Different standards are found in different countries. Not always good or bad, just different. You just have to accept it, laugh it off, and move on. Baked beans for breakfast? French fires served at every single meal (starting with breakfast)? Bacon is actually ham and a “buddy” is a sandwich? Food is different. This is one that I wouldn’t say is a good difference in England, but it not bad either. You just have to adjust your expectations.
No stores here are open before 9AM, and nothing is open after 5PM, or 6PM at the very latest. Hours are set for the worker’s convenience, not the customer, something I find very different then in the USA. As a worker, I am sure it’s great that you still have your whole night ahead of you, although nothing is open so I am not sure what exactly you are going to do with all that free time.
Oh, my favorite standard of them all. Cleaning! Whether it’s public bathrooms, the dorm common room, or personal hygiene, European standards are drastically lower then ours. I think it’s great that kids are allowed to eat dirt and no one seems worried about how greasy their hair looks, but only when the kid isn’t tracking the mud all over a restaurant and I don’t have to smell that man. To be honest, most of the time I was grossed out by what I saw with dirt and germs over here. I might have high standards, but sometimes it appeared that Europeans have none.
Showers are always a sketchy, questionable business. Besides trying not to contemplate that ring of black mold, I have found that hot water and any type of water pressure are not in high demand over here. Chilled, quick showers might be why people just don’t try to get clean? At least, that’s my theory on the body odor galore. You’d think deodorant crossed the Atlantic, but apparently not a strong, scented version.
Internet and technology is another question of different expectations. As a college student in America, I expect working Internet to be available to me roughly 110% of the time. As a college student in England, it usually feels like a 50-50 shot when I turn on my web browser to search for Internet access. Most people here seem to use the same cheap pay-as-you-go phones study abroad students purchase, and surprisingly, not every single person on the tube has an Ipod. In a way, it is a much simpler, less technology dependent way of life, which can be good. I am gearing up for my cell phone and reliable Internet at home though. A real TV instead of downloading shows online and no plug converters in sight! You can take the girl out of America, but you can’t take the American out of the girl!
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