The First Week

So what would be a good thing to do after you step off a plane, totally knackered after what was basically a 24 hour day? Oh yeah, that's right, go to an American basement pad and play Beer Pong!
Ok, so maybe this was a bad idea in retrospect, but it was the start of my American adventure. It has certainly been a turbulent five days, and I've slept in someone's house, then on a sofa with some College Football types (that's football in the American tradition, not real football), and then in a hotel which was like being a king (and so it should have been, at $125 a night!) but I am finally in my own space at 2033 F Street Apt #215!
After getting over the extreme homesickness I encountered the first couple of days, I've started to enjoy myself a lot more. America really is bigger than everywhere else, I considered this to be an exaggeration before I came but... well, I'll give you an idea. Yesterday, I went to the local 7/11 and bought a drink cup called a Double Gulp. This is a plastic cup you fill with the beverage of your choice (I had coke because it's my weakness!) When I did some digging around the web, I found some interesting facts about the Double Gulp. The calorific value was just over 800 calories. The amount of drink was 64oz, or roughly, as this website stated, 5.3 coke cans. At once. To top it all off the cost of it was $1.59, which in the exchange rate today is under a quid. Yes, I got 5 coke cans for under a quid. I also probably got Type 2 diabetes in the process, but that's rather besides the point, right?
I have been surprised that more people haven't asked about the accent. Everyone has been excited when they've found out, but it typical American style some of them I have found don't know the World that's not in front of their face (this seems to apply more to the older ones rather than people around my age however). A lot have been surprised by some of the differences, and I've had a few people quiz me on the 'great free healthcare system' we have in the UK. I've set them straight about that! Somebody actually, and I quote, said to me:

"Like, I heard if your baby's diaper needs changing, and you don't wanna change it, you can like, ring up the government and they'll, like, change the baby's diaper for you..."

A nice misjudgement of Social Services, I thought. If only it was that easy...Oh, and the heat. It is hot here, and there is no breeze. Every shop has it's air con on, and we have fans constantly going in the house. It really is something else! Haven't seen a drop of rain since last Thursday, and apparently I won't until about November.
I think that's enough for you to be getting on with, so I'll sign out. But I will leave you with my most spine-tingling moment of the whole week I think. Bombing down the freeway in a real American station wagon, windows open and music playing and what should come on the radio? All Right Now by Free. If you don't know the song by name, type it into youtube. You'll understand why it was such a great way to truly start my American adventure.