Making life a little easier is the lack of culture shock. Instead, one of our coordinators at the university said we experience, "cultural weirdness." So for a while everything's good. We're traveling, having a good time and enjoying the culture. Then we start to recognize all of things the British do differently, and wonder why they can't do things the good ol' American way.
Such as...
1) The traffic. Cars and buses drive on the other side of the road and with the steering wheel on the other side, meaning we have to look the other way before crossing the street. On my very few first steps off the bus heading to our flat, I looked right (like you normally do in the US) and started crossing the street. Instead, a car was coming from the left and I had to jump backwards quickly to avoid being in some serious accident. The traffic also will not stop for you, so pedestrians have to be extra careful to watch for speeding cars.
Luckily, there are "Look Left" and "Look Right" signs painted on the street to remind you to check for cars. Otherwise, we Americans wouldn't stand a chance in London.
2) The work ethic. Students have to be more self-sufficient in the UK. The coordinators showed an example where a stateside exam question would outline the parts of the theory in question; but a UK question would simply ask you to describe the theory. Professors apparently want students to be able to think critically and independently. Hopefully, Wisconsin has prepared me for this.
On the other hand, businesses and any professionals seem to have a more laid-back approach. The atmosphere is casual at our university, and it's almost as if professors and administrators have a, "It'll get done, when it gets done" feel. I'm sure it's lovely for the true adults, but or students hoping to impress them, we have to think about what we can work on by ourselves.
3) Transportation. In the US, most people feel pretty comfortable to move about at their own pace on public transportation. You can also talk on the train. On the tube, no one talks. Everyone has their own mindset, and simply wants to get from place to place. If we don't know where we're going or we want to meet up with people, we're simply in the way.
Besides these first few differences, life in the UK so far has been a lot like life at college in the US. I have to commute from home to classes. I have to adjust to new people. And I have to recognize new challenges of living on my own in a new place.
Except there's also cool buildings and people with pretty accents.
I'll add more details later. I need to take more pictures (aka, look like a tourist) to do this, but I swear I'll get it done.
I couldn't take my usual photo out the airplane window (sad times I know), so this is the one I took flying over London back in 2008.
It's pretty much the same.
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