Currency and Tidbits

The British pound is worth a lot more than the American dollar right now. When I converted my money I got about £585 for $1000 which i thought really sucked. However, while i've been over here I've learned that the exchange rate and the prices of things here kind of even it out.

Here is my grocery list for earlier today:

Loaf of bread £.59
2 really cute porcelain mugs £.99
A huge box of Cheerios £2.76
Pringles (special really good tasting Pringles) £1.99
Hand wash (which I thought was hand santatizer) £.46
Strawberry Jam £.89
Honey Ham £2.69
2 liter of milk £.86
ketchup £.55
Peanut Butter £1
Organic potatoes (a pretty good sized bag) £1
4 organic apples £.30

In total I spent £14.80 for everything. And for a 5 liter bottle of mineral water it costs £.67 Today at Subway my friend and I shared this deal for £5.99 you got two 6 inch subs, two fountains drinks, and two chips or cookies.

So things even out a bit.

A couple of the people that I've met have studied abroad before and are more experienced at traveling than I am. My one friend introduced me to a pass that will let us stay at hostels really cheaply. It says that for £9 we will have access to over 4,000 hostels worldwide, but for some reason I just find this too good to be true. Other people know about megabus deals that will take us from Aberdeen to Edinburgh for £1 and then there are really cheap airflights to other places as well. So that will all help with the budget and traveling!! I have a feeling that I'm not going to be too heart broken about leaving my flat for extended periods of time. It looks as if Jessie and I aren't going to be having any Friday classes this semester, and I'm pretty sure other people won't either. There are a lot of groups on campus that go on trips throughout the semester so I'm looking into joining them.

It's pretty interesting ordering anything to eat here, because I've come to realize even if it's the same brand it's probably not the same product. Everything is different, and it all has different names here. For example crisps are potato chips, and chips are actually french fries. But I'm hoping I'll get the hang of it.

Another thing that is really weird is the driving!! I've always known that people in Europe drive on the opposite side of the road, but I never really thought of what kind of difference that would make in just walking around. Crossing the road is definetely an interesting experience, because you're always expecting cars to come from the opposite direction. So when you cross the street you have to look to the left instead of the right. It sounds like it should be easy to just look the other way, but looking to the right is a hard habit to break!!

Also people in Scotland are very very friendly. We've been asking people for directions all day, and everyone we've come across has been very helpful "Oh ye just walk a wee bit in that direction, and then turn to the right, and then when ye walk a wee more distance turn to ye left"
Tomorrow we are hoping to explore the city more, and hopefully get to take some pictures!! Yay! So tomorrow I will hopefully be able to post some awesome Scotland pictures for you all to see!!