You can tell you're an American-who's-been-living-in-Britain-awhile when...

you can tell you're an American-who's-been-living-in-Britain-awhile when...


1. hearing the word 'America' means a lot of different things than it used to.
2. you stop doing exchange rate... oh, long ago.
3. you think in £
4. you look right first, then left when crossing the street.
5. you just expect to get hit by a car.
6. roundabouts are a way of life.
7. you call it football, because that's what it is.
8. you're in better shape from walking so much, and probably eating healthier, too.
9. you've almost forgotten what junk food is.
10. your ears perk when you hear an unfamiliar American voice.
11. you don't feel like everyone is trying to sell you something.
12. you get late-night fast food cravings... and you know there's nothing you can do about it. then they start to go away.
13. Hershey's chocolate will never taste the same, thanks to Cadbury.
but you miss Reese's!
14. you get used to the funny keyboards in the computer lab.
15. London doesn't seem like such a big deal after all (well, at least not as much of a big deal).
16. you actually miss Ramen (or your friends do).
17. you begin to identify things that are distinctly American.
18. the words 'traveling', 'color', 'favorite' and 'organize' look funny.
19. you start adding u's to words that don't have them... even in British English
20. you can say "cheers" to the bus driver... and it's okay :)
21. you say "sorry" instead of "excuse me" when you bump into people.
22. you call it a 'cash machine' instead of an 'ATM' and a 'toilet' instead of 'bathroom'.
23. you stop noticing British accents, in fact you can even distinguish one British accent from another.
24. you can pick out tourists, or Americans (or American tourists) just by looking at them.
25. You are embarassed by the American tourists (and roll your eyes when they say Birmingham when talking to Brits...ugh.)
26. you realise that you CAN survive without your cell phone.
27. you know your umbrella at a personal level.
28. you stop checking the weather forecast because you know it will rain at some point in the day.
29. you enjoy the luxury of clean and efficient public transportation.
30. when people ask you what America is like, you actually have to think about it.
31. you know what 'top up', 'mind the gap', 'you alright?', 'zed' and 'quid' mean.
32. you are the proud holder of a Tesco Clubcard, and maybe even a Matalan card.
33. you know what cider really is.
34. you know blackcurrant.
35. you understand, maybe even agree, when they say, "America has no history."
36. you're under 21, and it's funny to think that drinking alcohol is illegal.
37. you know what the locals think of Tony Blair, and you kind of (kind of) understand the 38. political cartoons in the newspaper.
39. seeing a tall man is a rare and notable occurrence-- he must be a foreigner.
40. you see travel adverts for vacations in New York and you think, 'Who would want to go there?' (ok so maybe I've never been there... but, still.)
41. you are running out of money. and you're mad at the dollar for not going very far, and mad at the pound for being so expensive.
42. you are just beginning to realise (realize?) what it means to be American.

~ Credit due to my friend Anna, who created this list!

Boring Post

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in forever! I will fix that today by posting TWICE, once to let you know what I've been up to last month, and again to let you know what I did last week alone!

Ok, so the end of March/begginning of April was pretty good. There really wasn't anything particularly special about them. I did my first assignment for the semester - an ungraded Bible presentation that went over pretty well. I also started working on my "final exam collage" for my postmodernism class. I'm telling you - school is a joke here. So basically, I hung around with people, did a little work, errands and the usual stuff. But, a lot of time did go to the plannning of last week. What did i do last week? Well my friends, please read on.

Cannibus?

I am currently sitting in my hotel in Amsterdam, it's called the LLoyds or something like that. It is a very nice hotel - it has a restruant, free computer/internet access, a bar, cultural center, lounge area, etc.

Hierald and I are having fun...it's been an interesting day! We left Cheltenham at 7:30 this morning, and caught the bus to London at 10:30. Our flight started boarding at 11:20, so we booked it to our terminal, check-in, and through security.

Now I have two stamps in my passport!! Yay. Anyway, the flight to Amsterdam was 45 minutes!!! haha, it was crazy. Hardly worth buckling my seatbelt for, you know?

