Vocab

Hey everyone!

I know you guys all know that some of the words here are different. Sometimes they sound different, and sometimes they mean different things. But I also know some that you don't. Here's a fun list lol. The British word is on the left, the American is on the right

Crisps= chips

Chips= French Fries

Packet= package/ container or wrapper of some sort. Not a stack of paper. 

Maths= math

Trousers= pants

Pants= underwear

Herb= herb. The difference here is the H. Here, it's pronounced. 

Pasta= italian style pasta/ one piece of this pasta. If you say noodles, they think you mean Asian style noodles.

Walkers= Lays. The weirdest thing ever. Think about a bag of Lays potato chips (or crisps lol). Red bag, rad circle thing with the word Lays written in the center. Now, replace the word Lays with Walkers. I kid you not; check my facebook. 

37 degrees= normal body temperature

I guess this list isn't as extensive as I'd hoped. Oh well, I'm sure more will be added as time moves on. 

Today was a good day. I went to class, and I had about an hour for  break, so I came back to my room. I have started sitting on my windowsill (which is sorta big enough) and reading my favorite author. So I opened my window and sat and right away a bug flew at me! I shook it off and thought to myself "I think that was a ladybug!" Then, another one landed on me! There were a total of four different lady bugs around my window when I opened it. They all looked really different too; one had lots of spots, another one was black with red spots, and one was yellow with black spots. I thought it was pretty cool. Especially since the day was so pretty today. No rain! Yesterday afternoon was the same way. I love it when there's no rain here, because the campus is gorgeous. There are no sprinklers here, grass just grows naturally, and it's everywhere. There is a lake too, surrounded by trees. It's almost visible from my room, but there is a big hill in my way. The buildings here have a lot of thought put into them. There are sidewalks that are more like bridges than anything, so you don't have to walk where cars or back alleys are to get to class. 

Classes are tough. I have class Mon-Fri, for hours at a time. At least daily I have classes that are back to back, often three or four classes back to back. One other difference here is that the classes meet on different days at different times. In the States, you'll have class Tues and Thurs at 1:00. Here, I'd have a class Tuesday at 3, Thursday at 1. So that's been odd. 

One of the biggest differences between here and there is the knowledge they have of America, especially compared to the knowledge I have of Britain. We were talking about politics because I was trying to figure out how they work here, and the American girl on my flat was there. She made a comment about Bush, and one of the Irish girls asked what she'd said. She passed it off saying "Oh just something about one of our presidents." The girl asked which one, and rolled her eyes and scoffed when she heard Bush. She goes," Tch. Of course I know who that is."

Now, who can name three British PMs? See what I mean? It is really different. PS- the current Prime Minister is David Cameron. He named his opponent Nick Clegg as a sort of assistant Prime Minister as well, so they are working together, but Cameron wears the pants in this relationship. I now wonder why it is that America is so self centered. I realize that a large part of it has to do with information, what is presented and what isn't. I just wonder why only American information is presented. Why European politics are never addressed, except briefly in a historical context. 

So, lots of thinking going on over here. Hope everyone is well State-side. 

Ava