Everything's gone pear shaped...
Hi again! It’s been a week since I’ve moved in to Ian Baker at UCL.
It’s been fun meeting lots of freshers and other international students in my house. Classes have not started yet (Oct 1), but it’s Freshers Week and all the freshers have events to go to. I imagine if you are a frosh, you’re probably already on campus or at frosh camp by the beach right now. :D Frosh Camp is awesome-instead of having introductory lectures on campus, Caltech really spoils you by taking you to the beach with your entire class. I was a UCC last year (go Austria! :P) and my group enjoyed all the events, especially Study Habits ;) I’m excited for Freshers Fair tomorrow, where all the clubs and societies showcase what they do and give you a ton of free stuff. The student union here is quite active in putting on events every day for students during Induction week, including tours, trips, clubs, comedy shows, and theater productions. There are so many events that you cannot physically go to all of them. UCLU does provide lots of student discounts-I can’t wait to go see Les Miserables in about two weeks. Yesterday I visited the National Gallery (most museums have free admission!), Wesminister Abbey, and Big Ben. I love how UCL is in central London, so most things are at a walkable distance or a tube ride away.
My hallway is all freshers except me, and most of them are from England. Surprisingly, they find my American accent cool (I thought they would think that I sounded dumb or uncultured) and their British accent boring (Their accents are definitely cooler! I wonder if I can get one after being here for 3 months hehe…) Last night in the kitchen we were discussing different words, slang, and idioms we use. I’ll end this post with a small guide to British words and phrases I’ve learned: Everything’s gone pear shaped: everything’s gone wrong Toilet/Loo: bathroom or restroom. Apparently they don’t use the word restroom at all. (Who rests in the toilet anyways?) Rubbish bins: trash cans Queue: line Lift: elevator Fit/Peng: Good looking Butters: Not so good looking Quid: I think our equivalent would be bucks? i.e.£5 = 5 quid. $5 = 5 bucks.
Tenner: £10 Fiver: £5
“That’s awesome!” is truly an American phrase. The freshers try to imitate the way I say it haha. They like to say “That’s brilliant!” instead.
I’ve heard the word “posh” quite a bit as well, but I guess we use that less. Any words similar to that?
“All right?” is a greeting, kinda like “What’s up?”
And because I’m a chemist, methyl and ethyl are pronounced mee-thyl and ee-thyl (mindblowing right?).
Jessica
.png)
.jpg)