As I said, I am giving up alcohol mostly in the spirit of Lent. The byproduct of that is seeing how people react (and how I feel) when I do not drink in social situations where I normally would (and since I also gave up caffiene I can’t have my diet Coke). It is a learning process for me. I do “social experiments” all the time. It is part of who I am. It helps me learn about myself and the culture that I am in. But in terms of “publishing my findings.” Yes, I probably will blog about how it feels to be out in a pub drinking water.

Alot of this is to do with you fitting into a new culture. I know, I’ve been down this road. Don’t judge, just live.

The difference is also the motive. I am giving up alcohol for a variety of reasons but the main one is in the spirit of fasting. I will go without something that I enjoy for a period of time. In Jan, people were detoxing. They were “off the drink” because they felt they had drunk too much in Dec and needed to clense their systems. My system doesn’t need cleansing. I am also looking at it as a social experiment (to see how people will react to me not drinking in situations where it would be expected).

You had a big rant at people for giving up alcohol in Jan??
why the change of heart?

Funny enough, when I was living in London, all my British friends talked about the whole “pancake/Shrove Tuesday” thing, but I don’t think any of them actually ate pancakes on the day. Might be interesting to find out if people really do follow the tradition here in Ireland.