It has almost been one week since I stepped foot on the plane and traveled to England!
I have learned a lot since I have been over here and classes have not even started yet! First, I learned that here in Canterbury, it is pretty typical that if you see/sense someone behind you who seems to be walking faster than you/will take up more room on the sidewalk than you, you stop and let them pass you, then keep walking behind them. This was new to me and not typical at all where I come from, and when someone did it to me and my friend, we thought they were following us and engaged in tactics to lose this person!
Contactless cards are super common here, and when I pay with a card that has to be inserted, I sort of feel bad about it lol. Also, it is common here for one person in a group to pay for the entire group's food, and then later the group can Venmo each other/work it out from there. My group eventually asked a waiter this because waiters kept behaving a little off when we would ask to get separate checks! Thankfully, it is really easy for them to split the check when the card machine comes out. Another thing is that with debit cards, oftentimes you need to sign a physical receipt but you never have to with credit cards; it seems to be more common with cards that are not contactless.
The walking is something I am having to get used to; my homestay is about 20 mins away from the main campus as well as the city center. I enjoy the walking and everything I can see, but my feet are suffering! They mean it when they say bring good walking shoes! I bought new shoes to walk in here and did not break them in before coming which was a huge mistake. If you can you totally need to break in your shoes otherwise your feet will turn into numb, blister covered appendages.
I love my homestay host; she is so wonderful and welcoming; she makes the absolute best tea and coffee and I now understand why British people put milk in their tea; I swear by it now; please just try it-black tea and milk oh my gosh it is sooooo good!
I have also tried squash which is a water flavor thing- it's kind of the same thing as Mios in America where there are different flavors and you only need a little bit. Anyways, it is really really good and I just love the food here
It is colder here than in America, but funnily enough I think the people here are nicer. If you are overly polite than they will be as well, and twice now people have overheard our American accents and given us a 'townie' tour of the town which is so awesome!
On the other hand I may have almost set off the fire alarm in a bookstore- literally was THIS close (imagine two fingers that are touching each other) I was trying to exit the store/find the stairs and I swore that I saw people exiting that way but then I saw a sign that said 'fire escape' but I didn't see any other stairs and I touched the door and a shrill alarm sounded for a second than turned off. I was very lucky that it did not stay on. Like, really, really lucky. Take it from me: if you don't know where to go/you think you saw people leaving one way, look for another way to go because you are not special and you are also clueless. I did find the exit but I am NEVER going back there.
At the moment my biggest struggle is the trash. In the US there is trash and recycling, but here there are different bins for trash, glass, plastic and cardboard, food waste, etc and I cannot keep up. I am nursing a pile in my room because I am too nervous to figure it out on my own.
I cannot wait to see what I experience next! Overall, I am going to be way more cautious about setting off fire alarms and way more addicted to tea.
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