Quid & Fake Engagement Rings
I’ve got quite a few things to share since I arrived this past Saturday. I’m getting settled in, and haven’t cried in about 24 hours, so I’m gonna consider that an upward trend. I haven’t made a ton of new friends here, or really any friends yet. But that’s mostly because I’m kind of picky about who I choose to dedicate a lot of time to, and this whole orientation/welcome week thing is exhausting.
My flatmates are all wonderful. For the sake of privacy, I’ll be opting out of sharing their names, but you can at least know that the two Germans, Spaniard, and Swiss girls that I’m living with are all incredibly sweet and welcoming. I think they’re a bit more community oriented than I am, but I think I’ve done an okay job at explaining my need to be alone sometimes. We also decided to trade off cooking meals once a week, so each of us can share some cuisine from our home countries!
Aside from the people I’m living with, the friendship thing is still a work in progress. The other guy from my home university, whose name will also be kept private, is thankfully in the same boat as me and we’ve been sticking together these past few days. (Introverts unite!) Today, in fact, we went and explored York Minster and wandered the streets of the City Centre for a few hours while the sun was still out.
It all sounds like I’m so well-adjusted, right? Right?
It’s actually hilarious, because I had to buy another converter since I have too many things to plug in at once and blah blah blah...the point is, I was in a shop and I got to the counter and the girl rang up my brand spankin’ new converter and said, “That’ll be 15 quid, please,” all cheery and polite and, you know, British. And so, because I’m from the U.S. and forgot to study up on British slang before going abroad, I say, “Right. So is a quid more or less than a pound?”
And this girl lost it. And my face is turning red, and I’m half-laughing, half-staring in horror and confusion, and she just waves her coworkers over and is near tears and oh-my-gosh-make-it-stop, and she tells them what I said, and then they’re all laughing.
Finally, once she’d gotten her breath back, she looked at me and apologized profusely, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m not laughing at you, I promise! It’s just such a cute question! You don’t know anything!”
Also, it’s worth noting at this point that I still didn’t know the answer to my question and I just really wanted this converter, so I just kind of laughed and said something along the lines of “Sorry...I’m American.”
Turns out, ‘quid’ is slang for ‘pound.’ So like, when we say something is 10 bucks, we really mean 10 dollars. When they say 10 quid, they mean 10 pounds. And then I laughed for real, because it wasn’t too embarrassing after that, and then they all wanted to hear about where I was from in the U.S. and all the usual questions when people hear an American accent.
Then, just a few hours later, the embarrassment continued and I had to explain the most awkward piece of jewelry I own. As some of you may know, I’m in a relationship with a pretty cool guy and I like him a lot. But we’ll skip the cheesy stuff and get to the part where we decided it’d be a good idea if I wear a fake engagement ring while I’m in England, so that on the off-chance that somebody hits on me or wants to hit on me, they’ll see the ring and make assumptions and wander onto the next unlucky girl.
Now, to be clear, it’s not like I’m expecting to get hit on over here. This whole fake ring thing is specifically for the slim possibility that it may or may not happen, right? But instead of deterring people from hitting on me, I’ve gotten so many questions about whether or not I’m engaged or married or what-have-you. Which is even weirder, honestly.
Anyways, I’m rambling and this is turning out to be a lot longer of a post than I meant for it to be. Moral of the story: I am indeed just as awkward in England as I am in the States and even though I’m still a little homesick, I’m doing alright.
