21 things.

I've learned a lot over the past year, and over the past 21 years too-  so I thought I'd stay in keeping with the birthday theme and write 21 observations I've made about life in the U.S, and also life in general!

PS. Don't be expecting nuggets of earth-shattering wisdom here at all!

On Food: 

- Easter Eggs do not exist, which I think is very sad. Also, trying to explain why Brits might roll eggs down a hill at Easter is pretty tricky. 

- Americans are spoilt with the amount of flavours of Pop Tart available - I'm always being reminded that if you haven't tried a S'Mores Pop Tart, you haven't lived. 

- I didn't realise how lucky we are that curry is practically a national British dish these days. I don't think I'll ever find a decent tikka masala within these United States. 

- Likewise, I'll probably never experience better Mexican food than I've had here in California (well, maybe in Mexico). 

- My old obsession with drinking tea and sparkling water has been replaced with two new drinking obsessions: iced lattes and root beer. 

- However, my favourite beer is unchanged: Stella, as always. Here, I can drink it here and look all Euro-chic, as opposed to chavvy. Blue Moon is now a close second though!

- I wish Prawn Cocktail crisps were widely available. 

On Things Which Are Not Acceptable:

- Spray Deodorant. Who knew?! I'm constantly getting death glares about my refusal to switch to roll-on. 

- Referring to San Francisco as 'Frisco' or 'San Fran' in front of locals; 'SF' is more widely accepted. 

- Not leaving tips for bartenders. It's meant to be a dollar a drink. I can't imagine doing this in England, there'd be pound coins rolling all over the place!

On Things Which Are Surprisingly Acceptable: 

- Skateboarding as an acceptable mode of transport for adults, and not just 12 year-old boys. 

- wearing cowboy boots, even when you're not at a rodeo. 

- Public Transport, though this is San Francisco-specific. One rule: the Muni metro is far superior to the buses, in that they're faster and less claustrophobic, meaning it's less likely that someone will sneeze in your face. 

- Overly-dramatic news. We're definitely spoilt with the loveliness of the unbiased BBC. 

On 'School Life' SF State:

- I didn't know that parentheses are brackets, that cursive is joined-up handwriting, and that a period is a full stop until I was educated outside of the United Kingdom. 

- though people often say I haven't had a 'real college experience' due to the lack of fraternities/sororities, cheerleaders and an American football team at SF State, I can honestly say I don't think it's made a difference to the amount of fun I've had! 

On Other Things I've Noticed: 

- On the whole, toilets are much closer to the ground here - slightly unnerving to say the least.

- Trying to explain the purpose of a bookies is practically impossible. 'What, gambling is nationwide?!'

- Jeopardy is an amazing gameshow. I wish we had it at home. I might watch it even more often than I used to watch Pointless. It's true that all student households must religiously watch at least one programme like this, and obsess about it. 

- An astounding lack of roundabouts. I sort of know why this is the case - in England, everyone would be far too polite about letting people go at stop signs - 'no, after you' - that no one would ever get anywhere.

- Americans expect you will know a lot about Europe. They're very disappointed when I tell them I've never been to Germany.