A Meditation on Culture

I've gotten a lot of questions about how the food is and things like that so I'm going to do my best to 1)remember what you have asked and 2) answer those questions. :)

Food:
The only thing I've eaten that was "different"/English was bangers and mash. Bangers and mash is sausage and mashed potatoes with gravy. Holy crap, it was delicious. I haven't had fish and chips but I'm not really into fried fish. I will eat it eventually I promise. Other than that, Coke tastes a little weird but after a while, I stop noticing it. Ketchup is different too (if you know anything about me, you know how much I like ketchup). It has a different taste (though not so different I couldn't eat it) and it's got a slightly different color. Once I ate it all, the dribbles left on the plate were pink! The fries are called chips and the chips are called crisps. Crackers are savory biscuits. Cookies are biscuits as well. Kebabs are really big too apparently, though I haven't had one yet. There are a bunch of interesting candies/chocolates. Cadbury is everywhere and it's not too terribly expensive either. The fruit is very cheap which makes me happy. I bought a bunch of clementines for about 99 pence (a little over a dollar) and a bunch of blue berries and kiwi for a pound (again, a little over a dollar). There are lots of things called "bakes" which is basically like a hand held pot pie. I've had a chicken bake and it was quite good.

Alcohol:
I haven't sampled too much yet but I did order a Newcastle beer at one of the bars on campus. It was HUGE! I couldn't believe it. It was a pint and a half (24 ounces/3 cups) and yes, I drank it all. I've only had one other beer here and it was Carlsberg. It was decent enough. This drink called VK Orange is pretty popular. It's vodka and orange flavoring, similar to smirnoff ice but very sugary. I had one and a half and got a stomach ache.

Classes:
There are lectures and seminars, just like back home but I'm spending a lot less time in class. I only have 10 hours of class time and I don't have such a set schedule like I did at Mizzou (only one lecture and seminar per class-except my linguistics class has two lectures). Other than that, things are pretty much the same. School is school. I don't have as many things to be graded. In fact, there is only one exam or paper in each course I have. That sounds great doesn't it? Well, if I do poorly on that one thing, there goes my entire grade for the course. Either way, it's not so bad.

Accommodation:
I live in a flat (it's just half of a floor on a building) with three other international girls (two Australians and one other American) and 8 first year Brits (5 guys-three of which are named James-and 3 girls). They're all 18/19 years old. They like to go out and drink and they go out nearly every night of the week. They're good kids though. I like them well enough. I live alone in my own room (as you saw in the video). It's nice. I share a bathroom and a kitchen with the rest of the flat.
Cooking is a bit awkward but only because I don't have any of my own pots. I don't really see the point in buying them (though I did buy a cup/bowl for 20 pence at the Charity Shop). My flat mates are very nice and said that it wouldn't be a problem for me to use their pots/pans if I clean them. And I always wash up directly after using it.

People:
I haven't seen too many people with bad teeth, which is something I've gotten asked. I did see a woman on the bus that did. Yikes. Quite the overbite as well. Other than that, people are nice. I'm having an internet problem right now. I haven't been able to connect to the internet from my room. Anyway, I've had a lot of help from the computer people and they were very lovely. At the end of the each telephone conversation I had with this one guy he said, "Thank you! Cheers! Bye now!" It made me smile each time even though they still couldn't figure out why my internet wasn't working.

Accent:
There is a difference between those from the north and those from the south. I can hear the difference but I don't know which is which. Either way, it's an accent, something different than what I'm used to and of course I love it. I have started to get a bit of an accent which makes me feel like a poser but mostly I can't believe it. It's been 9 days! But I guess that's to be expected. I love England (without any real reason behind it) and I've been jealous of the accent for years.
Though sometimes when I watch those crazy Brits speak, it's like their tongue does some weird thing. I can't explain it. It's not like a lisp or anything...I don't know.

Climate:
It's not really super cold or dry here. It's like those days in late fall/early spring where it's cold-ish and it rains, not pouring rain just the really annoying light rain. The kind that you don't really need an umbrella for but it's so annoying in your eyes that you want to put one up even if makes you look like a fool. It's not so bad though. On the days it doesn't rain, and it isn't cold, it's nice.

Nights Out:
I've only been out once. I went to a club with my flat mates on Monday night (yes, Monday! I was shocked as well). I've never been to a club before really. I frequent bars, especially when there is a band (i.e. The Blue Fugue) but never really clubs. I'm not really into dancing. Anyway, the music was...I guess I'd say electro with some dance clubbed out 90s American music. Like "Rhythm is a Dancer" and that one song that was on Jock Jams...I don't remember what it was called. But yea, I laughed a lot that night. And I danced after quite a few drinks.
When I went out to Fylde Bar (it's one of the nine bars on campus-each college has their own bar), I bought a Newcastle because it was the only beer that I was familiar with. I didn't realize how huge the bottle was. I was surprised but glad; it was sort of expensive. I drank it all like a greedy pig and was a bit drunk afterward. But that ended up being good because I talked more to the kids around me (other international students).

Anyway, that's as far as I've meditated. I'll post more later once I've experienced more things. My flat mates are trying to get me to go to Liverpool for the day on Saturday. I haven't decided yet. I'd like to but I haven't been able to get online to see my balance on my bank's website. But yes, things are going well.

*EDIT*
Good grief. I promise to do more proof reading the next time around. I think I repeated myself several times/had numerous grammatical and spelling errors. Poor showing for an English major. But yes, more proof reading in future posts, I promise.