Haggis, Blood Sausage and Everything Else

So you wouldn't expect much culture shock travelling from the US to the UK - English-speaking to English-speaking (barring terminoligy - more of it than I had anticipated). And the shock here isn't too much to absorb; I've gotten used to much of it already, more or less. But there are definitely some things that are much different here, worth mentioning.

1) Eco-friendliness: The heat's not actually on all day; it turns off at specific times. There are many more hybrid and fuel-efficient cars than in the US - many of the busses, even, are fuel-efficient. Toilets use half the water to flush. Corridor lights turn off in my hall as soon as the sun sets (still early). Lots of little things like this that no doubt add up.

2) Space-savers: So the UK is much smaller than the US. Space-saving techniques, obviously, are more in demand, and it seems everything here is smaller. The bar for hangers in my closet goes back into the closet, rather than running across it. Beds, sinks, toilets, showers, streets, roads, sidewalks, cars are smaller. Everything is closer together.

3) Tipping: People laugh at Americans who think they have to tip bartenders. People don't do that here. And tipping for meals is different - a good tip is only about 10%. I'm assuming bartenders and waiters have a bigger salary than they do in the States, then. Taxing, too, is usually already included in the price you see in the store. I always prepare to pay extra and never have to. The Brits do, however, have heavy taxes on things like petrol (gas) - possibly for environmental reasons, which is easier here, as everything is closer together and therefore it's easier to get from one place to another (public transportation probably doesn't hurt matters, either) and, for some reason, postage stamps and mailing.

4) Dressing up: In a word, fancier. Everywhere. All the time. People do not wear sweatpants to class. People do not wear jeans to parties. People wear high heels all. the. time. I've heard a rumor this might be accentuated at posh St Andrews, but people all over the UK definitely wear nicer clothes than we do in the US. Most people here are very stylish. And then there's me.

5) Going out nights: At home it's Friday and Saturday nights, hands down. Ask people here what the most popular nights to go out are, you'll get mixed reviews - sometimes Friday is included, while Saturday usually is not. By my observations, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are pretty hot party nights. At home, only hard-core partiers (and seniors) party Tuesday or Wednesday nights.

6) Drinking: There's definitely not more drinking here than there is in the States, but people are definitely more open about it, and not just because of the drinking age. There's something about the culture in the US that is very wary of this kind of activity, that probably does more damage than good, as far as I can tell.

7) Food: Yes, I did try haggis. No, I did not hate it. Though the FDA has found it, literally, "unfit for human consumption," the biggest compaint I had was that it was too salty. Black pudding (A.K.A. blood sausage - a more accurate name since it is actually a sausage shaped into a paddy, and made with some blood in it) was a different story. It tasted simultaneously burnt, bitter and heavy. Not my cup of tea. You can stomach these types of Scottish foods fairly well if you don't think about what they're actually made of, which, to be fair, can be said about just as much American food (McDonald's, anyone?).

8) The best part about Scotland? Reading books with characters named Bailie Macwheeble and Belmawhapple.