the art of being foreign

The hard part about being the new, foreign girl is that no matter how nice and welcoming people are, at the end of the day I've still only known them for a few weeks. I can't expect to be a part of the bonds that they've been building for three years now. No one knows me that well yet, and I don't know them that well either. There's not that deep comfort yet. It's okay. It's to be expected.

The good part about being the new, foreign girl is that I'm allowed to act like a moron and get away with it. It's really just lots and lots of great fun every single day. For example...

• Continually attempting to get into the driver's side of the car when someone is giving me a ride in their car
  
• Trying to mix Texas slang with English slang and getting weird looks when I end up saying "cheers, yall!"
  
• Missing the memo about girls bringing scarves to cover their hair on a class field trip to a mosque and ending up with some girl's sweatshirt tied around my head for 2 1/2 hours.
• Accidentally saying "thanks for the casserole!" to a friend who made me meat pie. Meat pie is not casserole...and this is a bad mistake to make....
• Sending my professor an email to explain that I missed class because I was taking a long weekend in Wales, "an opportunity I just didn't think I could pass up!". He wasn't very happy about my honesty and said that my decision "disturbed" him.
• Showing up to class when it's been canceled because I'm still not on the email list.
• Repeatedly making coffee when someone at Cuppa or the homeless shelter asks for "a brew". In my mind you brew coffee, but in England "a brew" is tea. Always tea.
  
• Sprinting across the street every time I cross because I don't understand traffic and always think I'm going to get hit by a car.
• Getting a text that says "Did I leave my glasses in your sauna" (sauna being in reference to how hot my room is) and checking the bathroom for the glasses because I thought "sauna" was British for bathroom.
• Holding up each coin in my wallet and squinting at it to see how much it's worth every time I go to pay for something.
  
• Getting awkward looks for complimenting people's pants...because pants are what you wear UNDER your pants here.
• Getting soaking wet because I didn't realize that snow melts...
• Getting laughed at every time I ask where the trash can is. No trash cans in England, only rubbish bins.
• Trying to imitate people's accents and just getting laughed at...
  

Being foreign is hard at times, but most of the time, it's just a lot of fun.