The US vs the UK: My Biggest Culture Shocks so Far

I've been in the United Kingdom for one week - here are the main things that I've noticed are different than the United States.

1. The process for getting your bachelors degree. In the UK, you only do three years of university (not college, that's something different) so you skip over all gen eds. As soon as you come in, you start classes specifically for your major. This, I've noticed, has pros and cons. I've taken multiple Excel courses, accounting courses, and econ courses that are helpful in class, where my classmates have not.

2. You only get one grade for the whole semester. Everything is riding on a final (all of mine are 10-16 page papers), so if you fail that, you fail the class.

3. Seasoning. I knew the stories of the UK not using salt, but I just assumed that was a bit exaggerated. I was wrong. Pretty much everything I've eaten so far has needed salt, and yet, you rarely find salt shakers on the table. I took a trip to the market specifically for salt.

4. Public transportation and how little I know about it. I took the bus for the first time the other day and thank goodness I was with people, because I could not understand how to read the bus sign. However, it's really nice taking the bus places and having access to cheap transportation. Definitely different from the United States.

5. How people drive. I'm not talking about how people drive on the opposite side of the road, I'm talking about the force that people drive with. I watched people drive around the airport pick-up zone for over an hour, and everybody drives so aggressively compared to what I'm used to. Roads are narrow, people are walking everywhere, it's very stressful to watch.

6. The weather here is way different! The first few days I was here, it was in between the low 70s and high 60s. It quickly began to drop to the 60s, and now we're in the low 50s. It feels like a proper fall, something we don't usually get in North Carolina! People (not me) are still wearing shorts and a t-shirt, even though we're headed towards winter weather.

7. Everywhere you go, there's alcohol and people smoking. SMOKING. More people vape than they do smoke, but it's been a loooong time since I've seen someone with a cigarette. If you thought vaping was a problem in America, it's much, much worse here. I was not ready to find empty vapes on the ground everywhere I went.

8. There's a club on campus, and I was not expecting that. It makes sense, students can drink and it's much safer (and cheaper) than going out, but it's definitely different than back home at UNCG.

Of course, I've only been here a week, so I'm bound to find more things that are wildly different from what I'm used to. But for now, these are my top 8! If you ever plan on attending a university of Europe, or coming to the UK in general, hopefully you'll find these tips helpful!