcohol to freshmen students. Koreans place a lot of importance on age, so it is a common event that freshmen should drink alcohol when they drink with seniors even if they do not want to drink. In America, hazing sometimes occurs, usually about alcohol when college students want to join a fraternity. Also, in Korea, people drink for the social experience because they can make a social relationship when they drink together. In contrast, Americans can have social life without drinking. Albert said that they drink to just have fun and to have a good time. Lastly, I learned that Americans cannot have open bottles and drink in public. Also, they have to hide the label of bottles. It was surprised to me because we don’t mind about that much. There were much more different aspects than I realized. It was a really good chance to talk about different drinking cultures of America and South Korea. There were many different cultures about drinking alcohol between Korea and America, but I thought that we should respect each other’s cultures though they are different.

Do you think Korea’s drinking laws should be as strict as America’s? What is the drinking age in Korea?

-The legal drinking age in Korea is eighteen , and I think Korea’s drinking laws don’t have to be as strict as America’s. The accidents because of drinking sometimes occur, but I think it is not enough to worry about. I think many people who enjoy drinking are all adults, so they have to assume a self-responsibility for their behaviors. (not by laws)