Day 6: NINE ROOMMATES. NO CUPS.

(Also, in a completely unrelated matter, our toilet is broken)

We slumped around the table. A stressful day of moving into our fully-furnished* apartment had just ended. Now we all just wanted to relax. Have a drink.

That's when we discovered the problem. No cups to drink the refreshments we had bought from the grocery store. So, like any resourceful (read: lazy) college student, we improvised with whatever cup-like items we could find in the house:

Me: Drank cranberry juice out of the carton.
Brad W.: Tossed back swigs of coke from a shot glass.
Will H.: Chugged coke from a wine glass.
AJ C.: Gulped down Strongbow from a "sapphire" Coca-Cola glass he received with his chicken tenders at McDonald's.
Sarah M.: Sipped tea from a mug that stated matter-of-factly "I ♥ Mum"


No London home is complete without a mug stating that you heart your mum.

When you're in another country, it's probably best not to sweat the little things. For once, I need to be laid back.
Two reasons:
a. I'm in a foreign country. That's just awesome.
b. I'm in a foreign country. What the hell is going on? I barely can function in America. And you expect me to fix a toilet in Great Britain.

Oh that reminds me. Other cultural adjustments we'll need to make in our apartment:
No dryers - Londoners do battle with dirty laundry with just a washer and a drying rack. It's a losing battle, in my opinion.
Faucets - Sinks here have a separate faucet for hot water and cold water. Lukewarm water is achieved by clapping your hands real fast while both faucets are running.
TV Stations - Only five measly channels. Brits pay a yearly television license fee. It gives viewers five terrestrial television stations (BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel Four and Five). The good news: no commercials.* Oh and also lotsa American tv courtesy of the CW.
Paper money - The English love coinage. There's a penny, a two pence (tuppence), a five pence, a 10 pence, a 20 pence, a 50 pence, a one-pound coin (a quid) and a two-pound coin. However, the country lacks one and two pound bills. Other than the change overload, there's one other problem I foresee: a severe shortage of people making it rain.
Toilet - One toilet doesn't flush. I don't think it's actually a British thing. It's just, well um, not good.

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Foot notes
*Fully-furnished except for the fact we don't have Internet, and we won't have it for awhile. So for us college students, in actuality, it feels like our house is completely unfurnished. We reacted to the news of no Internet like the world was ending. It reminded me of a scene in Airplane II when the passengers learn the spaceship is off-course, being torn apart by asteroids and the crew has run out of COFFEE!?!?! Yeah, we reacted similarly.

Estate manager: Your plumbing is broken
Us: OK. We can go without that a couple days.
Estate manager: There's a gas leak in your stove.
Us: Ooh that's exciting. It's like an adventure.
Estate manager: Also, you won't have Internet for at least a week.
Us: AHHHHHH! How do you expect us to live in this gulag?

*Cable television and satellite does exist for a price. And actually, most Brits receive more than five channels because there's something called "freeview." It's a whole complicated matter that's not exactly easy to explain. Nor do I understand it. So instead just log off your computer. Turn on your television and watch another rerun of Deal or No Deal. There. Much easier.