An American Goes to London: Any Tips?

This bike will be stolen in a day or two or three. The great expert that is going out of his way to sound like me forgot to mention, too, that they take bike parts as often as the bike itself (unscrew the wheels, bells, you name it).

Are there any hugely popular English shows that I should be watching? I've heard of Downton Abbey and Doctor Who...

By the way,there's a hilarious show in the US called I Wanna Marry, "Harry." The premise? A bunch of girls are deceived to believe that a regular ol' ginger is the one and only Prince Harry and they fight for his affections .

Honestly watch Doctor Who cos that has everything you need to know about Britain.

Why are you coming all the way from USA to Brunel? It's not a good uni.

Motly agreeing with others but thought i'd say anyway.

Deifnitely come visit Brighton. It's a lovely seaside town but decent sized and some very cool places in it.(Including the HQ of this website)

Learn how to use Celcius instead of Fahrenheit. If you tell somoene it's 100 degrees they'll be very confused as that is literally boiling temperature...

When dicussing weights in the gym, we use kg instead of lbs but when disucssing how much we weigh 99% of people use stone. So you're not 140lbs, you're 10 stone. Don't ask why.

Try and use english words like football instead of soccer and American football for American Football. Ours was around first i'm pretty sure.


Oh another thing . "You alright?" Is often used as a greeting. An American once got concerned that i kept asking him if he was alright....

Person 1: Hi, You alright?
Person 2: Yea, you?
Person 1: Yea


Even if your mum has just died you say yea. It's stupid but that's what happens.

When discussing the weather (which is an essential social custom that must be mastered) anyone over 35 will prefer to use Fahrenheit for warm weather (over 65 deg F) but Centigrade for cold weather (under 5 deg C). Anything in between does not need to be either calibrated or mentioned. If you are in this awkward inbetween temperature region, discussion of wind, rain, fog and leaves (early/late to emerge/fall, wrong type on railway lines) is an acceptable alternative. Which reminds me, if you are ever late for anything it is customary to make a comedic excuse - for instance if you enter a lecture theatre late, you should anounce to everyone that you were delayed by water buffalo on the Staines by-pass, or had to perform an emergency exorcism - you'll think of something.

Never buy denim jeans in the UK. They are about 5 times to cost you are used to. Stock up on your favourites.

Really? Why would you say it's not a good uni?

Lovely...I completely forgot that I've got to get used to a whole new system of units. What on earth is stone? Guess I've got to do some google searching lol. Gotta get to used to the time, too. We don't use 24 hour clock here.

Lol thanks for the tips. They were actually very helpful.

.............................what? So the English DO use Fahrenheit, but only when it's hotter than 65, but when its cold you use Celsius...

And you're completely ****ing me with that "comedic excuse" part, right?

.............................what? So the English DO use Fahrenheit, but only when it's hotter than 65, but when its cold you use Celsius...

And you're completely ****ing me with that "comedic excuse" part, right?

Lovely...I completely forgot that I've got to get used to a whole new system of units. What on earth is stone? Guess I've got to do some google searching lol. Gotta get to used to the time, too. We don't use 24 hour clock here.

Lol thanks for the tips. They were actually very helpful.

.............................what? So the English DO use Fahrenheit, but only when it's hotter than 65, but when its cold you use Celsius...

And you're completely ******* me with that "comedic excuse" part, right?

Hi!

I'm going to Brunel University this fall to pursue a postgraduate degree...and honestly, I'm a little nervous of facing the unknown.

As I've never visited the UK before, I'm walking into a very unfamiliar territory. Are there any peculiarities about England that will throw me off when I come?

I already know that the English drive on the left side of the road. Our "first floor" is your "ground floor." We don't use the metric system. We only use the 12-hr clock. For the English, the day comes BEFORE the month when writing the date...

But is there anything else I should know? Do you guys tip your waiters and waitresses?

Is there a website, or a YouTube video, that will help me answer all these questions?

Thanks!

So I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for giving me such a comprehensive look at English life/culture. All your tips were funny, thoughtful, extremely helpful, and really useful.

This whole entire thread, 10 pages worth, literally be my Bible when I'm in England.

Thanks again!