So I've been meaning to get to this for a little while now, but haven't managed to do so. There's a lot that I want to talk about really, but I'm going to have to spread some stuff out and you probably won't want to be reading about everything right off the bat anyway. I've had a few personal email with a bunch of people, so I may have talked about some of this with you, but I figured this would be the best way to get more people filled in on life in England. Part of the reason I decided to move forward with this whole project is that Troy Sauer (one of the assistant coaches for the team at Messiah) sent me a quick message on facey b one day and how he wanted to hear about things here. So I was instantly reminded of his incredible talent for story telling, and my inability to remember simple things that happen throughout even the past week, so trying to tell people about it once I got home just really wouldn't work out. Another contributing factor was course that my parents got me a journal as a stocking stuffer, but it turned out to be that it was all checked/graph paper haha so that wasn't exactly going to cut it (it's OK, I still love you).
We've been here for about 3 and a half weeks so we're well into the usual routine. We're here for study abroad, but compared to the typical American college (which they only use the term 'university' for - college is more like high school for them), there's not nearly as much studying that goes on. For those of you who know me and have observed my study habits, you'll understand that this sort of suits me (Josh Wood I know you're laughing right now). The 'modules' (classes) each meet once a week for about two hours, depending on what the tutor (professor) has planned. It's not unlikely for a tutor to take a break to smoke a fag (cigarette). You can see how things are quite different already. But aside from those things lectures are just about as boring as they are at home. At first the English accents helped a little, but it didn't last long.
So clearly, there are several differences in linguistics people here use, which until you're used to it, can be a little puzzling. Unfortunately, people actually aren't always spouting off things like ''bloody hell'' and "'ello gov'na," (sorry) but the people where I am, in Cheltenham (there are students from all throughout the country as well) rather think that all Americans think all English people are Cockney (Trev, you told me a bit about that). What's somewhat amusing is that the stereotypical American is a valley girl (Oh, my God! No way!!!). It's sad I know. Anyway, one that a lot of people might know is that french fries are referred to as chips, and thus chips are referred to as crisps. Gas stations are petrol stations. Throwing up is chundering. A diary is a calendar. These are a few of the common ones, but there are many more. Spelling is also different. Often things ending with -er are -re and -0r are -our. I think this is pretty well-known stuff. Pronunciation differences are probably my favorite. For example forTUNE and charades is like chaRODS. MASSage, etc. It's good stuff.
Lastly for this entry (sorry, I know it's a novel). Living abroad in another country, with no roommate, having to buy my own food (though we do get a stipend for food - 70 pounds/week, we don't really need that much, but it's nice) and ACTUALLY cook it myself (not that I do a whole lot of real cooking - the oven has been brilliant) and budget money has been really good for me. It helps in terms of being independent as well as being responsible. You can't just go out and blow all your money in one night (which I have NOT done). We get our allowance once every two weeks. It must be difficult to get it once a month. So that's all for now. Stay tuned.
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