It will be weird...
- to start paying for things with paper money and not coins again.
- to be able to shop at places after 7 pm.
- to ask, "Is this the line?" instead of, "Are you queuing?"
- not to have the automated voice telling you which cashier to go to at the post office or the supermarket.
- to give out my American cell phone number rather than my British one.
- to call it a "cell phone" and not a "mobile."
- to drive to the supermarket!
- to use the term "Greeks" to refer to people who are not necessarily of Greek origin.
- to have a grade of 68 be a bad thing.
- to use my sunglasses more often than my umbrella.
- to be back on the faculty side of things again.
- to have "pound" refer to this - ### and not this - £££
- to have "here" and "to go" ("eat in" and "take away") cost the same amount.
- to have to leave tips!
- to recount my day-to-day Oxford happenings to everyone I see at home...
I owe you some long posts about the Thanksgiving dinner, Catz Night, and other stuff, but these things crossed my mind recently. I think I've changed a lot in these past two months. It's not that I can't wait to get out of here, or that I don't want to go home, but I think that things will be different. And I think I'm a better person as a result.
Am I boring y'all with these enlightenments? I'll be finishing my paper on Tuesday, which means I'll have a few days of free time. Throw a topic my way, and I'll discuss it on Tuesday when I'm done with my paper.
Much love,
Me
5 comments:
It's interesting to me that you've picked up so much Englishness in Oxford. Of course it's a quintessentially English place in many ways, but as a native, I picked up so many un-English traits because it's also a heavily international place. So whilst you're returning home for your first Christmas calling your phone a 'mobile', in my first term at Oxford I started calling it a 'cell'.
Sorry for babbling, it just struck me that many of my home friends commented that I was 'less English' since living in Oxford for two years.
A question for you (and forgive me if you'd already answered it on your other blog and I'd missed it): Will you be done with the degree after this term? Or will you be taking more classes back in the states? Just curious!
Hehe BP, 68% is a bad mark in the States. What would get a 68% here would get probably 88%-92% in the American grading system.
Deb, I'm just going home for Christmas and to teach a really quick winterterm class (9 days! gah!). Then I will be back here in Oxford for two more terms, finishing at the end of June.
PC, I don't always hear people use that terminology, but I try to be good and use it to not sound like a stereotypical American tourist! The one I've had to work on using the most is "take away," because I've noticed that they don't always understand me when I say I want something "to go"...
A 9-day winter term? Wow! That should be interesting.
About "take away:" when I went to France (the only European country I've ever been to), I had the same problem. "Take away" seemed so weird at first. But now it makes more sense to me, in some ways, than "to go."
Snidge - I've never traveled on the Tube, only by bus (and once by taxi) and only very occasionally...otherwise I walk everywhere. Maybe next term when I travel a bit more I can try the Tube!
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