Advice From a Non-Brit to Non-Brits

Alright – here we go – second semester. I resolve to write more, travel farther, and to continue my unbroken streak of consuming the equivalent of my body weight in Americanos each week. To start things off, and in honor of the highly esteemed Tyler Kibbey/best friend dropping in later this week (it’s his first time in the UK) I’ve compiled a short list of need-to-knows for anyone visiting Merry ‘Ole England for the first time.

Also to be read as “Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way.”

Stormy Skies

Exactly halfway through the fall semester of every English university’s academic year is a week officially known as “Reading Week.” As the name suggests, Reading Week is an entire week granted to students that is free from lectures, seminars, essays, and otherwise official duties, with the intent that students will use these seven days to catch up on required and recommended readings for the courses they’re enrolled in. In reality, it’s a full week for university kids to do whatever the hell they want, wherever the hell they want, while visions of sugar plums and academically responsible students dance through their professors’ naïve little heads.

Upon Arrival

“So what’s it like over there?”

“Well, it’s definitely very British.”

It’s officially been three full weeks since my arrival in Manchester. Wow. So far my time here has been a mix of ups and downs, rain and sun, burnt toast and delicious, Middle Eastern street food. My perceptions and expectations of “studying abroad” have undergone a major overhaul, both for the better, and for the worse.

A month ago, the phrase “study abroad” conjured up mental images of wild, exotic places and experiences. Listening to someone talk about their time away always seemed to involve stories about getting lost with cool foreign friends in a beautiful city, getting drunk off foreign liquor at wild parties, and, of course, becoming ridiculously entangled in a steamy and fantastical love affair with a suave local.

I’m discovering that the reality, as it usually is, is quite a bit different.

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