I Speak English and English

Before going to England, I made sure to watch lots of British television shows. This was to, hopefully, help me form a more legitimate sounding British accent and to help familiarize myself with some terms we do not use in the States. Especially the terms that mean one thing in America but another in England. For example, a biscuit here is a cookie, while a biscuit at home is a type of bread. Similarly, chips are French fries, but crisps are potato chips. There are also just some terms that that are used here, which do not have another meaning in America, such as lorry is a truck and quid is a word for money.

I actually found a website a few days after arriving here that discusses a lot of terms that Brits use and what they mean. It is written by an British man, so hopefully it is correct. Although, in it he specifically tells Americans not to say "Cheers" or "Bloody Hell" (or really any phrase with bloody in it). This is because he feels our accents ruin those phrases. I found that hilarious and upon making a British friend I told her about this to see what she said. She felt that the words did sound strange in an American accent but us saying "Thank You" instead of "Cheers" did too. I was pleased to hear this because I had been saying cheers to the bus drivers pretty much any time I entered or exited a bus, which is about four to six times a day. (You can find the website I mentioned here if you want to check it out.)

That's another thing about living in the UK: buses. You literally can take a bus just about anywhere, or there is a bus that takes you to another bus that will take you anywhere. You really have almost no need for a car, which is probably good since gas prices are so high. But it is very strange to have to rely on a bus to get you somewhere instead of your own car. For instance, I will have a craving for chocolate and want to go to the store to get some, but then I remember that I will have to (walk up a giant hill, first of all) look up when the bus comes and then ride it to the store and then wait for the next one, etc. Let me just say, nothing kills the drive to spend money like that bus schedule. Although, I am usually still hungry, so I just go into our kitchen and eat an entire package of "Maryland Cookies" in one sitting, but that's just an issue I have.

Another thing that goes on in England that non-British people may not notice is all the different accents of British citizens. There are Northerners, Southerners, Welsh, Scottish, Irish (although technically some of them are not British Citizens), etc. and they all have different accents. If you watch a British television show they most likely are speaking "The Queen's English", which is the accent that will probably be the easiest to understand for you since they do not speak as fast and seem to speak more clearly. It is similar to the "Universal Accent" in America. I would almost say that it is the most basic accent in Great Britain that has been stripped of an accent, which makes literally no sense so ignore that. 

There is a video on YouTube of a British man talking in several different British (and other countries') accents. You can watch it here. It is really quite a laugh, especially the American ones because I'm sure we all know someone who actually talks like that.

But going along with how people talk, the moment you open your mouth everyone knows you are not British (some think you are Australian). You might think this is obvious, but for some reason this still surprises me. I guess it is from years of listening to British actors and actresses on television talking away, but I really cannot even hear their accents any more. Now, some people who have very strong Scottish or non-Queen's English accents, I can definitely hear, but others I just do not even notice. 

This one man came to my flat to deliver a package and when he heard my room-mate and me talking he said he liked our accents. I literally had no idea what he was talking about. I just stared at him. All I could think was, "What accent? We sound exactly the same as him... Is he saying that he thinks we are from the same place?" Luckily my room-mate wasn't being mental and understood that we speak like Americans and he speaks like a British person. She told him that we were from America and had a short, polite conversation with him, while I was still trying to figure out what happened. I felt so ashamed afterwards that I just left and ate some more Maryland cookies. Luckily, we have a judgement free-zone in our kitchen, so I was safe there.

Besides our voices though, I do not think that anyone would specifically guess that we, my friends and I, were Americans. I mean, we definitely sound America (or Australian to some), but for the most part, you cannot tell who is British based off their clothes. Because of this, my friends and I like to place this game, or at least I do, were no one talks and we just do whatever silently so that people will just assume we are British. And then when someone talks to us, we get to give them the big shock of us being Americans. I like to think of it as some type of laser-tag-type game that Brits play were they purposefully try not to talk to foreigners, but that I have tricked them into doing it. I just imagine them thinking to themselves, "Dang it! That was a record of three whole weeks with out talking to a non-British citizen and this girl tricked me into talking to her!" 

Clearly I have an active imagination.

Honestly though, all the British people I have talked to have been very friendly and most tell me how much they love Americans and that they feel like they are on TV by talking with me. One girl even began ranting about Goldfish to one of my room-mates since she was American. You really do get into interesting conversations once the conversation becomes about America. But that's all I am going to say about that for now, because I want to be able to tell you all about my University's obsession with America another time.

Until next time...

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless." -Mary Sarton

Ode to My Giant Hill

Today I am going to grace you all with a poem I have written about a hill that I have to walk up every day to get to get pretty much anywhere.

