The Global Student Lounge

GSL is available to anyone with an interest in study abroad and international travel. Join the fun by writing about your experiences and posting photos of your adventures! Prizes will be awarded for the best 5 blogs of 2008.

Hello Everyone,

I am going on the Australia Wildlife and Conservation study abroad program through NJSCIS this summer anyone else???  Or does anyone one have any good tips for traveling in Australia???

~Noel~

Hey everyone,

I’m a student at Stockton and headed to Germany in the fall. Anyone have any good tips??

Thanks!

View of the University of Dundee Campus

There are a lot of things to like about the U.K. Then again, there are a lot of things that foreigners to this funny little island in the dead of winter may not like. The weather really doesn’t bother me. It was so mild the first couple of weeks that it took me a day or so to get used to it being cold this week. Cold. Right. It’s no colder here than it was in Jersey on the coldest days. The difference here is that I’m not walking from my front door to my car and from my car to my classes. Here I walk everywhere. On a chilly day, that can be serious, especially when you consider that it’s about a mile to the supermarket, each way. Downhill to get there, uphill the way back. Of course the way back is a killer because you’re weighed down with a few days worth of groceries. At least I should be in somewhat better shape when I get back to the States.

I like tea. I like that here, tea is generally served the way I like it, with milk and sugar. I especially like tea with breakfast. In a lot of resteraunts and pubs, coffee or tea is complimentary with the big breakfast. And it really is a big breakfast. Now you’re saying, ‘Jefe! How unlike you to choose tea over coffee. FREE coffee! Have you gone totally mad?!?” Well, the answer is no, I haven’t. I still love coffee, and I try to have some every day, but the thing is this, when you get complimentary coffee, it’s pretty much just the one cup. It may be a big cup, but it’s still just the one. When you order tea, they bring you a POT of tea. This thing generally holds about FOUR big cups of tea. Plus, you also get a special treat with your tea… shortbread biscuits. Wonderful tea cookies that, if you’ve just come from bed after a proper night’s drunk, are absolutely necessary to keep your hangover at bay until the big breakfast arrives consisting of: one or two fried eggs, over medium generally; one to four links of sausage; two to four strips of the world’s thickest and juiciest bacon; two slices of toast, complete with butter and jam; a healthy helping of baked beans (you’d never know it, but the beans and the bacon and the runny eggs combine into one of the world’s most comforting flavors); some kind of fried potato; either hash browns or potato waffles; a whole or a half of a lightly fried tomato; and a serving of sauteed mushrooms. Some places also include black pudding or haggis, but I have to draw the line somewhere. At any number of places within walking distance to my flat, this can all be yours for between 3 and 5 quid. You probably won’t need to eat another full meal all day long. Try getting that in Kansas. What do you get when you order the big breakfast in the States? Pancakes! Sometimes a waffle, or if you’re really lucky, French Toast. Next to that will be about a pound of some kind of potato, home fries and the like, with two eggs and possibly a choice of sausage or bacon. Ham will be an extra $1.95 if you please, and coffee is rarely complimentary. Hell, some places will charge you for the refills on your coffee, after serving you the cheapest food possible for your big breakfast. Seriously, what do pancakes cost? Potatoes? Here, you get some serious meat. It’s really a much better way of doing things. Even with the continuing Americanization of Europe, and the UK specifically, the one thing I don’t want to start seeing on breakfast menu are pancakes. This will truly signal the end of British Civilization.

Speaking of words like civilization, industrialization, etc. In the U.K. they’re spelled without the z. For example, industrialisation. I firmly believe that this was changed in the U.S. to more easily facilitate the use of the ‘z’ tile in Scrabble, thereby enabling American players to score more points than their British counterparts.