Vanessa and I were walking to a party in the centre of town with beer cans in our hands when we suddenly hear a short outburst of a police siren very close by. We looked at each other as a police car was heading towards us, not exactly sure what we did wrong. We quickly found out that the consumption of alcohol beverages is not allowed on public roads. They were pretty relaxed about it though told us we had to get rid of it. We took a few more sips and throw our beverage into the closest bin.

Beverages that have more than 3.5% of alcohol in them cannot be bought in normal shops. You would have to purchase it at Systembolaget (the system company) a government-run chain of liquor stores that have particular opening times; Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 20:00, Saturday only from 10:00 to 3:00 and on Sunday they are completely closed. The legal age of drinking here is 18. Yet if you want to purchase something at Systembolaget you have to be over 20 years old. The products such as beer cans and bottles are all sold individually. These regulations are implemented to better monitor the populations’ alcohol consumption. Even bars and clubs might raise the age limit if they prefer. If you open up a beer on a Monday evening Swedish people would look at you discouragingly. They might even take you as an alcoholic. However, they make up for the lack of alcohol during the week on the weekends. Getting a hangover is pretty common. They really go for it.