Botellón Article (Catalan News)

"Botellón a 300 euros"

In an article of La Vanguardia entitled "Botellón a 300 euros" by Barbara Julbe, she explains the concept of the botellón and how stiffer laws are going to be imposed for people who are caught taking part in the botellón. She states that minors are going to end up paying the steepest fine of 300 euros. The raise in fines in due to the trash left behind and the loud noise created during the botellón. A botellón is something that I got to experience firsthand. It was an eye opening experience because most underage people and many people of age would not dare drink in a public area. They would stay locked up in a room somewhere. There would be too much risk to do this. The article states that people take part in the botellón because of the cost of drinks at bars and clubs. With the economic crisis, it has become too expensive to go out and buy many drinks. This is one similarity that Americans share. Back home, it is so much cheaper to buy drinks at the grocery store before going out and then only buy a few drinks when you are out. Here especially, drinks are very expensive. The thing that surprises me the most is why they chose to all drink outside with the danger of getting caught. I have not been able to find an answer for that. One reason could be that most students still live at home, unlike in America, so there is nowhere else but outside to get together and drink. I do not think these raise in fines will have that must effect on the amount of botellóns. As one student in the article said, when they see cops, they drop their drinks and run. If that is the cheapest option for the students then it will continue to occur.