Most of you are already well aware of the odd state of English driving, that is, drivers drive on the left side of the road. I knew that going in, and aside from a little confusion when crossing the street--easily remedied by the helpful street signs indicating which direction I should look to cross--this matter affected me little. Or so I thought.
A rather more pressing problem, I soon realized, was that in normal pedestrian walking, I am faced with a terrible conundrum when facing an oncoming person strolling purposefully forward. Should I move to the right or left? Usually, I follow that rule of shifting to the right, and most Americans, if they give it any thought as they are walking, do the same. Here, though, I no longer know if that is standard, and each time I face that person walking towards me, a moment of panic arises, and I usually end up awkwardly performing a sudden evasive maneuver to the right (only left when I recover from panic a little sooner), and I walk away from the scene feeling horribly clumsy and bumbling.
I finally got around to being touristy, so I met up with some fellow Swatties to walk around London, and I discovered that I was really close to all the really famous places. Of course, I'm not a very good tourist, because after taking about 5 pictures, I realized my camera was out of power. To add to the folly, London Eye was closed, and Westminster Abbey wasn't open that day. However, I got to catch up with friends, and have an enjoyable day out, and eat amazing Italian food, so all in all, I had a lot of fun.
And, since my courses are finally settled, here's a little look at what's occupying my next few months, academically:
Sex, Genes, and Evolution
Molecular Evolution
Field Course in Ecological Genetics (in Spain!!)
The Emergence and Spread of Modern Humans
The best part of this is that the first two classes are each for half the term, and the field course in a week in Late April, so I am currently only taking two classes, and I have both Wednesday and Friday off! Of course, I have to figure out how often I'm going to go do research for my Biology studies...
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Melinda,
ReplyDeleteI can't stand the English for that reason alone. Also, are you following your own blog?
-Chris
I had an AWFUL moment this morning, actually, when I was walking out of the grocery store. A woman came walking in, and we did the whole shifting from side to side in the same direction like three times before I got past. I'm sure you can imagine my awkward, "Sorry" as I basically high tailed it out of there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how it happened--I thought it was silly and I wasn't going to follow my own blog, but somehow, like the second or third time I looked on who was following, one of them was me! @.@ It wasn't my doing...
Melinda! I asked someone about walking on the left side, and she laughed at me and said that Brits walk on the righr side. But all the signs in the tube stations tell me to walk on the left side! I am so thoroughly confused. And I thought of you.
ReplyDeleteThat is confusing...I still have no answers. Kudos for trying!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've found in Edinburgh that people tend to move to the right when walking on the sidewalk or down divided stairs.
ReplyDeleteyaaaay Italian food in London. I miss you!
ReplyDelete