Blending In

I've been in Britain for precisely 2 days and so far...pretty nice.

Not exactly the culture shock I had been expecting since everyone in America seems to think all British people are posh, loo-finding, football watching 18th century detectives (ok, yes I admit I was one of those people as well), but so far I've seen stores advertising sweaters (vs "jumpers"), no one has offered me a fag and people won't be confused if you ask where the 'bathroom' is.

Could it be that none of my friends knew what they were talking about???

I have been weirdly making a lot of eye contact with strangers though. People here just look at you on the subway, at the supermarket, on the street. I had been warned by Gaby's mother that the British hate when you don't make eye contact (and if you talk over them, she said as she was...talking over me.) But I didn't expect it to be EVERYWHERE. It makes me feel self-conscious like "Oh no! They know I'm American! I'm a foreigner! I'm giving off American vibes!" So then I smile nervously which probably makes me look even more suspicious.

Basically it's exhausting.

Good news though. I have a cellphone finally. A basic little white thing with a full keyboard. It also comes with this interesting feature called "Fake Call". You can program a fake name, picture and ringtone, then have it call you at a certain time. I can't wait to use this in an awkward situation. It's going to much more effective than "I think my mom's calling me for dinner! Bye!". One, because my mom is hundreds of miles away and two, I'm not in a 50's sitcom (...yet).