My mom sent me two lovely packages, and one had St. Patricks day decorations in them! She also sent me like 5 pins, with sayings such as "kiss me I'm irish", "i speak fluent Blarney", and "eat, drink, and be irish". I stuck them all over my green travel purse, and the man next to me on the plane (probably age 35) asked if I was irish. I said yes, and he told me he was from Belfast! We talked for like 20 minutes about Ireland and other countries that he traveled to, and it was a good conversation. He asked what I was doing in Amsterdam, and I said just touring, etc. He said "nah, you're going to the pubs", and I was like "maybe, but we want to do historic stuff" and he goes "oh, so you're going to the OLD pubs".

It was really funny, and I laughed pretty hard (I was going on 3 hrs of sleep!!!I was giddy). Then, out of nowhere he goes, "i better stop talking to you or I will want to kiss you." I was like "ha---ha--ha" and then I was awkward and didnt say anything, and we didnt talk for the rest of the trip!!!! It was such a weird experience.

Also, can I just add, that I talked to the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life today. He was a Dutch steward on the airplane, working on first class. We were boarding the plane, and I was stopped next to him and was like "hi" (but I was thinking 'take me now, handsome') and he was very nice and said hi, asked my name, and why I was going to amsterdam. I asked him for a recommendation of where to visit, and he goes (keep in mind, I'm standing in front of first class waiting in line, the people in the front are already boarded) and he goes "well, the red light district is very nice". I ABOUT DIED. Everyone in the plane ABSOLUTELY cracks up -- I'm sure you know but the red light district is mostly pornography, prostitution, drugs, etc. That's where Amsterdam gets his name. So--it was interesting.

We finally get to our hotel, and check in...with a dragqueen. Working at a 4 star hotel. Hierald and I find our room, and it looks like a bathroom. The walls and floor are all tiled. There is no furniture in the room except for two beds and a nightstand. The beds are really modern looking, and are covered with huge white down comforters. Lovely! Except...there were also FEATHER PILLOWS. At this point, however, I am so dead tired that I sleep anyway. We tried to watch tv, but most channels are in Dutch, so it's not that fun. We watched an old episode of monk though, and that was fun.

We take a nap, and wake up STARVING. We decided to order room service - its not that expensive and we hadnt eaten for 12 hrs. during this time we're flipping through the channels and Ho finds a spanish one. we're watching that for 30 seconds and room srvice comes. the lady brings the stuff in, and says thank you and goodnight in spanish. We were so confused, until we realized that she noticed the channel and ho's dark skin, and just assumed that we spoke spanish. About this time, i make my first trekk to the UNISEX shower/bathroom down the hall. TOTALLY smelled pot coming from the next room over. I took a shower, got ready, then we left and explored for several hours.

All in all, it was an INTERESTING day. Ho and i both feel like we're in the twlightlight zone and that everything that happened was a dream. Odd experience, but definitly memorable.

More to come later, I promise.

My Weekend in London

Hello faithful followers. I apologize for not posting recently, but I have been extremely busy creating the

Events of the London Weekend:

number of nights spent at a hostel: 1
clean blankets used: 0
creepy old men met: 1
Touristy sites visited: READ ON TO SEE!!

So, I went to London last weekend. I went with Stephanie and Anna, probably my best friends here. We took a bus from Cheltenham to London for pretty cheap. We left at 6:30 in the morning, and got to Victoria station around 9:00. We had the whole weekend ahead of us!
When looking at a map of London, my friends and I decided that our hostel wasn't that far away from the bus station, and that it wouldn't be a big deal to walk there.

Maps have scales, and its not too hard to get lost in London. Both important facts that we forgot. Needless to say, it took a long time to get to our hostel, several hours of walking. We stopped for lunch eventually, which was amazing because we were famished. We found our hostel eventually and checked in. One good thing about walking, however, was that we walked directly past Buckingham Palace! We stopped and got some pictures of the area. It was beautiful, as most of London turned out to be.

The hostel experience was a definite new experience for me. sleeping with six people to a room on flimsy bunkbeads was fine, but then it came time to make our own beds. We were given sheets and pillowcases, but not blankets. I supposed that they were in our room. They were, but they were not by any streach of the imagination clean. Now, I have a thing about dirty blankets. I don't like them. They're gross!! but I eventually got over it, it was all a part of the hostel experience I guess. We met one of the three guys that was in the room with us. He was a man in his late thirties who was from Japan I believe. He had moved to Australia for awhile, and was now stuying fashion in London and living hostel to hostel. he was definitely an...interesting character.

