Today was my first day in the UK. I have this urge to ask any random british person literally any question about where things are, as if they're all employees at a big theme park.
I've been placed in a flat with three other Americans doing one-year masters programs. This is a setback. I pictured being invited to kick a soccer ball around by british flatmates. I just have to keep a stiff upper lip, as the british say. The flat across the hall is an all Chinese girls flat. This is not a setback.
Tonight I am going to a session where you learn British pub etiquette--an event that will combine manners, condescension, and pubs for a triple play of British stereotypes.
It's cool that I can speak the language here, but it's kind of like listening to fighter pilots speak. They're saying english words, but I can't actually understand what they mean. Like today at the store the only types of pillowcases were called "housewife pillowcases." It was a variety, not a brand name. But why would a housewife's pillowcases be different than those of a high-powered executive mother of three--in short, a woman who has it all?
The streets in Leeds do not have street signs on them. Day one at the institute for transport studies I am going to try to clear this up.
My body literally has no idea what time it is. I have slept in three 2 hour bursts over the last 24 hours. I took melatonin on the plane at what would be bedtime in leeds last night, to get my body adjusted, but then "King's Speech" came on.
The airline clearly arranged the movies to give us Americans an inferiority complex. Why else would they follow "Something Borrowed" with "King's Speech"?
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