surreal

Becoming 18 is an incredibly surreal experience, for starters there is a world of actions that hours before were wholly illegal, like purchasing alcohol, or knives. I can now take out a loan, and then gamble it all away if I so chose to. It's like someone has come along and flicked a switch to open up what is essentially an adult toystore. I feel no different. I suppose there is an expectation that by the time you reach 18 you will have matured to the point of taking on full moral responsibility for your actions, like in Germany. If I murdered someone in Germany on Sunday the police would not have been able to do a thing, the legal age of responsibility is 18, yet if I had murdered someone on Monday, I would have been locked away.
Incidentally I haven't actually murdered anyone, this is merely an extreme example of the point that a few minutes can change a life.
I can understand the logic though, because I have matured quicker than a lot of people, after all, maturity comes with experience, not age, and I have had a lot more experience than most. But considering there are people where I live who are probably 40 odd years old acting like 15 year olds I can see why there is an age of responsibility.
Nonetheless, it is still really surreal.