How does one do as the Britons do?

I would like to take this time to address the question that is the very title of this blog.

What does it mean to live like a Briton, as an American?

So far, not much. Sure I've been here for a wee bit more than a month now, but I don't feel like I'm living in a different country. The superficial signs are there -- British accents, cars driving on the opposite sides of the road, dates being represented as day/month/year, the general preference to use military time instead of regular time, and the currency. Beyond that are less obvious signs like slight differences in cuisine (they LOVE potatoes here) and whatnot. But beyond even that, there's nothing markedly different about England compared to the US, as far as everyday life goes.

So I wonder, am I getting anything out of being in this country? I buy my groceries from Asda, which is owned by Walmart (yes, the same Walmart). I go to a puny Chinatown every couple of weeks to buy sweet breads and Chinese vegetables (something, I admit, I couldn't do in Pittsburgh, but I could easily do back in NJ).

I go clubbing about once a week on average, dancing to the lovely mainstream hip hop that I hear all the time in the US. Aside from the nicer facilities and lighting, and the occasional mechanical penis ride, it felt no different than going to an AEPi or Sig Tau party. I was surprised by the proportion of people who weren't getting into it at all -- hey that sounds a lot like a High Tech dance (and those were the most unspirited social functions ever)! Most people at the club can be categorized into two categories: too trashed and unable make complicated simple movements without risk of physical injury or not trashed enough and thus too self-conscious to make any complicated movements either. End result: lots of people just loitering on the dance floor, screaming things into each other's ears or adjusting their strapless dresses (at least people dress up nicely for these things). Such a pity, really. And it costs £4-5 to get in. A clubbing experience entirely depends on what one makes of it, but I have the feeling that I'm among the people in there getting the most bang for the buck (or sterling?), most shine for the sterling? most shit for the sterling? most ... ok you get the idea. Anyways, final verdict on clubs: swanky frat dance party.

So clubbing's not an exotic experience. I have a feeling raves are a different story, but I don't particularly want to go to those.

Back to the matter at hand. What exactly do the Britons do differently? Everyday life.. not much different, being a first world country in the western hemisphere. People get up every morning, drive or ride public transit to work/school, etc. College kids are the same everywhere, with an insatiable appetite for social events, like parties on weekends (weekends start on Thursday here, btw), and means of procrastination. People here do dress a little differently, a lot less jeans and t-shirt and a lot more black peacoat+black trousers for the guys and peacoat+skirts for the ladies. Should I rewrite that as (black peacoat)(black trousers + skirts)? Yea I think that works. It's all about compactness -- I'll let the distributive property take care of that.

In an effort to remedy this appalling lack of uniqueness in everyday culture, I figured I needed to get involved somehow and meet British people. Perhaps my problem is hanging out with Americans all the time? Perhaps. In any case, it'd be a good idea to make friends with some natives since I came all the way over here. Thus, I joined the university's radio station. Sorry, I don't have a radio show nor even a deejay name. I'm actually writing album and single reviews. As far as an avenue for meeting people, it's not terribly great since meetings are only once a week with the sole purpose of doling out CDs. However, I might get involved with other aspects of the station once I get more comfortable.

During orientations (CMU's and Arcadia's), the presenters discussed the progressive stages of culture shock. The talks were identical, which leads me to believe that they were pulling material off the same websites, but I digress. The stages go something like this:

1. enthusiastic ("OMG I LOVE THIS PLACE! I CAN'T IMAGINE LEAVING!")
   
2. slightly annoyed and homesick ("I can't understand their stupid accent.")
3. really annoyed and extremely homesick ("I hate the food here, I hate my classes. I miss my mom!)
   
4. slightly accepting ("Bangers and mash ain't bad.")
5. fully accepting ("OK, I got a lot out of this.")

