Does Germany turn a lot of people into alcoholics?

It turned me into one when I first came over

Situation - young chap earning money for the first time in Germany. A touch lonely.

Situation - Boredom arrived, what is there to do? Beer is found in the supermarket at low low prices.

Result - Young chap (20 at the time) starts drinking a lot. Chap leaves at 21 years old back to England.

Later result - Young chap returns to Germany at 22 years old, speaks more German by then and becomes a big regular in the local pubs.

Plus, he's earning more money by this stage - gets drunk every single night for months and months. Drinks heavily but not always drunk for a few years. Still has a bit of a habit going now. Though not a problem anymore as it has been calmed down enough.

Come on, I've met a few people that have said that living in Germany has had them turn to alcohol (not for negative reasons about Germany - except for maybe loneliness) but it's cheap in Germany and it's in the culture.

Can anyone else here admit to experiencing anything like this situation?

Steve, do you feel you have a real drink problem? Recognising you have one is half way to sorting the problem, I have loads of mates who drink to excess... both in the UK aswell as Germany, but none of them will admit to having one.

Well, to be honest (truly honest), I don't think that I have one now. I drink around 10-15 beers a week now. Is that excessive?

There was a time when I would be in my local pub until around 1-2am after starting at around 8pm. That was in Germany. I'd have around 7 Kristall's and I never knew what a real morning was like without a hangover.

Then I realised that it was affecting me, getting too much of a reputation at work. So I decided to stop doing that every night and would just do weekends instead.

I still have a favour to a tipple so I won't say that I'm not a slight social alchy.

Here is my definition of a real alcoholic, do people agree? I test myself by these too...

1) Do I NEED beer? i.e. Every now and then I test myself to see if I can go without beer for a week.

Result: I pass, I can do it.

2) I believe that all things that can be enjoyed should be enjoyed unless they are negatively affecting other parts of your life. The question is: Is alcohol affecting my relationship or my work in any negative way?

Honest Answer: Relationship - probably improves it, seriously.
Work (uni) - Probably does take some time off it to be 100% honest

So yes, I suppose in a mild, mild sense that I am according to those criteria. Yet I do believe that we should all have some "play" time, no matter who you are or what you do. By the way, if anyone is interested, my relationship has been getting somewhat better recently, but I've no idea if we'll stay together or not.

first of all, the last sentence was good news...even if it does not work out at least things are now a bit better..

i was at one time like you were i would go out every evening to the brit pub in MG Altstadt. stay all night at go out with the landlord. i did this with a mate who seperated at the same time as me. it eventually came to the point that we were at the pub waiting for it to open. only on mondays we would not go as it was closed. i eventually lost my job because it was hard getting out of bed in the morning.
we did stop doing this and have settled down again. i would not say i was an alcoholic but there were too many problems and beer did seem to get them off my mind.

i class an alcoholic as someone who needs alcohol all day long, even when they get up in the morning. plus when you start hiding booze and end up filling your glass when no one is looking.

i do still like a beer or two, well as i am writing this i have a bit of a headache from a party last night, so even more than that but what i dont do is drink at home. i have beer here but i dont drink it if no one comes to visit it just does not taste the same.

i think it would not help my relationship and it would not help my work, i go round the firm fixing computer problems and just think if everyone complained about my beer breath...

my misses and i used to drink a bit of wine and so on but the same as before, now it is mainly when we have visitors. if i went to bed every night smelling of beer i would end up in bed on my own, and make the morning coffee too

I don't profess to be an expert. My brother is an alcoholic. He as been dry now for about 10 years but he is still an alcoholic and it wouldn't take a lot for him to backslide.

Alcoholism is a disease. Alcoholics are never cured but they learn to control their problem once they admit to themselves that they have a problem. I watched my mother going through hell worrying about him and being naive, thought that the way to cure him, was to give him a good hiding. Now I'm a lot older and wiser and wish that I understood more when I was younger.

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/

well, my first few years here in Germany involved a lot of drinking...in my local pub most evenings after work. It never affected my work, but I did start to suspect I was drinking far too much and too often. I was "saved" from alcoholism by the fact that I only drink in company...I never drink at home when I'm alone, only if I have guests. I stopped the regular (and heavy!!!) drinking years ago...still like a drink or three when I feel like it tho! But I can go weeks without alcohol and not miss it. Think it is the uncertainty and the initial loneliness that's mainly to blame...

good luck Steve! hope all turns out well for you.

Don't worry Alibi! I think I'm alright now, it's on a more casual and not "have to" basis now. Thanks anyway. (if we're talking about the alcohol here)

I agree with Bully ...

I thinka "hardcore" alcoholic is someone who boozes from morning till night , tries to hide the fact from themself and others , loses their job , family etc ...

