(Missed part one? Read it here)
6) Beware of the drinks deals!
It’s no secret that the English are big drinkers; it was a fact I was well aware of before I got to York. Still, nothing could’ve prepared me for the sheer amount of alcohol available to the average student.
Each bar and club in town will, without fail, have a plethora of drinks deals on at any given student night. 2 for 1 VKs, Jagerbombs, Snakebites and Kryptonite may at present sound like gibberish, but after Freshers Week it will no doubt be all too familiar. A word of advice: if you, like me, come from a country with significantly stricter alcohol legislation, BE CAREFUL.
Six shots for five pounds may be a bargain, but that doesn’t mean you have to down them all by yourself. You don’t want to have to learn the hard way exactly what a treble vodka is.
7) The food really isn’t all that bad
Beans, chips, pasties, tuna and potatoes – the classic English student food comes in various shades of brown. And I’m not gonna lie; it does take some getting used to. The best advice is, take it step by step. Start off by having beans on toast with an English flatmate, and by summer term you should be forking down jacket potatoes and sausage rolls with the best of them.
If you’re a canny cook, there’s always the option of preparing your native culinary treats from scratch. And if not, well, takeaway isn’t too expensive. In any case, probably best to start hoarding those Domino’s 2 for 1 coupons sooner rather than later.
8) Be prepared for some language confusion
Before you come to York you will most likely be very confident in your English skills. After all, you are doing a degree at a high-ranking English university. However when you arrive and meet your fellow students, a whole new section of the English language will open itself up to you. Initially, a large chunk of informal English words and expressions will make no goddamn sense. At all.
“Rank”, for instance, does not refer to someone’s military standing, but actually means disgusting. Taking the piss does not require you to go to the toilet; it means to make fun of. To pull someone is to hook up with them, and not to physically drag them after you (though I won’t promise that hasn’t been part of the process for some).
On top of that you will be introduced to a plethora of regional accents, each complete with their own strange expressions and at times indecipherable pronunciations. There are countless examples, but I will leave you with my favourite one. In Newcastle, the word ‘craic’ (pronounced crack) according to urban dictionary means ‘general banter and good times had by all’. One of the editors of this fine publication is from Newcastle and I spent a bit too long wondering why she kept talking about drugs.
9) You WILL get Fraped
Ah, the Facebook rape. You know, when you forget to log off your Facebook account and your flatmates decide to have a bit of fun with it? Often includes embarrassing statuses, awkward pokes, liking of strange pages, friend requesting people you don’t know and sending messages? No? Yeah, I didn’t know what it was either.
This is something all students will experience at some point, but at least the English will be familiar with the concept. In naïve Norway and I suspect, most other countries, people generally respect the sanctity of the Facebook page. Not here.
The best thing to do is obviously log off whenever you leave your room, but we all know you’re bound to slip up at some point. The second best thing to do is delete all familiy members from Facebook. Your mum might be upset at first, but at least it will spare you from having to explain to her why you’ve chosen to proclaim to all of facebook that you’re “an angry lesbian”.
10) The English are incapable of telling you where they’re from
This may sound strange, but after two years in England, I am convinced it’s true. Every English person seems to think they’re from about 15 different places.
Test this out in freshers’ week. When you’re doing the rounds introducing yourself, they will ask you where you’re from. You will reply with your country. When you ask them where they’re from, they will reply with one of three things; their village, their town or the biggest nearest city. Among them, I’m sure this makes perfect sense. For foreigners? Not so much.
One of my best friends, who I’ve lived with for two years, has at different points in time told me she lives in Southampton, Winchester and Droxford. To this day, I don’t understand where her house actually is…
Also, beware of this: a lot of English people from the south will tell you they’re from London. They might very well be from London, but for some reason they’ve also decided that 50 miles outside the city also constitutes as ‘London’. So don’t be surprised if a ‘Londoner’ asks you to come stay with them and you end up having to take a two-hour train ride with cranky commuters to get to Madame Tussaud’s.