For those of you who don’t know, people in the UK drive on the wrong left-side of the road. (Okay, if you didn’t know that, you may as well stop reading this.) And while I’m not driving while I’m here, and haven’t spent a whole lot of time in busses or taxis (Because, everything is within walking distance when you live in the city centre), I’ve still had to learn a very important lesson: Knowing when to look left and look right.
When you’re crossing the street in America, after growing up there, you probably just instinctively look left when you’re crossing the street because that’s where the cars are coming from (Yes, it sounds wrong. But literally, if you’re crossing the street at a normal crosswalk, the cars that would hit you first are on your left because they drive on the right side of the road. Think about it.) So, I’ve finally just gotten used to looking right instead of left when I’m about to cross the street.
I noted in earlier blogs that I almost got run over by everything the first 2 weeks here, because I was constantly messing up. I would see a car pulling up to a light and I’d cross the street going one direction, and think I had made it with plenty of time to spare after the halfway mark on the street, but that halfway mark is where that car is always going. Always, without fail. It’s confusing. And I’d gotten sort of used to it until I went to Munich a few weeks ago. I’d completely forgotten they drive on the right-side of the road there, and it completely messed me up.
Honestly, I’ve heard people here talking about renting cars and taking day trips around the UK, and it absolutely terrifies me. Not only am I just now (6 weeks later) getting used to looking right instead of left when crossing any street, but the road signs are also completely different here. In Dallas, we have like one roundabout. In Edinburgh, there are roundabouts at every turn. Can you imagine trying to learn to drive on the left-side of the road and encountering a roundabout at your first stop?! I literally have nightmares. I’m still confused as a pedestrian when I see those, so I avoid the corners with those at all costs.
I know roundabouts aren’t a European thing (Hey, isn’t Greencastle the roundabout capital of the US?) But I still would never be able to wrap my head around driving on the other side of the road and having to go in a circle with cars going like two directions (because I think they are? idk.)
“But, Bronwyn. Are you really going to spend a whole blog talking about cars?” you might be wondering.
I’ll tell you…Apparently, mostly, yes. But, I also want to give my two-pence (lol) about the walking directions here.
You would think, because people in Scotland drive on the left-side of the road, that they would also walk similarly. I realize people aren’t vehicles, but in America, you drive and walk on the right. I just assumed the reason I was bumping into every living thing my first few weeks here was because Americans, or others who drive on the right, were walking on the incorrect side of the sidewalk (I mean, it makes sense, considering how many international students there are at this school.)
As it turns out,–I’ve researched this–people don’t walk on a specific “side” in the UK. At all. It’s madness.
According to a Wikipedia search I frantically finally did last week, the people in the UK use body language as indication of where they’re walking. So, they walk any side they want! But the confusing thing is that the doors aren’t willy-nilly. The doors, for the library and to restaurants, are labeled indicating that the door on the left is the one you walk through when entering somewhere. So, even though they chaotically walk every direction possible (literally, even if there’s a metal divider in the middle of the sidewalk), they still have this random system of doors that also takes some getting adjusted to.
Because I spent the majority of my first few weeks running into inanimate objects and homeless people (since I guess I don’t give off an easily understandable body language to indicate where I’m going to walk), I’ve decided that this is one thing where Americans have it right. Probably the only thing, honestly. You see, because most places in the world do have a customary “side of the sidewalk” to walk on, the people in the UK have trouble when visiting other places. They struggle because they don’t know that there are societal rules like this in most other places around the world, and they therefore don’t know to look up the unwritten rules like this (or just try to figure them out) in any given location. So, because they walk like crazy people here, they look crazy when they travel. And I don’t know why, but knowing this makes me feel better about all the silly times I’ve run into people in stairwells, doorways, out on the street, and even while jogging.
And on that note, I’d like to end this blog talking less about walking and looking, and more about the food I’ve made these last few weeks:
Number of times I’ve eaten broccoli, spinach, chicken, rice, and chow mien sauce: 2.
Number of times I’ve eaten broccoli, spinach, chicken, and chow mien sauce (because rice takes WAY too long to make): 100.
Number of times I’ve forgotten to take a picture of my disgusting food because I make the same thing every meal: All but 3.
How many weeks of eating chicken it took for me to finally stop buying chicken: 6.
How many weeks of eating eggs, beans, and toast it took for me to finally buy yogurt and granola: 5.
How many weeks it took for me to finally take a picture (Albeit, while running) of where I run twice a week: 5.
And on that note, I bid you goodbye until next week when I swear I’ll have a more interesting post because…I’m going to Dublin this weekend!!!!!!!
Ok, bye.
an idiot aBRONd 