I love having a beer and Germany makes this very easy , both from a cultural and economic viewpoint .. as Steve said , supermarkrt booze is cheap ..

I was drinking far too much in the first six weeks after I split with her indoors ...
same thing , lock-ins at the Irish pub till god knows when in the morning ...

then i found the ideal cure (for me ...)

a girlfriend that :

a - made it quite clear she doesn't like me drunk and would soon be on her way
b- doesn't live near me ... I have to drive to see her ... so no booze at all on those days ..

it has worked a treat for me ...

take care // Ian

Just being the devils advicate here so dont shoot me down [img]http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/waffen/violent-smiley-026.gif[/img]

Do you have to be a "hardcore" alcoholic to be an alcoholic? Whats the difference between being an alcoholic and having a drinking problem?

When does someone who has a drinking problem become an alcoholic? I imagine the answer to that will differ greatly between those that drink ´to much´ and those that dont.

If you feel the need to drink alcoholic to make you feel better, if drinking alcohol effects your life in an adverse way (eg. lose your job), isnt that being an alcoholic?

Corinne ,

I'm not going to even try and answer your questions .. an expert would have to do that ... and definitely no shooting ...

I don't think GERMANY turns people into alcoholics, I think it's the bloody Germans.

Oh, and no, I don't drink - allergic.

Now, there was me thinking I might say something to upset someone, but then comes along carolyn

We live in Germany in a small village and my boyfriend's family lives in Liverpool, but no matter if I go to pubs with him here in Germany in cities or in England, no matter if it's in a city or a small village, it seems that the Brits in general drink a lot more than Germans do

What did you mean by the way, Carolyn, Germans take you into drinking? Not sure if that was meant as a joke?

And Steve, of course it's up to you and you have to know how you want to handle it but I am not really sure if this is really good for you the way it goes We've got a german saying "besser ein Ende mit Schrecken, als ein Schrecken ohne Ende". Means, better end something and start over than stay into something, which is not really what you want (or something, I bet somebody can translate it better)

just my 2 cents
Hannah

I wonder if Carolyn can let us know if there is a difference between Germans and ´bloody´ Germans. Just want to see which catagory she thinks my hubby falls into.

hmmm well my misses is not a 'bloody' German... she must then be a German

Interesting topic this,
I have to agree with Hannah in that i think the Brits drínk more than the Germans.
I met my girlfriend whilst in Uni in England in the pub. I spent most of my free time at Uni in the Pub. i had some cracking times but it did get a bit too much and it calmed down when I was away from the student enviroment. Socially it was superb, but it cost my health dear and burnt a bloody hole in my pocket. I dont regret it for one minute though.
Thing is though, when I first moved to Germany and I went out I noticed how much less the Germans drink. And how much more I drink. Most of them knock it on the head after a few but I always wanted to have a full session. I put it down to being new, also the quality of the beer, and the cheapness of it. So maybe Germany made me drink more, dunno.
As for whats an Alcoholic. For me that will always someone who cant function without alcohol. i drink most days, because i feel like it. sometimes a glass of wine with my evening meal. A few beers with the boys after playing football. Or when I rent out a DVD. And of a weekend more if I fancy it down the pub.
I admit i had run ins with my Girlfriend over it, and calmed down a lot from when I met her in England. But she knows that if I want a drink i'm gonna have one. i dont get roaring drunk anymore. ..okay occasionally...but I enjoy drinking. I dont think i'm dependent on Alcohol. And I know when I've had enough.
Anyone fancy a pint???

or two

Sorry carolyn if that comment of yours was meant to be a joke but I cant help myself...

If a german is a ´bloody´ german...is a britain a ´great´ britain? (ok I know its meant to be british but that didnt work )

Oh and joolz, I have already started as the bloody husband is due home soon

my girlfriend is a gorgeous German .. but then I'm biased

noch eins joolz ... it's your round

well I don't know about your husband Corinne, but my german husband (hopefully soon to be ex-husband) falls into the bloody Germans category. In fact, he needs a category of his own.

Oi !! Charlton fan,...dont get me started!! we,ll be on the whisky chasers soon.

" when I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading "

i'll have one of them too...

agree with Carolyn on the ex part but not all Germans are 'bloody'

Charltonfan posting love icons well well well you learn something new every day

Carolyn, I wonder if your soon to be ex falls in the same category as my soon to be "bloody german" ex.

Just got a letter from his solicitor saying that he can't afford to pay the two months rent that he didn't pay, or all the other stuff he didn't pay, but he can afford to drive around in his porsche. Do Germans marry auslanders because they think we are dumb or somthing.