Everyone knows that these talks are mostly BS, but I went ahead and wondered if I would be miserable. And if so, I thought about ways to prevent/prepare for it. However, since the culture here is PRETTY MUCH THE SAME as back in the US, I haven't felt any of these stages of culture shock. Sure, I'm having fun in England, but I also had fun in Pittsburgh the first few weeks (that's kind of generous) and eventually I neither felt enthusiastic nor miserable -- just indifferent. Sure everyone complains about Pittsburgh, but no one is actually miserable. So far the trajectory of my attitude towards Manchester resembles Pittsburgh's, so I'm not too worried. Slightly disappointed because it'll probably result in me not fully immersing in a different culture, but it's not a huge deal for me. I'm here to have fun.

It's only been one month though. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the semester plays out. Hey, at least I can say I'm here during England's worst economic situation in 20 years? That should count for something.

Coming up on 4 weeks

And here I will attempt a real update.

This Monday, I will have been in England for 4 weeks. Not bad. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I certainly feel like I have been here longer, but at the same time, nothing's second nature to me yet. Like a normal human being, I do miss home sometimes, but I surprisingly have not felt miserable here (yet?). We'll see.

I've had classes for two weeks now, certainly enough time to form some first impressions:

• Intro to Financial Mathematics: Scary Russian prof. Not sure what's going on in this class, but the work hasn't been difficult.
• Numerical Analysis: SO MUCH BETTER THAN NU METH. zomg.
  
• Statistical Methods: Prof is lazier than Vlachos (prof for Intro to Prob Stat I at CMU), but everything's been review so far.
• Random Models: Excellent prof. Reminds me of Dr. Eng from high school in appearance, but is much nicer and personable. Material also not difficult at time of writing this.
• Culture of Cities (Geography): This feels like a joke.
• Brain and Behavior (Psychology): Shoot me now.

Yea, pretty run of the mill. As usual, there's a class that's painful for me (psych), a class that feels like a joke (geography), and a class that makes sense (all math classes except math finance).

Speaking of school, I've been paying attention to the names of the cafés in each of the academic buildings where I have class. Try to match the name with the academic building (answers at the bottom).

Café Name	Academic Building
a. Pi in the Sky	1. Schuster (Physics, Mathematics)
b. Byte Café	2. University Place (Manchester's version of the UC)
c. CaFe2O4	3. Alan Turing (Math)
d. The Error Bar	4. Chemistry (Chemistry)
e. EATS	5. Stopford (Psychology)
f. Rock Café	6. Kilburn (Computer Science)
g. Medical	7. Renold (Interdisciplinary)

In other news, I have been to Liverpool twice within the past week. I found the city to be much more aesthetically pleasing than Manchester, which, come to think of it, is not difficult. Liverpool is somewhere between London and Manchester in terms of the modernity of the buildings. At least measures were taken to preserve many of Liverpool's historic buildings, though Liverpool did not feel it had to get stuck in history like London did. There are many places that are all touristed-up, like the docks (oh yea, a cool thing about Liverpool: IT IS NEXT TO THE OCEAN). The docks are nothing like California docks or anything, but I like that they tried anyway. There's a Beatles museum on the Albert dock (which, despite having been to L-Pool twice I STILL have not visited it), the Tate Museum, and small cafes.

Why have I been to Liverpool twice in one week? The first time I went was with the Arcadia peoples. The highlight of the trip was the Everton vs Bolton football game, so the tour of Liverpool was quite short. The game, however, was amazing. For one thing, it was the first professional sporting event that I've ever attended! (My dad never succeeded in getting me to go to a Mets game) I was unsure about how enjoyable this would be, considering I don't like watching field sports like soccer or baseball or American football etc on television. But I had a great time. I had a great seat in the Lower Bullens. The crowd was really into it, which is not something to expect at a Man Utd game because those games are full of people who are going because they're overrated (people generally liken this to going to a Yankees game in the US). Everton was the home team and, per advice from Arsenal fans at CMU, I was instructed to root for them. I wish I had looked up the chants before the game so I could fully participate, but I managed to learn the chant that just repeats "Everton! Everton!" four times. Good enough.
Some notes about a football match:

• Meat pies, instead of hot dogs/hamburgers/whatever they serve in US sporting events of the like, are served. Things resembling pot pies seem to be popular in the UK.
  
