Day 2 - Life without a car

Today I woke up at 11:45, 3 or 4 hours after I planned, and 45 minutes after I was supposed to stop by the international students office. But it was good because I think i'm caught up on sleep already. Today I'm surprised at how early it is in Norman, as opposed to yesterday when I was surprised at how late it is here.

Life is a lot different without a car. It's good in some ways, but it's definitely less convenient. The biggest problem for me is that there is NOTHING good to eat within walking distance. I think I'm gonna go get a bike tomorrow, even if only so I can get to some better restaraunts and grocery stores.

Today I went to ASDA, which is owned by Wal-Mart and is a similar concept, but the actual store is quite different. I think I bought too many groceries, or at least put too many in each bag. 3 of my 4 bags broke while I was walking home. Fortunately, a couple nice girls helped me carry my stuff the rest of the way.

It was an interesting experience shopping at ASDA. The store is different from any in the U.S., and so are the prices. I don't understand them sometimes. For example... a 2 litre bottle of Coke is £1.35 ($2.36), but a 2 litre bottle of ASDA generic cola is only 18p (32 cents). Clothes were very cheap. I saw fairly nice dress shirts for £3 and jeans for £10. Even in the mall I saw shirts advertised £2. And yet a can of pringles is £1.38 ($2.42, compared to $0.99 at the U.S. Wal-Mart). Fruit, milk, bread, and orange juice are cheaper than in the U.S. But almost everything else is about 50-100% more. All the prices include a 17% tax, so that might have something to do with it. Minimum wage here is almost $9/hr, which might help explain the outrageous prices at fast-food places. Also, many items here are imported, and those tend to be more expensive.

I like trying all of the different and interesting sodas here. However, most of them have a strong aspertame taste, eww. I guess they don't like real sugar here. But some of the ones that don't have artifical sweeteners are really good!

By the way, the road system near the Reading Town Centre makes no sense at all! I spent an hour walking around in circles last night trying to find London Road, which is actually two different streets that seem to intersect each other. With the cloudiness and lack of consistent direction with the streets, it's nearly impossible to know north from south. I'm even thinking of getting a little compass to carry around with me.

posted by Matt @ 10:48 PM