Expanding My British Dictionary

Hi friends...I have some new British phrases that I learned today:

• Dog's breakfast- a mess or muddle
  
• Dog's dinner- dressed or displayed in an ostentatiously smart manner
• Dog's bollocks- excellent - the absolute apex...important to make a note that bollocks itself means testicles. (the Brits are so odd)
  
• Nappys- diapers
• Row- most up to date Harry Potter readers would recognize this word, meaning fight or disagreement, however what I found interesting today is that it isn't pronouced Row as in the thing you do in a boat, but Row as in rhyming with Cow.

Today we sat through 3 hours of lecture on the European Union and British politics, aka British torture round two. I also learned I am a complete idiot today, which is always humbling. We took a 10 question quiz on the EU and I got two right...from guessing. Wow. My daily two hour tube time just transformed into two hour newpaper reading time.

I would now like to transition into dresscode. As I was warned, everyone here is always put together. Even if they are not super trendy glamazons, they are still a very well managed population. I have been here for a little over a week and am already used to not seeing t-shirts, sweat pants, and dirty tennis shoes. The tube rides are such a fabulous time to observe trends. All the men wear long peacoats with scarves...oh my lanta the scarves in this city--short ones, long ones, some as big as your head. Literally. Yesterday we saw some super trendy lady wearing a scarf as wide as and maybe 12 ft long, she was obviously fabulous.

Tomorrow is class registration day and a short orientation at the gallery, whoopie. This weekend we have plans to do some touristy things; check out the London Eye, some museums (hopefully the Tate Modern), Brick Lane market (where I hear they have a 24 hr bagel store!!) etc. Tonights the date with my Frenchman and as seen from the previous blog postings I understand Scott and Jill are a little worried, so I promise to be extra cautious and "aware of my surroundings" a favorite quotation by Mr. Scott Marsh.

All for now. Love love!