• Since neither Everton nor Bolton are hugely popular like Arsenal or Man Utd, the crowd was quite civilized.
• For the same reason in the above point, the fans actually knew the chants.
• If you're obese, you can't enter the stadium. Seriously, the entrance for our section of the stadium was about 1.5 feet wide.

Why did I go back to Liverpool again? I shall continue in my next post... (in other words, I'm going to sleep). Tally ho!

(Answers: a-3, b-6, c-4, d-1, e-2, f-7, g-5)

Chocolate Devotion

Hey loyal readers,

Ivy and I are keeping a blog of the chocolates we're trying whilst we are abroad.

Take a look.

<3 Elaine

Gastronomic Task: An Excuse to Eat Chocolate

I've decided a couple weeks ago that one of my goals whilst (oh man, I'm using British words now!) in England will be to try every variety of chocolate they have. During the Arcadia orientation, we were told that one of the few things that the British do better than the Americans is making chocolate. I shall see if this is true. For starters, there definitely seems to be more variety here.

Periodically during the semester, I will update this list of chocolates I have tried, along with a blurb on my thoughts. If possible, a picture too.

1. Kinder Maxi (6 individually wrapped bars):
   I bought these on a slight whim in Lidl when Ivy and I were walking back to Fallowfield during our first week. Lidl was on the way so we stopped in to check out the chocolates. I got myself a pack of these. I think mine might've had hazelnut which reminded me of Nutella, so thus I made my choice in this manner. Taste-wise, it is very smooth and soft, both the outer layer of milk chocolate and the filling of white chocolate. Sweet, but not too sweet. Also not too overwhelming and doesn't sit in the stomach. Recommended for satisfying a chocolate craving with minimal guilt because Kinder prides itself in making milk chocolate with extra milk, although I couldn't make heads or tails of the nutrition facts. Or convert Joules to Calories. Whatevs.
   
   
2. Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish Delight (28 square chunks):
   The first Cadbury bar on my semester-long task. Sainsbury's had a big Cadbury sale, £1 per bar. I limited myself to 3 bars, this being one of them. I don't know what Turkish Delight is supposed to be, but it probably has to do with a fruity berry filling with the consistency of jam. Tastes quite good and is definitely solid milk chocolate, something I wasn't ready for after eating Kinder for a week. Also, there were nutrition facts with the Guideline Daily Amount contributions (like Percent Daily Value in the US, except it is not on every product here in the UK, only the ones that are bad for you!) for one chunk -- you know this stuff isn't good for you. But taste-wise, compared to American milk chocolate, like Hershey, I have to say... the British win.
   

Housekeeping

I'm feeling kind of lazy right now and thus not in the mood to write in narrative or descriptively for that matter, but I would like to make some notes:

• Classes started today (finally!). Here's the final list of classes ("modules") that I am taking:
• Introduction to Financial Mathematics
• Numerical Analysis
• Culture of Cities
  
• Introduction to Brain and Behavior
• Random Models
• Statistical Methods
  
• I have a lot of classes in the Alan Turing building, which is the home of the Maths department here. I think that's a pretty kickass name.
• The Sainsbury's (supermarket closest to my flat) has a whole aisle devoted to chips (French fries).
  
• British girls really don't like pants. I mean trousers; "pants" here means "underwear."
• British girls look very mature for their age. For one thing, I look younger than my flatmates, even though they are 3 years younger than me.
• Ivy and I signed up for street dancing class. The first lesson is this Thursday.
• It snowed today! According to my flatmate Sergei, this is the first time he's ever seen it snow during his entire time at Manchester thus far. I thought I had left the snow behind in Pittsburgh :-/
• My desk is almost clean.
• Apparently I don't have as much time as I thought I did to travel about.
• I've been cooking almost every meal. I'm getting better at making food that doesn't taste bland, which makes things more interesting.
• I watched the Super Bowl on BBC One. I wish I could've been in Pittsburgh to riot.
  
• I'm going to Liverpool this Saturday!