The Little Differences

Ever since leaving for England I’ve been thinking about one of my favorite scenes from “Pulp Fiction.” The one towards the beginning of the movie where Vince and Jules are talking about what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France.

In this scene Vince says, “You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? It’s the little differences. I mean they got the same shit over there as they got here, but there it’s just a little different.”

Since coming here I’ve realized just how true that really is, here is my list of little differences.


Bars:
In the U.S. bars stay open late; it’s not uncommon for a bar to stay open until 2 or 3 a.m. Here, however, they close at around 11 p.m., which makes going out difficult sometimes.

Last week my friends and I got to a bar at 10 p.m., ordered our drinks, and by the time we were ready for another the bar tenders were ringing for last call.

Dance clubs will stay open until the wee hours of the morning, but for those not in the mood to dance there are little options late at night.


Cheers: not just for toasting anymore
The word “cheers” is used interchangeably for just about everything. Thank you, you’re welcome, great job, have a good one, and great can all replaced with cheers. I’ve caught myself saying it a few times, but I don’t plan on keeping the word in my vocabulary.

Potato Chips:
The Brits call them “crisps” because the word chips is already in use describing fries. Junk food has gotten confusing for me.

The flavors are all pretty interesting; baked chicken and smoky bacon are the main staples. The strangest flavor I’ve seen so far has to be prawn (shrimp) flavored potato chips. Ew


Class:
My classes at Middlesex work so much differently than at home. They only meet once a week for two hours, as opposed to the two-a-week hour and forty minutes lesions I’m used to. The normal class at Middlesex runs yearlong, so for me it’s strange jumping into some of my classes halfway though the course.

The weirdest part has to be that 100% of my grade for each class is based on one big assignment due at the end of the term. No class participation or make up assignments.

Driving on the left means walking on the left:
At least once a day I get caught in an oncoming crowd of people ascending a staircase or crossing the street. I never realized it before, but I’m subconsciously trained to walk on the right.

Every day I find myself agreeing more and more with Vince,"it's the little differences."

Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday night the American students in my building gathered to watch the Super Bowl in the common room. Watching one of the biggest events in American sports so far from home made me realize how homesick I already am.

It much different experience than attending one of the big parties I’m sure many of my friends back home were having.

The biggest difference had to be the lack of commercials. That sucked. Instead of watching the only commercials people actually want to watch, we got stuck with three commentators who stated the obvious and repeated everything the Fox announcers said.

Apparently, the BBC isn’t allowed to run ads because it’s a publicly funded network. So the British audience gets to watch three guys bullshit instead of hilarious Bud Light and Doritos commercials.

Some of the British students watched the game with us. They described American football as a lame version of rugby and had a lot of fun trying to pronounce “Roethlisberger.” I couldn’t help but think they were making fun of us when they kept shouting, “touch down,” a good minute after we stopped yelling touchdown.

A friend from Brooklyn and I were talking about how it just didn’t feel like the Super Bowl. The main thing we could think of was the food, specifically wings. The Super Bowl without hot wings really just isn’t the same.

Wings or no wings, the game was fun to watch. I have a new found appreciation for what it means to watch and enjoy American sports.