Ode to My Giant Hill

Steep, steep,
Forever winding.
I climb up, 
But you have no ending.
Too high you go,
Too far to walk.
I must keep going,
This is bollock.
The squirrels are glad,
But not me.
I'm walking up this hill,
In spite of thee.

The black road goes,
On and on.
Time is passing.
Is it dawn?
Much to far,
Forever unceasing.
Will it end?
I think I'm dying.

Out of breath,
But more to go.
My legs are jelly,
I hope it won't show.
I want to cry,
It's no lie.

I see the end,
Almost there.
Dear God, thank you.
I need a chair.

Oh wait there's more,
I'll rest on the floor.

Don't wait up.

(End)

I am one day going to redo this poem as an actual Ode and try to follow the real poem restrictions.

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"The world is my lobster." -Henry J. Tillman

Writing

Instead of starting off with the usual introduction into my life, why I want to write a blog, and why you should read it, I will tell you why I do not want to write one but why I am anyway.

Blog writing is difficult, and I already have one called "Explorational Adventures". In it I post about my current travels in England and how the reader can get ready for studying abroad. So, why should I write another? It is difficult to find time to write a few paragraphs, let alone entire posts. Usually I end up getting about five posts behind and changing the date on the posts so it looks like I am up to date. But I'm not. If I do that for my original blog, how will I be able to stay up to date with this one?

Also, no one really reads blogs. Why write information for the world to see if no one is even going to read it? Although, I suppose my mother is keeping up to date on my travelling, but she doesn't really count. I mean, there are about a million blogs already published and more being published all the time. How can I expect to get a large audience when that is happening?

Setting up a blog is ridiculous. Blogger is insane, Wordpress is insane, I do not really know of any other blog sites, although I am sure there are more, which are also insane. And not in a good way. Blogger gives you four main options for set-up and then allows you hundred of options to edit them, while Wordpress give you about fifty options and two ways to edit them. Being a creative and odd minded person, as I am, I prefer being able to edit the templates to my hearts content, but I can already tell that I am going to need to learn some html, which I am not extremely excited about. But I suppose it must be done.

I love sleep. And although it might not be directly linked with less sleep, I would not put the blog past it. Because if it comes down to 11 PM and you still have two more blog posts to do, you know which is going to win... Sleep, probably. But you will be thinking about how you have to write that post and not be able to sleep. Or if you are like me, you will fall asleep without another thought and then just change the time stamp on the entry. I probably won't do that here though, since most of these posts will be more rambles than reports.

But even with all those condolences, writing is amazing. When you write for yourself, you can write whatever you want. As some of you might have noticed I occasionally start sentences with no-no words like 'and', 'but', and 'because'. (This is also somewhat due to an issue I have with too long of sentences, so cutting them off and starting with 'and', may make them flow differently, but also shorter than they would be.) This might make you cringe in horror, but I won't stop there. I also have an issue with too many commas. I just love them. Especially the Oxford Comma. And since this is written mostly for my benefit, I can write as crazy as I want. Although, I can promise it won't be anywhere as bad as adding random number and typing in random cApiTaLS, because I hate when people write that way. But too each their own... And they are protected by the First Amendment, I suppose.

You can also be yourself and write as ironically, majestically, or dark as you want. Who is to judge you? We have already mentioned that most people do not actually read these things and even if they do, they are probably from some distant country and you will never meet them in real life. Although I do not dislike Estonia, I also do not have any current plans to go there.

I have been writing creatively since 4th grade and cannot get enough of it. Writing is some form of music, I think. You get to set your own tune and write your own lyrics. I especially love fictional writing, and that is probably going to lead to me being unable to grasp reality or to one day run around the streets yelling that dragons are coming, but I'm ok with that. As, we already know, I am odd so may as well upgrade to strange or bizarre. But creative writing is my thing and I am going to keep doing, even if I am horrible. (Although, hopefully at this point I'm not too bad.)

So, overall, I am saying write a blog if you want to, or don't. It's up to you. But if you do, try to think about who you are and write from there. Don't write something because you think you are suppose to, write it because you want to. And going with that, blogs have privacy settings for a reason, so please make your blog private if you are going to write personal secrets, etc. We really don't want a Lizzie McGuire moment where your brother finds your diary and reads it to everyone.

Thanks for listening, or reading, I suppose. If I didn't scare you away, feel free to come back later this week for another blog post. I am trying to do three a week, so we will see how that goes.

Embrace the Odd,
Caitlin

"This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it." -William Goldman