Things that will confuse me when I get back to the United States...

7 May 2012

With less than two months before I leave Spain (and less than three months before I´m back in the United States), I´ve been thinking about what re-entry will be like. I´ve studied abroad before and going back is always a bit of a challenge. However, after being away from the United States for nearly a year, I´ve been reflecting on the things that will confuse me when I get back to the States.

Here´s the list (in no particular order):

1. Reading dates: Here in Europe dates are written day-month-year, and in the States they are written month-day-year. For some dates, it´s obvious because it couldn´t possibly be the 23rd month. Other dates are trickier, and I´ll have to try to remember which way I´m supposed to be reading the date. 
2. Reading calendars: Most US calendars are written starting with Sunday, but here most calendars start with Monday. It makes sense. Sunday and Saturday are part of the weekEND. So logically they should be at the end of the week. 
3. Temperatures: Europe uses Celcius instead of Fahrenheit. At this point, I´m using a mixture of the two. I know some key temperatures in Celcius--like 0, 20, -28 (to describe the South Dakota winter), 30. Other than those temperatures, I have no idea.
4. Leaving tips: Having worked in a food service job, I usually try to leave decent tips because I know what it´s like. In Spain, it isn´t customary to leave a tip because the bill already includes the tip. If you have been someplace and felt like you had a good time, the food and service was good, you might leave a 1€ tip. This just means when I get back to the US I´m going to seem like a cheap jerk because I´ve forgotten to tip. 
5. Metric System: After a year of figuring out the metric system because no one knows what 10 pounds, 1 gallon, or 5 feet means, I´m not sure what I´ll do.
6. English: Here the kids are learning British English--which makes sense since England is closer than the United States. However, it means that I've been using some British-isms with the kids--such as "have got," "rubber," "jumper," "lorry," and my personal favorite "lollipop lady." Who knew that a "lollipop lady" is a crossing guard?