away laughing on a fast camel's blog

A year ago, I was in a pretty good place. I was seventeen years old, I'd left school, had my first ever job, and was about to head off to university to study a subject I'd been in love with for about ten years.

Right now, I'm back in a pretty good place again. I'm eighteen, going into second year -- and I've somehow landed myself this amazing place in a student exchange programme that means I'm studying across the river from New York City for pretty much the same cost as studying back home. I'm well aware of how awesome this is, and I plan to take advantage of it as much as I can while also passing all my classes.

But it's also ... very different.

I've been to the States before, but only for (vacations) holidays. Two weeks on the west coast when I was fourteen; a week in Atlanta last year. Right now, I'm adjusting to actually living here, trying not to be a tourist. It's a pretty different way of thinking, as anyone who's lived in Britain (especially Glasgow or London) will know -- there's just a different attitude to the place. A different atmosphere. NYC is unique, I have discovered, but the States in general ... everyone is, on the whole, so much nicer here. In British cities/schools/anywhere, the default assumption by anyone and everyone is that if they do not know you (or even, in the case of students, if they do), you are causing trouble. But I haven't seen that here yet. It probably exists -- this is New York, people must be automatically suspicious in a lot of places -- but it's not nearly as widespread, apparently.

There's also the accent and vocabulary. I have an odd voice at the best of times -- it's not Scottish, it's not English, it's somewhere in between, and I use slang from all over Britain -- but I acquire new quirks very quickly. I've been here two days and I already need to think for a moment before saying toilet/bathroom, holiday/vacation, taxi/cab; my habit of not pronouncing T's at all (butter = bu'er, water = wa'er) has shifted into pronouncing them as D's instead. In a few weeks, I will have a vague but very bad New York accent (probably a hard to place one) that I will actually be unable to avoid using.

As for classes -- I'm not registered for any yet. I'm going to speak with the Dean of Undergraduate Academics in the morning, and hopefully I'll work out a schedule that will get me the credits and work done that I need for second year back home, without being entirely overwhelming. College classes here are another thing that's different -- not necessarily harder or easier, but a different system. So while I'm acquiring my bad New Yorker accent, I'll probably be stressing about having four or five classes instead of just three.

And then it'll click, I know it will, and everything will work out.

I have a really good feeling about this year. 

I just hope it's not false hope.

Soda? Cola? Pop? What do you say? Any other regional words that set you apart?
Question submitted by Gladys.

... fizzy drinks.

Apart from that, we call them by their name -- "coke" can also mean "pepsi", though (people will ask for Coke but the restaurant may only have Pepsi), but yeah ... it's just fizzy drinks.

Other words? British slang in general, I guess, is all different to America -- but if I answer this as a Glaswegian with regards to other Brit slang, I can come up with a bit more.

We call chavs "neds", for example. 's just what they are -- neds. White trainers and tracksuits and council houses.

... actually, this is hard, because I'm so used to Glaswegian slang that I don't know what's specifically Glaswegian, what's Scottish, and what's British in general. Anyone else say "a piece and butter"? Yeah, I don't know.

Context is everything, really.

Hmm. It's always difficult thinking of something to write for a new blogging service.  Especially for a first entry.

And I already fail at being classy, with that opening line.

Hello world! Yes, I am at heart a Livejournaler, and so I doubt I'll use this service much. What do I think of Vox so far, though? Well. I don't like this typing interface much, for a start. But uh, apart from that, I don't have much of a complaint so far. I'll use it over the next couple days and see.

I'd do more of a proper intro post, but ... everyone I know on here at the moment knows me already. Er. But just in case -- I am Cati, I am eighteen, and I live in Glasgow. I don't have a job, because nowhere in this city hires students for summer, apparently. Therefore my summer is being spent online and in coffee shops and bars in town.

I go to university in Dundee, but I'll be in Stevens Insititute in New Jersey for the whole of next year, minus a trip home for Christmas. I am trying not to get too enthusiastic about planning trips and things for while I'm there, but I am going to Dragon*Con this year, and it is going to kick the arse out of all other cons, for realz. I certainly hope to see some of you there, and if not, then at some point during the year.

And I think that is all for now. Adios, my friends, and clear skies. *salute*