Distinct differences

So far, I've settled in quite well. My advice to anyone who decides to have a year abroad is this: 

If you don't believe that you're a foreigner, you're not a foreigner. This has kept me in good stead - the attitude I've had is that everyone here is in fact foreign and they've invaded my new university. 

However, I know that this isn't the case. Over the past few weeks I've started to pick up on things that are very different to home. 

1. Fanta 

In the U.K, Fanta is a light yellow colour - it almost looks slightly lemony. However, when I poured myself a glass in the cafeteria, I was almost blinded by the light. This light was so powerful that it could light the deepest oceans and the darkest crevasses. 

I can't even imagine what goes in it to make it such a colour... 

2. We don't do fire drills 

Well they do of course, but that's not the only drill I've had since I've been here. 

Last night we were all evacuated to the first floor to practice for a potential tornado...

You don't get many of them in Britain. 

3. This is stuck to the back of your bedroom door 

Very similar to the warning we have at Birmingham. Wouldn't you agree? 

4. People actually like the rain here... 

So I was in choir today and our choir director announced that there was going to be a 90% chance of rain. With that, the room exploded with applause and cheering. I looked around the room, stunned. If anything like that happened in Birmingham, the reaction would be 'and? It's raining now. It rained yesterday and the day before yesterday and the day before the day before yesterday...' 

5. Class is dismissed. I have a cold. 

In Texas, your occupational health teacher doesn't go off sick for the week because of a cold. In Texas, your occupational health teacher goes off sick for the week because he was bitten by a snake and ended up in intensive care for a few days. 

Luckily they got there within ten minutes, so they didn't have to amputate his ankle... 

6. You can go outside in shorts without being honked at by every driver. 

Everyone wears shorts, dresses and skirts in Texas. In the U.K, it is such a rare phenomenon for the weather to rise above -6, that drivers cannot control themselves when they see a bit of skin for the first time in years. 

7. Low end supermarkets resemble British supermarkets after a nuclear war

So I went to this supermarket the other day called 'Sack and Save'. I should have known that from the dodgy decor and the name that it was going to be rough and oh gosh, it was. 

They actually kept gone off food on the shelves, the meat section was practically empty, the fish section was dirty... it was all just a bit dirty. 

To put it bluntly, I won't be returning in a hurry. 

8. Vegetables aren't vegetables if they haven't been deep fried and smothered in salt

I currently have a food card and can eat at any cafeteria on campus, as many times as I like. However, the food is pretty poor. There are many temptations: burgers, chips, pizza, pasta etc., but there are some healthy options. However, what they don't tell you is that it is covered in salt and I really mean covered. It's made me want to gag to the extent I don't actually get any vegetables anymore. 

I hope you like obesebrybry. 

9. The Military

'Yeah I was Afghanistan for a couple of years'. 

'I was in the navy, we spent a lot of time in Japan'. 

'So I'm going to become an officer once I graduate'. 

Never in my life have I met so many people with connections to the military and for the first time I have discovered how closely connected the military is to the education system here. The military pay for your education, so providing you've been in the military at some point or are definitely joining when you leave, your tuition fees are paid for. There isn't a lot of government funding here, so I can see why people choose the military as a career path. 

10. I'm a driver and I'm not trying to kill all the pedestrians. 

The cars actually stop for people here. I'm actually concerned that no one has tried to kill me yet. I'm clearly used to some very violent British drivers... 

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