Ellow mates!

We are here in London, England where Spencer is doing an internship for the Adam Smith Institute of Economics. The internship lasts for three months, so we will be living here until December. Yes, we will have to miss Thanksgiving but we will be home for a wonderful American Christmas. We have been here for three weeks and are having a great time, but still really miss America. There are a lot of things that we have noticed that are different...a few of them a little disappointing. For example: in restaurants, especially fast food, they rarely serve soft drinks with ice and even though you pay about 1.65(pound to dollar ratio) times more for a soft drink here they still don’t give any free refills. And, yes, you have to call it a soft drink because if you call it soda or pop they won’t know what you are talking about. To make up for that disappointment, their public transportation system is great! We have been all over the city using the tube(subway system), light rail and the buses, so we don't have to have a car. Our little apartment, known here as a flat, is pretty ghetto. This is the view <--- from the balcony by our front door.

And this is the view from our back window looking ---> down onto Arbour street. One thing I had never seen before, and think that it is the most ridiculous thing ever, is that every sink in our flat has two faucets (here they call them spickets), one for hot water and one for cold water. If you haven't yet figured out why this is the dumbest thing ever, it is because you can never have a nice stream of warm water to wash your hands in! The water is either piping hot or ice cold- so annoying! This is a list of things that we have been told are different, many of them we have noticed ourselves (just imagine the British words being spoken in a British accent --it makes it slightly more entertaining):

Fries are called chips (hence fish and "chips", it's actually a piece of battered fried fish and french fries)

Cookies are called biscuits

Pickles are called sour cucumbers or pickled cucumbers

Band aids are called plasters

A flashlight is called a torch

If you are going on vacation you are going on holiday

The elevator is called the lift

A cell phone is called a mobile phone (mobile pronounced mō’bīl)

A period at the end of a sentence is called a full stop (in Britain a period is something only women can experience)

If you want to go to a theater you have to go to a cinema

Cotton candy is called cotton floss

Garbage is called rubbish

A garbage can is called a dust bin

A dumpster is called a skip

A casual way to say thank you is cheers

The sidewalk is called the pavement

The hood of a car is called the bonnet

The trunk of the car is called the boot

A truck is called a lorry

An intersection where two roads meet is called a junction

A shopping cart is called a shopping trolley

A stroller is called a buggy

A baby's pacifier is called a dummy

If you want to pet someones dog you should ask them if you can stroke it

Bangs on a woman's hair is called fringe

They call their pants their trousers. Their pants are what we would actually call their underwear

Suspenders that a man would wear on his pants-excuse me, trousers- are called braces, like the ones we wear on our teeth in the US

If you want to know where the restroom is, ask where the toilets are

Gas or gasoline is called petrol, if you use the word gas the way we do they will think that you need to pass gas.

Instead of using the dollar, they use the pound ($=£) And instead of using cents they use pence.

A buck is to a dollar as a quid is to a pound - ie. I have five bucks in my pocket -- I have five quid in my pocket

...and if you are ever in an emergency you have to dial 999 instead of 911

Well, I hope that was informative for you. Especially if you are going to be coming to the UK any time soon :)

Here are some pictures of our ventures so far...