In the month I've been here, I've already tried nearly all the English desserts in existence, visited 4 museums, found a church to call home, explored Notting Hill, ate myself silly at Borough Market, went speed flatmating, taken a cruise on the Thames, shopped in all the major department stores, been to 5 Christmas markets, biked through Hyde Park, eaten at some of London's best restaurants, found a flat to live in, seen all the christmas lights in London, been to the ballet, attended a concert at Westminster Abbey, and after tonight, went to a performance at Royal Albert Hall. Not too shabby! If only I wouldn't have been sick for two weeks, and didn't have to go to work everyday, I could have done so much more.
I suppose equally as important as what I have done, is what I have learned. Prior to coming, I really didn't think England would be all that different from the US. But after a month I have realized that England is indeed a foreign country, and that although people make think we speak the same language - sometimes people may as well be speaking Mandrin it seems so different.
One of my recent, favorite discoveries was the way in which the English use the adjective "nice."
It it used primarily to describe good tasting food. For example, today I was getting lunch and asked inquired into if the lentil soup was good. "Oh yes, it's nice."
I am a huge foodie - so I am constantly using the words delicious, insane, amazing, incredible, etc. to describe good things I've devoured. But I have yet to hear an English person say anything like this. The greatest compliment you can give something delicious is that it's "nice."
Likewise, something not tasty is "not very nice," instead of bad, or stale, or flavorless.
Personally, I think calling something that is incredibly delicious only "nice" is not actually very nice at all. Nice is like fine in my opintion, and I refer to fine as the f-word. But, that's the way the teapot steams over here, so one must go with it.
Another expressions I like is "fancy"- as in want, or like.
I.E. I fancy a cupcake.
People say this alot. For real. It's not just in the movies. So saying "I fancy something nice" is a great English sentence. Translated: I want something yummy!
You can make it even better by throwing in a "proper" and a "literally" (but you must pronounce it lit-trilly")
Alors, "I am lit-trilly starving. I need a proper dinner, where can I get something nice?"
Say it with a tea cup in your hand, and you are the picture of an English lady.
I also find it hilarious how orderly everything is. In New York, one is always pushed, jabbed, or yelled at - if not all three while walking into the subway. The station smells like pee and cigarettes, and once you are jammed onto a packed train, standing nose to nose with a stinky stranger, you encounter a variety of peddlers either begging for money, trying to sell candy bars, or attempting to play an instrument or sing in order to get some change from the riders. The whole thing is very hectic and horrible.
But not in jolly old England!
Getting on the tube, everyone walks slowly and calmly through the clean station, chins up. A nice woman warns you to "please mind the gap" and you orderly board the underground and always find a cushiony seat to sit in. There are no beggars, peddlers, or performers bothering you, just quite conversation about scones and jam. You don't have to shove through people refusing to move when you reach your stop, and when you do exit, you stay to the right on the escalator if you want to stand, and left if you want to walk. It's all quite pleasant really.
However unlike in New York, there is no fascination with Starbucks here. There are quite a few, but it's only popular among expats. So carrying around a Starbucks cup is the equivalent to plastering an American flag on your shirt. It's a dead give away that you are not from England, and so therefore you are unrefined.
The popular coffee shops are Costa and Cafe Nero. Both of which are good and have all sorts of yummy flavored things that we don't have in America - like praline and cream mochas. But there is something so comforting about the Starbucks cup, especially the holiday cup - and as a Starbucks Gold Card holder, it is really to my advantage to buy my lattes there.
I have also become a fan of the English biscuit. (If you are thinking biscuit as in biscuit and gravy, then see diction-ry).
Apparently no one does biscuits better than the English - and I believe it. Something about these plain, crumby sleeves of cookies is strangely addictive and totally delicious! I mean, they are "nice."
I have developed an obsession with Digestives and Hob Nobs. Particularly the chocolate coated ones. There is nothing really that special about them, but at the same time there is. And I don't get it - and yet I do. You'd have to try them to understand to suppose. I eat Digestive for dinner when I don't have something proper to eat. With some Nutella spread on them. Mmmmmm.
And I just keep weighing myself with the metric system and it's all jolly good.
All in all, I think my favorite thing about England is this sense of refinement that everyone and everything has. At the ballet the other night, every woman was in heels and a dress! It was wonderful. People are always dressed smart, and put together - even if they are just running errands. They sip tea, and quietly chat with their posh accents, and are orderly and helpful and polite. Being a person who is totally obsessed with an era long lost of good manners and old tradition and wearing satin gloves to the supermarket - it really is a nice existence.
So here's to one month in the UK - and the 11 to come!
I'm off to Royal Albert Hall to see Handel's Messiah sung by a choir of 500.
Cheers!
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