My husband can stay in the ´just´ German catagory for now, He is 100 times easier to live with then the bloody English ex

well this seems to be a different problem now
it is not a 'bloody German' thing

it is a 'bloody Ex' thing

I didn't think that this thread would take off so well, nobody answered it at all for a while!

well nobody answered straight to my questions in my earlier post again too. I just might give up or post only in the joke section

the question was not put to me or i would have answered it.

@joolz ... Jameson please ... hicccc ...

@bully ... ich bin frisch verliebt ... Du weisst das .. :$ :$

good on yer mate,

I missed the start to this thread!

But having worked in Spain and France also, I have to admit doing the same there. A few beers every night. You put it down to boredom, lonliness, whatever.
But the weight did pile on, so I started running a few times a week. I still drink every night, but the running counteracts it.

But I admit to enjoying between 3-6 beers a night. :$ Is this excessive? I dunno.

Rich.

Too Much Time At The Bar
An angry wife was complaining about her husband spending so much time at the pub, so one night he took her along.
"What'll ya have?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't know. The same as you, I suppose," she replied.
So the husband ordered a couple of Whiskey's and threw his down in one gulp.
His wife watched him, then took a sip from her glass and immediately spit it out. "Yuck, that's nasty poison!" she sputtered. "I don't know how you can drink this stuff!"
"Well, there you go," cried the husband. "And you think I'm out enjoying myself every night!"

I would say that 6 beers EACH night is at least the start to be careful

like it was said earlier, how would you feel if you dont drink them for a few nights?

I'm stayin out of this, I don't think they make a tin hat big enough.

it's easy to joke about alcohol if you don't have a problem with it. But if you know somebody who really has one and know what can come out of being an alcoholic, then things look different I guess

like it was said earlier, how would you feel if you dont drink them for a few nights

Good question. The first night it feels weird, but after that its no problem.

I suppose I'd like to stop, or at least cut it back, but dunno where to start :$

I dont drink regularly, just sometimes when we're out or at home in summer time outside in the garden but I don't get really drunk very often. But I smoke and like you say: "I suppose I'd like to stop, or at least cut it back, but dunno where to start" - I smoke since 20 years now

A friend of mine was/is an alchoholic and it was his wife and Alchoholics Anonymus that got him dry.
Apparently it's not the amount that you drink (which starts low and steadily increases) but that you do it regularly so that it becomes a pattern in your life, you don't think about it any more, you just do it. Don't forget to make sure there's always something there, no empty crates or bottles to lace it with.

Bored, lonely, celebrating, stress, things not going well in life, you name it the excuse is there.

Getting hold of the stuff is so easy an cheap here as was mentioned earlier so I think there is a grain of truth in saying it does help here compared to Britain.

Michael

You can become an alky just as easily in the UK... if you don't mind sponsoring Gordon Browns budget

Mick,

Great reply, its woke me up a bit, as the pattern has certainly emerged with me.
Each evening is the same, which was OK when I single, I'm now with a wonderful woman and we have a beautiful daughter.

Ive got to sort this out now, and not later when it will affect the people I care about.

But where to start as it frightens me to hell.

do you drink at home normally or in the pub? if the former, maybe you could get into the habit of only drinking when you are out...and no, that doesn't mean staying out every night!

I had an eye opener when my son (bless the little grass ) said in school in answer to whether Daddy drinks English Tea or German Coffee, he replied "Ich glaube nur bier"!

And I didn't think I drank at all, just goes to show

sheesh...out of the mouths of babes, eh?

@Hannah

go to the docs and ask about the acupuncture to your ear. you have 3 pins put in your ear and when you want a ciggy you press them. my misses is using this now and she has not smoked since sunday, ok not long but it is a start.

Why not try substituting the pint for a non alcaholic beer. OK, might not taste quite as nice but you will find out if the need for the alcahol is more of a problem than you think. [img]http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/ernaehrung/food-smiley-015.gif[/img]

that's a good idea corinne...I believe kelts is pretty good...

Naw, crap idea. The non-alcoholic beer will piss you off and you will have to get steaming drunk to get over it. Not a good Idea

lol! I know quite a few blokes who drink it, though...either cos they're driving or because they don't want alcohol. Only one I've tasted that was like crap was Jever Fun...left a soapy after-taste. I like Jever beer...

When my brother got married in London, my wife in her wisdom decided it was my turn to drive. So there I was going through all the non-alcoholic drinks that the bar had to offer, she got steaming drunk… not, on 3 glasses of wine. We left quite early because if I’m sober while all around me are having fun and all I have is lead-free beer that tastes disgusting then that either that says something about my social habits or that non-alcoholic beer is about as much fun as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
I’ll always remember that reception because of how miserable I was.