After we got situated, it was time to go and see London!! We hopped on a Big Bus tour. It was 20 pounds for 48 hours of tourism. It made around 80 stops and you could get on and off whenever you felt like it. It also came with a free Thames river cruise and some walking tours, neither of which we took advantage of. However, it made a stop close to our hostel and we could see everything that we wanted to see while we were there. It was pretty cool :) On saturday we basically just rode it around, got most of the tour, and saw several fun things. We had walked for so long that morning that we were all pretty worn out. We got an early dinner and went to bed at 9:30 pm.

Sunday morning we woke up and were ready to go! We hopped on Big Bus and went for a ride. The first place we stopped at was the National Gallery. The Gallery had picassos, renoirs, da vincis, monets, and many more famous artists. I even saw one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. It was a great way to kick off the day. We went to Parliment, saw Big Ben, the Tower bridge (london bridge is falling down, falling down) the London Dungeons, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, St. Pauls Cathedral (where Princess Diana and Charles got married), the tower of London (where the crowned jewels are kept), and much much more. Please check out my pics at community.webshots.com/username/mollyburke to see everything that I'm writing about. It was just such an amazing time. We saw stuff that I didnt even think about - the street where Sherlock Holmes "lived", Scotland Yard, Paddington Station, where Paddington the Bear was found in the stories, pubs where dickens ate, playhouses where Shakespear performed for the queen, a church steeple that was the inspiration for the idea of a tiered wedding cake, Tony Blair's house. It was just overwhelming - I have to say that I love London.

We left at 8:30 on Sunday eveningn after a full day of touring. It was a great weekend, and I wouldn't have changed anything for the world. I'm actually going back on March 10th to pick Hierald up at the airport, and we're going to spend the weekend in london. It will be great to see some of the landmarks more intimately. Most of the things that cost money we did not do. We spent most of the time doing the free stuff :)

All in all, it was a great trip, and I consider myself very lucky.

Missing you all! love from across the Atlantic!

British word of the week: Hoovering (vaccuming)

She's got a ticket to ride...

Hello, faithful readers! I know you are all desperate to read the

Events of the Weekend:

Cities traveled: 5

Churches toured: 2

Movies watched: 3 (my best friend's wedding, blackball, dr. Strangelove)

People i told about my Hanson obsession: 5

So, i must be getting comfortable if I'm sharing the Hanson thing, right? I think i am. I've spent more time with Stephanie and Anna this weekend(the more conservative girls)s, and I think that both of them will be really good friends throughout this experience. Leslie and I have some really good discussions too, which is nice.

but, I did get a little homesick this week. I talked to sarah and sam through email, and I actually SPOKE to Dan and Hierald on the phone last night! That was definitely nice! I can't wait till i get to see you all again!

So, what did I do this weekend, you ask. Well, friday was another night spent at the student union. That's really a common thing here. They have cheap drinks and pool tables, so it's basically the place to go. I didnt much care for the club here, so i'll probably steer away from that scene from here on out. On Saturday, however, Steph, Anna, Leslie and I got a family pass to take the bus anywhere we wanted to go for the day. So, we hopped on and rode first to Gloucester.

"Now, why would anyone want to go to Gloucester?", you might ask. It is the home of a pretty famous cathedral. a cathedral in which Robert, duke of normandy is buried, along with King Edward the II. Along with those illustrious dwellers, HARRY POTTER WAS FILMED THERE!!!!!!!! Most of the Hogwards corridor scenes took place at the Gloucester Cathedral. It was very breathtakingly beautiful. I took some pictures, which you can find on my website.

We also stopped at several nearby towns including Stroud, the city on a hill. It was also beautiful, and ancient. All in all, a well-spent Saturday. Sunday passed without much ado, i basically relaxed and hung out with friends.

I did laundry yesterday! It is very different then at Messiah or in Harrisburg. I had to wheel my laundry 15 minutes in my suitcase to main campus to do it. What a pain in the ass! Its good to have clean clothes that don't smell like cigarettes or beer (the prevailing smell here). Even when my hair is wet from the shower, i can still smell smoke. Its just another thing to get used to here :)

I talked to Hierald and Dan, Uly, and Mom and Emily this weekend! That was really great - I was feeling a bit homesick. If anyone wants to call me, get Skype! my username is mollygirl. It is really easy to set up and works pretty well. Also, I'm on IM (burkeyquirky) all the time. Contact me!!! I would love to hear from all of you!

