{"id":4411,"date":"2017-05-20T00:34:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T14:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=4411"},"modified":"2017-05-20T00:34:19","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T14:34:19","slug":"crisps-or-chips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/05\/20\/crisps-or-chips\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Crisps’ or ‘Chips’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things I remember being told about exchange is that assimilating into another culture can be hard. \u201cIt\u2019s England,\u201d I thought. \u201cIt can\u2019t be that hard.\u201d If I was to study in Italy or France, a country whose first language wasn\u2019t English; that would be hard. \u00a0Now I’ll just get this out of the road and say it. I was wrong. It wasn’t ‘hard’ per say, but it was a lot different than I expected.\u00a0Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love England. I love the perpetual cold and rainy days, the history, the Victorian architecture. But there are a few things that confused the hell out of me and here they are.<\/p>\n

The people.<\/strong>
\nI now have many British friends, some of whom are from London. I have no problems getting along with these people \u2013 love \u2018em to bits. But when I first walked through the streets of London I wasn\u2019t met by friendly smiles, or people willing to help out the lost tourist. Instead they were steely eyed and hell bent on getting from A to B without disruption. At first it made me think \u2018Oh god, why did I choose this country\u2019 BUT I got used to it, it\u2019s not bad it\u2019s just different and that\u2019s okay. Besides,\u00a0now I know my way around I’m just another person on the\u00a0escalator getting frustrated when some doesn’t stand on the right (this is a must: overtaking on the left, standing on the right).<\/p>\n

Food.
\n<\/strong>You\u2019d think being fairly similar countries the food in England wouldn\u2019t be all too different from the food in Australia. For the most part that\u2019s true but imagine my shock and disgust to open a blue packet of crisps (chips, I mean chips) to find not original, but salt and vinegar and that\u2019s not the half of it. Cinnamon on donuts? Nope, sugar, sugar and more sugar. A bit of chicken salt on my chips? Ha, no. Pasito soft drink? Silly Australian, no again. Okay, I\u2019m probably exaggerating slightly, the food is edible but I\u2019d be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t counting down the days until I can buy a pie.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Obvious disapproval of being mislead by the blue packaging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Language.
\n<\/strong>Yes we may both speak English but to say I haven\u2019t had a few issues in communicating simply isn\u2019t true. Among the few:
\nPants<\/strong>.\u00a0Get used to asking for \u2018trousers\u2019 when shopping or be prepared to have the awkward \u2018ah actually I was looking for thermal trousers, not literal heated underwear\u2019 conversation,\u2019 you\u2019ve been warned.
\nCapsicum.
\n<\/strong>My first Subway encounter went a little like this: \u201cI\u2019ll have the green capsicum too thanks\u201d<\/p>\n

Subway employee,\u201duh\u2026 the what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCapsicum, the green stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

Friend, \u201cEmma. That\u2019s pepper.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Sighs internally*<\/p>\n

Orange squash<\/strong>.
\nSadly I learned the hard way that this is in no way orange juice or at a stretch, soft drink. It\u2019s cordial. It took drinking a full glass of the stuff to realise that. Safe to say the flat mates have no let me live it down.<\/p>\n

And of course we have the obvious, thongs<\/strong>.
\nOn multiple occasions I\u2019ve gotten the \u2018that\u2019s way too much information Emma\u2019 look when saying, \u201cI\u2019m just going to put my thongs on before we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

My point here is that YES England is an English speaking country, YES it\u2019s very similar to home and YES it really doesn\u2019t take that long to settle in. BUT there are some things (plenty more that I haven\u2019t talked about here) that are simply going to confuse the hell out of you or make you feel uncomfortable so don\u2019t be surprised or feel stupid when it happens. It takes a while and debates like \u2018crisps\u2019 or \u2018chips\u2019 still happen but I\u2019ve finally managed to stop myself before blurting out \u2018capsicum\u2019 at Subway. Adapting is key. Enjoy England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the first things I remember being told about exchange is that assimilating into another culture can be hard. \u201cIt\u2019s England,\u201d I thought. \u201cIt can\u2019t be that hard.\u201d If I was to study in Italy or France, a country whose first language wasn\u2019t English; that would be hard. \u00a0Now I’ll just get this out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5280,15891,6155,450,7865],"tags":[16038,11981,2402,16028,338,450,427,6119],"class_list":{"0":"post-4411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-england","7":"category-short-term-exchange","8":"category-first-impression","9":"category-student-life","10":"category-tips-for-surviving-uni","11":"tag-crisps-or-chips","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-exchange","14":"tag-exeter","15":"tag-life","16":"tag-student-life","17":"tag-tips","18":"tag-uni"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Crisps' or 'Chips'? 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