People abroad (was: Food again (was Re: Festivals))

[Ebony AKA AngieJ]

Hi, everyone!

Parker wrote:
> > Don't duck, Benjamin.  Yanks abroad can be horrible.  Sometimes I 
> > feel like I should *personally* apologise for my countrypeople if 
I ever do get over there. 

:::snorts:::  Isn't the idea of "dumb American" a useless 
stereotype?  When I was in high school, we had exchange students from 
Britain, Finland, and Argentina... in inner-city Detroit.  They were 
just as clueless as I'm sure I'll be this summer.  I don't plan to 
venture into London alone... we've been told to venture out in groups 
at all times.  Neither would I advise anyone from a foreign country 
(or for that matter, anyone not from around here) to walk the streets 
of my old neighborhood after dark by themselves.

Parker's sentiment is understandable... there are plenty of idiot 
Americans.  But idiots aren't exclusive to our country.  If I had 
based my views of England on the exchange student we had senior year 
from Liverpool (who looked down her nose at *everything* even when we 
bent over backwards to be nice to her--don't believe half of what you 
hear about city kids, please), I never would have gone within a 
thousand miles of the British Isles.  She's the only English person 
I've ever met, and she was also one of the meanest and pettiest.  My 
best friend, whose family hosted her, was regularly in tears during 
the semester she was there.  (I'm just relating this story to 
illustrate the fact that boorishness comes in all shapes, sizes, 
colors, and nationalities... and it speaks all languages, too.)

I'll be happy to experience England, and I'll be properly respectful 
of local custom as I learn it, but I don't see the need to apologize 
for being American.  Or beingan exchange student.  There are much 
worse sins.  :)

I'm more worried about practical things:  what shall I eat?  Where 
can I get my hair done?  (Only women with hair like mine can 
appreciate that... for us, the salon's not a luxury, it is a bitter 
necessity.)  How much will it cost to call home?  What's the 
nightlife like?  Are there church services? 

Most importantly, how much will it cost to subsist from day to day as 
a student?

You see, I'm spoiled when it comes to exchange rates.  I'm used to 
going over to Ontario every weekend and getting a hugely favorable 
exchange rate... the American dollar is worth a bit more than the 
Canadian... and in most Ontario touristy spots (everywhere in our 
sister city of Windsor) American money is accepted and you get 
American change back.  OTOH, just try giving someone in SE Michigan 
Canadian funds... we'd laugh at you.  

I doubt that our Benjamins are similarly panted after on the other 
side of the pond.  I've already been warned that I will wince when my 
dollars are magically transformed into pounds.  And to think that you 
guys don't have many monolith discount stores... :::cringes:::

--Ebony AKA AngieJ (a little disappointed that no one's jumping up 
and down with her about her trip, but will get over it)