Drinking

There is a definite cultural shift here in the consumption of alcohol. In NC, people either drank or they didn't. Alcoholism was not discussed ever. If you drank, that meant socially one or two glasses of wine or beer, not getting sloppy faced drunk...at least not in front of the respectable folks. The "blue laws" prevented purchasing alcohol from a store or restaurant or bar from 1 am Sunday morning until 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. That way people would go to church, stone cold sober. Here, you can go to a restaurant at 9 am and order alcohol. It is acceptable to have it at lunch. It is served at university functions. In NC it was illegal to even HAVE alcohol on a college campus. I am still getting used to seeing people at Sunday brunch with beer and mimosas...

I made the mistake of saying that I drank to two new friends of mine. They both looked at me and one of them asked ...do you drink a lot? She was referring to what she thought was my drinking problem... Here EVERYBODY drinks. The difference is in HOW much???? I am never going to figure this place out.