The Top 7

Yes I know that 7 is a random number, but I couldn't think of ten and five seemed too few.

So here they are, in no particular order, the top 7 things that have been hard to get use to...

1. The accent. You would think that since they we both speak English it would not be that hard to understand each other, but I cannot count the number of times I have been asked to repeat myself or have asked someone to repeat something

2.The money. I'm getting better. It has gotten to the point where I only hold up the checkout line a little bit as I am trying to figure out the coins. I am also becoming a little more numb to how expensive everything is, although I don't think this is a good thing :)

3.The weather. I knew it rained in here, but this is getting crazy. I can deal with the rain, the problem is how cold it gets while it is raining. According to the locals, it is never usually bad, but since this past summer hardly a summer, this year, it should be a good one.

4.The cooking. I know I will sound spoiled when I say this, but it hard to get use to having to cook everything. I have always been at the receiving end of either a wonderful cook or cafeteria. While I like having the flexibility of eating when ever and whatever I want, it is hard to make a meal when I keep think "Oh, gee I wish I had....to make..." So for the moment, it is sandwiches and salad.

5.The classes. All of the classes I have this semester come in two parts, a lecture and a seminar. The lecture is the time a normal class time where the professor stands in front of us and spouts information that we are supposed to take down. The seminar is when about me and twenty of my classmates have a meeting with the professor where we talk more indebted about the topic.

6.The dress. Everyone here dresses like they are a mannequin straight out of an H&M catalog. I'm all about the jeans, a sweater, with my, practical over fashionable, rain jacket. That and the accent (or in my opinion the lack of one) make it rather obvious that I am not from Europe.

7.The alcohol. It is so weird for me to here that there is going to be a meeting and that they are going to be serving wine. While I do enjoy the atmosphere of the local pub, and I have to be present to prevent myself from having no friends, I have yet to participate. When something has been ingrained in you so long (no drinking until you are 21) is hard to then in just a 10 hour plane flight reverse all of that.

I will post pictures of my flat and of campus once I've actually taken them (I keep forgetting to bring my camera to campus).

Well, as they say here
Cheers!