Quote Originally Posted by MacMillan of Rathdown View Post
Suppose you are 25 years old and grew up in the United States. You will have missed out on 25 years of grass roots "pop" UK culture. You won't know any of the soap operas, what music was cool, or what teams did what, when. You won't have grown up with kids TV, Top of the Pops, the Beano, or Christmas Pantos. You won't know any of the TV presenters, you won't get most of the jokes. You will have very little in common with your peers. Ultimately you will be a stranger in a strange land. And by-and-large that is how you will be treated.
Well don't scare the poor guy. Look, while I was living in Ireland, I think I picked up those things pretty quickly. It's all about immersion. If you just hang out with ex-pats, go to ex-pat pubs, watch American sports on TV, and ignore everything around you then yeah, you're going to be a stranger. But you gotta get out there. Ask people what is going on. Be observant. Educate yourself and find out what is popular. Familiarize yourself with the politics and political history.

The only thing I had trouble with was brown sauce. I just never understood it! Give me some good ol' A1, Sweet Baby Ray's, or Heinz 57 any day.