Lent

As most of you know, I'm pretty hardcore about giving up stuff for Lent. Not necessarily because I am ultra-religious (let's be honest here, I haven't been to church since Christmas and might go on Easter), but mostly just to see if I can have the willpower to give up something for 40 days. I'm pretty convinced there is nothing I couldn't live without for 40 days if I had to, some things would be ultimately unpleasant, but I could probably do it. (no necessities, like water or going to the bathroom, but you know what I mean). So this year? Beer. You're laughing I know and scoffing at what I gave up because, yes, I live in France and no one thinks the French drink beer very much. See that would be where you are mistaken. Quite a bit of beer is consumed here actually. Just as at home, people generally drink beer when out at the bars for multiple reasons. Cocktails are expensive and not very strong. Wine is hard to order at a bar because while they have it, they don't have to worry about it complementing the food or anything so they just get the decent stuff. Also, drinking a lot of wine leads to a wicked bad hangover for most. Beer is pretty much the go-to. Pints are around 5 euro, and have sufficient alcohol content to make one slightly inebriated with relatively little effort. My dad gives up beer every year, so he is used to this little hiatus. I gave it up my sophomore year in college (horrible idea then as well), but this year it has been pretty easy I'll admit. It helps that I haven't gone out as much since Lent started. And definitely helped that Lent started for me in a country that doesn't have much alcohol prevalent (Morocco). I haven't really had the desire for a good cold beer...until today. As I was walking back from the health center (I know, ironic) the weather is absolutely beautiful outside and I saw two people sitting at a cafe and thought, wow, this would be a great day for a cold beer (nevermind that I had this thought at 10:45am, that's irrelevant). Thankfully I don't have much further to go and I'm sure the craving will pass. I don't think they sell Boulevard Wheats over here anyway.