How and what we drank, or working in an American bar. We drank a lot, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages; we tried everything we could, we even smoked, although we don't smoke back home. The smaller the town, the more actively they fight for a 'healthy nation.' We had a boy who was 19; not only was he not sold anything anywhere, but once one place found out his age, they wouldn't even sell him cigarettes sometimes. A couple of times, I confess, I bought beer for American kids, about 13-14 years old. I don't know what they did afterwards, but our Russian boys got in trouble for it later (apparently, they didn't think I was capable of such a thing...). Working in a bar, it's generally very hard to resist the temptation and not drink everything behind your back for free. Americans, as I understood, aren't big fans of cocktails, preferring to drink the product neat (though they drink vodka with tonic). My favorite drink became tequila... of which buckets were consumed. What surprised me was the careless attitude towards any kind of inventory counting in the bar; the main thing was that the cash register balanced. After work, staff would calmly take something from the bar without writing it down, or even take something home, within reason... yet, surprisingly, everything always balanced out and expenses were covered with plenty to spare... The smaller the town, the more popular your parties become. If you went out with someone in the evening, that's it—in the morning everyone will be smirking suggestively and asking if your head hurts and how the night went. And even if you spent the whole evening just sitting by a lake far from town chatting until morning, curious coworkers have a reason for gossip (at least the half you don't really talk to). In life, I generally drink very little, but there, for some reason, it was the complete opposite... In short, life in America is definitely freer after 21 :)