Final Thoughts

I am now back in the US after my month abroad.  I don’t have any great insights to offer about a month of vacation (unlike last summer where I had tons, ha!), except maybe that this was the most refreshing month of my summer and I feel great now -- energetic, excited, ready to start the next big thing... so on to my final year of school.

In lieu of parceled wisdom, I figure I’ll just share things that I think are worth knowing.  Like this: in England, most people are pretty disgusted by the idea of peanut butter and jelly.  They don’t mind peanut butter; it’s the jelly.  What Americans call Jell-O, they call “jelly”, so all these British people are imagining us smearing peanut butter on a block of orange Jell-O.  


I know.  I’m pretty disgusted, too.  (But for any British people, I promise peanut butter and strawberry jam is a good combination.)

These biscuits were on sale for the entire month of August, and I ate tons in the past month.  I brought several packs back with me, both milk chocolate and dark chocolate.  They’re sublime when dipped in tea or coffee.  Like basically all British children, David grew up on these biscuits (but the good kind with no chocolate because kids don’t need more sugar).  As a kid, he was allowed two biscuits with tea, and once when his mother looked away he stole six biscuits and danced around the garden shouting “I had six biscuits!”  He was harshly scolded and didn’t do it again.

I went to a football match for FC United of Manchester, a football club that was started and is owned and governed by football fans that got fed up with the way Manchester United was managed (a partial owner bought out the team and introduced tons of changes to please sponsors and inconvenience or exclude existing fans).  Football fans always sing songs throughout the match, most of which are pretty awful and bash the opposing team and its fans in an unsportsmanlike manner (though David and his brother insist this is essential for the atmosphere). But the new song we heard at the match last saturday was great!  We spent most of the 90 minute match singing

Woke up this morning feeling fine,

Got punk football on my mind!

We play football the way,

the way that we should,

Oh yeah

Something tells me I’m into something good.

When I was in London I yelled at some guy for leaving his starbucks cup on the street.  I actually shouted at him and told him to find a bin (which he didn’t).  I didn’t know littering was such a hot issue for me, but clearly it’s hot enough to make me belligerent. 

More interestingly, I was in London during the 2012 Olympics, and I have to admit, seeing the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge was pretty spectacular.

And most interestingly, when I was in London I visited the Harry Potter studio tour, which was SO UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME.  For me, at least.  If you’re not into Harry Potter or well up on tiny details of the books and the movies, I suspect it’s less awesome.  But I loved it, I’d recommend it to any HP fan that finds themselves in London, and I would absolutely do the tour a second time.  

Isn't Britain such a lovely place?  Yeah, I think so, too.