Why yes, I am American

I've found that it is pretty strange what triggers an overwhelming sense of American identity. In a lot of ways, life in the UK is very similar to life in good ole US of A. Sure, the pronunciation is different and they've got different names for some things, but generally things are pretty similar. But the other day I was walking through campus on my way to the library wearing jeans and a hoodie with my iPod blasting something or other and it dawned on me that in that moment I was incredibly American. Hoodie & jeans are practically the college student's uniform, right? Wrong. I have yet to see a British girl wearing a hoodie around. It is all the international kids that wear sweatshirts and such. It is a bit more common to see guys in sweatshirts though. Also, if you are a British girl attending college, almost without fail you are wearing a short skirt and opaque black tights and heel-less boots pretty much everyday. If you're bored, you might mix it up with a pair of short shorts on top of tights. That's not to say that there aren't girls in jeans, it is just much like the Ugg Boots phenomenon only much more popular. And then there's the iPod, standard accessory for most of us American college kids, but not used in public much here. You'll see people listening to them on the train or something, but very rarely walking around or even in the library. And then there's the ice cream. I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream, which in America is described as Chocolate Ice Cream with Gooey Marshmallow & Caramel Swirls & Fudge Fish. Here, and I kid you not, it is "Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallow, Caramel & Chocolatey Shaped Fish." Who knew fish could be shaped like chocolate?

Unrelatedly, I did laundry today and it cost me the equivalent of $10 to do 2 loads of laundry. TWO loads! Sheesh, now I understand why the British tend to be much more lax about wearing clothes more than once.