Saturday, May 3, 2008

Differences

I thought I'd make a list of what I've seen so far and I know there will be more, so more posts on that to come. :)

To list a few:

  1. The portions of food and drinks are smaller, but the alcohol and beer portions are the same or bigger. Makes perfect sense. :) I got a small sandwich at Quizno's (JMF-they have a pepper bar) and it was SMALL. I'd say 3 inches long maybe? I mean, come on.
  2. Restaurants don't refill your water unless you ask. The glasses are small and there is definitely no ice. Now, that actually makes sense. If it's cold, what do you need the ice for.
  3. Tons of grocery store differences. I love Special K with berries and yogurt clusters cereal and they trick you into thinking that it exists. And when you open the box, I would venture to guess there's 3 clusters in the whole dang box. False advertising I tell you.
  4. As to be expected - there are lots of word differences. I got lunch in Subway (lazy American thing to do) and I said I'd like "chips and a drink" so of course he thought I meant fries and a drink. Of course, right? "Oh right, I mean crisps and a drink. Didn't want you to go make me fries or anything."
  5. The credit card machine is brought to your table when you're done so that you can put in the tip amount and the pin number from the credit card. Then they print out the receipt there.
  6. You have to pay for your plastic bags at the grocery store. 22 cents each. I bought a canvas bag.
  7. Much greener here than the US - grass and environmentally :).
  8. There are switches that turn the outlets off and on. They should be turned off when not in use to save electricity.
  9. Light switches are turned on but pushing them down instead of up.
  10. Heat is powered by oil instead of gas in a lot of places.
  11. There are assigned seats at the cinema. You pick when you buy the tickets.
  12. Shower curtains come with 12 holes for the rings. The shower rod comes with 13 rings. The liner comes with 9 holes. 13 = 12 = 9 = HUH???
  13. It is extremely uncommon to have A/C anywhere. Being a Louisiana native, I'm pretty scared.
  14. The dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer are much smaller than I'm used to. Means double the loads of laundry and dishes prolly.
  15. TV - you all know how I'm a TV junkie. So here's the "craic" as they'd say: there are lots of American shows on here, but they are anywhere from 3 weeks old to 2 seasons old. I thought I was safe cause I can just go to abc.com and watch them online, but noooooo. A big fat warning comes up that says you have to be in the US. Well, if I were in the US I wouldn't need to watch them on the stupid website!!!
All of these differences are giving me lots of great ideas for new businesses here. I could be a frillionaire.

3 comments:

Ken Wheaton said...

You are not going to BELIEVE what happened on Lost this week!!! :)

Isabelle Baranda said...

Knowing how much I also love my TV, I didn't know if I should laugh for you (Murphy's Law), or cry for you.

So, I decided not to do either, but to help you instead. I found this contraption called a Sling Box. It is hooked up to a TV in the states (i.e., your mom's) and then you watch what's on TV through your computer. The site is: http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-av.

The only thing I haven't determined is: If the state-side TV doesn't have DVR do you have to watch them live? It would suck for you if you had to get your TV fix at 3am, for a 9pm show.

So question is...how much do you love those TV shows?
~ Isa

Isabelle Baranda said...

Forgot to ask a question re: #13.

Is that why the majority of Europeans stink? :-)