NZ vs US

Just a little something for entertainment purposes until I have time to give a real update. And ok actually it’s not a competition. It’s just a list of similarities and differences. But if I’m being completely honest, NZ would be winning the hypothetical competition right now. 

Similarities

• The OU campus is pretty much like any other US college campus I’ve seen
  
• People enjoy partying/drinking/general shenanigans
  
• I have seen McD, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks
  
• There is a club called The Monkey Bar that used to be a church. From what I understand, it’s quite similar to the Church Brewery in Pittsburgh (except, of course, that’s in a wild club instead of a chilled out brewery)

Differences

• They say “ay” at the end of a lot of their sentences, even if it’s not a question (I might as well have driven 20 min over the border for this)
  
• They have gummy bears knock-offs that taste exactly the same. Only they’re called Jelly Babies and are actually shaped like babies. Mildly disturbing
  
• An obvious one: they drive on the left side of the road. It may seem like this wouldn’t affect someone without a car, but even as a pedestrian it takes some getting used to.
  
• Everything is so much more relaxed here! People are nowhere NEAR as racially sensitive as they are in the US. You can walk around with open alcohol on the streets. People are literally falling to the ground in bars/clubs because they are so drunk, and the bouncers just look at them and walk away (not saying this is necessarily a good difference, but definitely entertaining). The atmosphere is just relaxed. Overall, it’s fantastic and such a relief. No one has a stick up their ass about some random non-issue.
  
• Generally, but not always, the toilet, shower, and sink are all located in a different room (sometimes one giant room, but have a door separating all 3).
  
• Crystal meth is known as P. (I didn’t become a junkie, I read it in a magazine.)
  
• They have a ton of fish and chips places. There is a fish and chips place near the library that has fries better than McD. I may have already eaten there like 5 times.
  
• A master’s thesis is called a dissertation, and a doctoral dissertation is called a thesis. So when I get back to the US, I may be able to pretend I have a PhD- I can talk about the dissertation I wrote ;)
  
• If you like something, you’re “keen on” whatever it is.
  
• Parking lots are called car parks
  
• If you say something sarcastic, you say "Jokes!" after it. For example, someone could say, "Jackie is the most punctual person I know. Jokes!"
  
• Currency is also in dollars, but the only bills they have are $100, $50, $20, $10, and $5. They have coins that are $2, $1, 50c, 20c, and 10c. They have nothing lower than 10c. The price of everything either ends in 0 or is rounded up. It's actually quite nice to not have nickels and pennies, although it's a little difficult getting used to the spastic amount of coins.

There’s plenty more, of course, but that’s what I could think of off the top of my head. More to come later on I’m sure. I hope to give more of an update on my actual life in the near future, possibly this weekend. I’m surprisingly busy right now, and there will be a lot to tell once I get a chance to jot it down.