British word of the day: digestives (cookies)

Old El Paso

Events of the Day:

Classes tried today: 2

lively discussions with artsy people regarding postmodernism: 1

Drunk people cared for: 1

Drinks: 4 (wine, bailey's over ice cream, 2 gin & tonics)


well. what a day. it started at 8:30 when BBC woke me up with some silly report on cattle.

Shortly after, I was sitting in an English class entitled "renissance and reformation", when the professor was talking about the final exam. She told us that it was based on the first and second semester of the class. Although it seemed fun, I couldnt take the class because I didn't have last semester. So, at that point, I had attended three classes and decided against 2. On a whim, I decided to try another class, "postmodernism and gender". I'm in love. i have always heard the word "postmodern" ethrown around, but i have never had a clear definition of it. I still don't - postmodernism transcends things such as definitions, i learned today. We're going to watch fight club, and our final is a collage. who can deny such an awesome class?

After getting home, i broke into my old el paso stash. i had refried beans, salsa, and tortillas. You don't understand...this stuff is like gold here. It is rare, and expensive. I would kill for some Adobe.

I took a long nap, and then got ready for clubbing. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. We actually first went out to a french restaurant for dinner, which was delicious. We had an amazing waiter. He asked us what our view of France's relationship with the US was. He was full of "Merci"s "tres bien"s and "parle a francais"s. It was utterly delightful. He told us about his hometown in France, and where to visit if we went there. He was really amazing, as was the food. Then, it was dancing time!

My Analysis of Moda (the Cheltenham Club):

~Boys danced on boys. This does not happen at home.
~My friends drink. A lot.
~Not American Friendly (my credit card doesn't work at Moda. This was discovered after the ordering of three drinks, of which I had already sipped. Leslie got my back).
~ The music mostly sucked. There were a couple of ok songs.
~Never wear heels on the 15 minute walk to the club, 3 hours of dancing, then th 15 minute walk back. I thought I was going to die.
~ this club has a "cheese floor" where they do themes and such. The name is not a lie. Tonight was Grease night. Go greased lightning.

One of the totally wasted BCA students who lives next door forgot his code to his room, so I was mother hen yet again. Its probably a good thing that I'm not a huge drinker - everyone else makes up for me! I'm actually kind of annoyed with the people who get drunk all the time. There are other things to life!! It's especially annoying when people do stupid stuff when they're drinking. Ah well, life goes on.

All in all, a long but interesting day. LEAVE ME COMMENTS!!!!


British words of the day: Tutor (professor) & Module (class period)

Me and my park

Events of the day:

15 minute Brisk walks to campus: 0

15 minute Brisk walks into town: 1

Pounds spent at the Tesco (grocery store): 20

Space taken on my fake Ipod: 6.89 gb

Friends Met: 1 (Mike, also known as "Dave Gray")


Well, today I had another rather unproductive day. Yesterday was the first day of class. I was at FCH (francis close hall) from 11:00 to 5:30 pm. Quite a long day. I tried out two different classes: Religion and the Working Class in 19th Century Britin, and Isaiah. Ironically, I hated the first more than the second.

Last night I apparently missed a crazy drinking party. I feel that that may become a theme. I want desperately to be involved with the students here, and the BCA ones too, but I simply can't drink all the time. I've cultivated a good relationship with Andy, my British next door neighbor. He's kind of like the activities coordinator for Merrowdown (my villa) so that's good. He's an awesome kid. I think i'll be involved in a lot, and meet many people through him.

Today I went to Tesco, and bought a lot of groceries. It was productive, but heavy to carry back, that's for sure.

England makes me feel good. I think the fact that I walk at least 30 minutes a day, and have been eating tons of produce and organic foods has been really good for me. I feel healthy. I'm have also been going to bed by like 11:30, and getting enough sleep. I'm waking up naturally, usually before my alarm clock. I have had a lot of social interaction, but also some needed Mollytime.

I've even had some "meditation" time. In my 2 hr break between classes yesterday, I took off on my own and walked around the town. I found a little park with a winding path through it. It was beautifully green with life, and the birds were chirping. I felt very relaxed and content.

I love it here.

British phrase of the day: Flats to Let (Apartments for rent)