<p>My suspension was extended to 3 days. I am not sure why. I think the 1-day was a preliminary punishment until the school decided on a final punishment. However, it will not go on my transcript and colleges will not find out. It will go in my school record, however. In the end I guess its not so bad. My parents took the news extremely well. They were most of all just shocked because I have never been in trouble before. My main fear was that colleges will find out but thankfully they will not.</p>
<p>I suspect that private schools might be more likely than publics to allow drinking on a European trip, simply because they have more flexibility to make/bend rules. Not all privates would allow it, of course, but I would be surprised to find publics that do. I also agree that there is a difference between a glass of wine/beer with dinner & getting wasted (which is what the kids in my story above did).</p>
<p>I am so glad to hear that things turned out well for you, kidchicago. Take your suspension & whatever comes with it (in our district, that means E's on any work/tests during suspension). Mistake made, punishment given & taken, life moves forward.</p>
<p>kidchicago, I'm glad your colleges won't be notified. If this is your first slip-up---and it was essentially a harmless one---you certainly shouldn't be punished more than you already have. Be more careful in the future, but I'm glad things turned out on a better note for you.</p>
<p>Be glad the consequences weren't worse. The last time something like that happened on a trip involving kids from our school, one of them ended up in a wheelchair. For life, unless there are major medical advances.</p>
<p>Consolation: Give it a break. The consequences really shouldn't even have been as bad as they were, in my opinion. Given his age, the OP is almost certainly legal to drink in Europe; the prohibition of drinking was likely a rule instituted to extend the pointless US prohibition into Europe with the students, to make teachers' lives simpler.</p>
<p>But hey, maybe you're right - obviously there is a direct and inevitable link between LEGALLY DRINKING and becoming a paraplegic. I guess nobody should ever touch alcohol... they'll end up crippled!</p>
<p>But can you tell that I think you're pointlessly over-dramatizing?</p>
<p>When our high school had a trip to Europe with the foreign language class, the parents all signed a note provided by the school saying that it was OK for the students to have a glass of wine or beer with dinner under the supervision of the teacher. This was certainly the smart thing to do... in most European countries kids can drink at more or less any age at a restaurant with an adult present. Laws regarding purchase for outside consumption vary (generally 16-18) although these are rarely enforced in many cases. </p>
<p>I think the school made a very smart decision there since it's part of the culture and of course the students will want to try it... they get to have a glass of wine or beer at dinner and it gets it out of their system. Also, teenagers being teenagers they want to try to 'forbidden fruit' but if their allowed to try it in public with the teacher present they're much less likely to do something stupid on their own when there isn't any supervision. There were no problems on the trip (most didn't like the taste anyway).</p>
<p>Consoloation: Yes, you are going just a BIT overboard. As with anything, if abused alcohol can cause serious problems and ruin lives but the same goes for cars, boats, golf clubs.... As the Europeans often, quite rightly, say "You American's have no problem letting an 18 year old run around with a gun and shipping them off to die in war but God forbid if they want to have a beer!"</p>
<p>This brings me back to my spring trip to DC over 30 years ago with my very small all-girls Catholic senior HS class. We packed as much vodka as we could in our suitcases. I don't think any of us got over the pain we caused the very sweet nun who inevitably caught us and who was so terribly hurt by what we did. She never told a soul - not even our parents!</p>
<p>Our HS model UN trip to Yale a couple of years ago-- several juniors and seniors brought alcohol along and had a room party. One got alcohol poisoning and had to get her stomach pumped. The main kid (a junior) who brought the Vodka was suspended for THREE WEEKS!! The poisoned girl was suspended for about 4-5 days. Others' punishments varied, depending on amount of involvement. The upshot was that each of the kids wrote about it. Juniors at the time, as part of last year's application essays. Seniors, at the time, wrote letters to their colleges, which were still considering admissions-- it was in February, I think-- explaining their actions. No one was denied admission, and the colleges appreciated the students' being forthcoming about the shenanigans. I think colleges know these things go on. They are concerned with students owning up to what they did, accepting the responsibility and the consequences, and dealing with it like young adults. Everyone makes mistakes and the mark of maturity is dealing with them and learning from them.</p>
<p>Dude, franglish, I heard about a school doing that last year. Your school really had the alcohol poisioning girl!?</p>
<p>And, I'm happy for you kidchicago to hear that your colleges will not be hearing. Atleast, you got the inevitable alcohol talk from your parents already. Saves time in August.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If the school rule is no alcohol, it doesn't matter what the other country's rules are.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, I remember high school classmates learning this the hard way. We were on a three week exchange trip to France - living with host French high school students/families, and meeting up together to do tourist things while the host students were in class during the school day (as the French students had done with us the year before). Several of the French host families gave their guests wine, and when there was a pool party at the house of one host student (with her parents supervising the party at all times), alcohol was served. </p>
<p>When the teachers found out, they punished the students who were known to have consumed alcohol by confining them to their hotel rooms for a night after we had left the host families and were spending a few days in Paris. They felt bad about it, because they understood that the students had assumed that alcohol was okay if it was offered by the host families, which is why the punishment was fairly light, but they said that they would get in trouble if there wasn't some sort of punishment.</p>
<p>When I spent a summer in Switzerland in college, I couldn't help laughing when I went to outdoor festivals and saw the signs saying that for the protection of children, nobody under 14 was allowed to buy beer.</p>
<p>I think if you're 18 or so, a big part about going to Europe is going to Florence, getting trashed (ie more than a glass at dinner) and going to the local clubs. A lot of my new friends at college have been to Europe and we all have pretty similar experiences. I know a lot of you parents don't like to think about your children being wasted in Europe (I know mine were ****ed when I lied and told them I tried wine once...) but the teenage culture over there is all about getting schwasted and going out... I still saw all the cultural sites during the day (not hung over) but we all had good times at night... and our teacher encouraged this. She just said she preferred us going to bars rather than drinking in the rooms. I think that's a good philosophy...</p>
<p>Actually, I completely disagree with the American approach to alcohol consumption, and consumed alcohol myself as a teen living in Europe. Back in the Dark Ages, you know. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is a fact that a great kid is crippled as a result of drinking and behaving like a fool on such a trip. In Florence, as a matter of fact. It doesn't seem like "over-dramatizing" to those of us who know him.</p>
<p>As a result of our ludicrous laws, too many American kids don't understand that it is possible to have wine with dinner or a few drinks over the course of an evening with friends, rather than getting wasted at every possible opportunity. In actual fact, young European adults tend to view the antics of drunken American teenagers with mild contempt. You may think that you are oh-so-sophisticated, but alas...</p>