So the UK is definitely a little different than the USA, but honestly, besides the accents and crazy driving it’s just like New York City. There is buses, little shops and cafes, tons of museums and the usual kind of city like things. When I first got here it took a long while for me to realize I was in a different country, across the ocean, really really far away.
It’s the fourth day of our trip and so far the experiences have been great! We are staying in apartments, some nicer than others, but overall really good housing. Theres three separate bedrooms, so we share with a roommate. There’s also a kitchen, bathroom and living room, so there’s plenty of space to hang out and cook. The houses are also really close to a tube stop (the tube is London’s undergrand transport system) so that has come in really handy.
I would say the biggest thing I noticed is that it seems everyone here knows we are Americans. When we cross the streets we get funny looks, when we enter a restaurant we get funny looks, same goes with pretty much everywhere we go. It’s like Britains have a fifth sense for spotting out Americans, but honestly it’s okay because they don’t do anything more than whisper to their friends “They’re American!” So it’s not to much of a big deal.
If you do decide to come to the UK watch out for the different sense of humor! They are much more sarcastic here and have basically conquered the task of making jokes at people. For example, my friend Erica and I found a fruit stand in one of the larger streets in London. She was looking at the fruit and didn’t recognize one, so she asked the vendor “What is this?” To which his reply was, “Its posionous.” She took it literally and started ranting about how it’s so wrong to sell posinous fruit on the streets, while the vendor just kind of laughed at her.
Since it’s only the fourth day I’m sure I will have some better stories to tell as time goes on!
Laura W.