saying that, there are quite a few things that are different, new, and hard for me to get my head around. things that seem very elementary and simple have become difficult and i feel the need to be more careful than i would be in the united states. here is a short list of things that i have already noticed really mess me up:
1. crossing the street. sounds simple, yes? but it's not. cars come from the opposite direction and cross into the opposite lane. taking a left turn here does not involve crossing the traffic, but rather turning directly into the adjacent lane. it feels like a right turn in the us, and thus i am not prepared for it, nor am i looking for it. i am constantly looking the wrong way for cars and probably would have already been hit if not for the huge "look left" and "look right" letters painted at almost every formal crossing. also, cars do not care about people. unlike in the united states where people are nice and slow down when they see someone crossing the street, here people literally and actually speed up. if it's their turn, it is BLOODY THEIR TURN.
2. they have mini fridges. for everyone. i share a flat with another study abroad student, and together, for the BOTH of us to share, we have a mini fridge. i could literally buy and consume enough food to almost fill up an entire normal sized fridge. apparently everything in america is actually bigger. and maybe the size of the fridge directly corresponds the population of obese people? regardless to the answer to that question, the fridge is still small and makes me shop many more times in a week than i would do at home.
i could think of millions of these cultural differences, but my computer is funning out of battery, i am in my second course of the day, after getting about 5 hours of sleep, and i am off to wales today! so alas i leave you.
time for tea and crumpets.
