What should i expect from uk?

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Kitten

We mostly wear tweed suits, and bowler hats! Really, we wear all sorts and have everything from goths, nu-ravers, preppy A&F types to kids in huge trainers with their underpants on show.

You can drive at 17, but our cars are miles smaller than yours as petrol is expensive.

Lots of black people live in the UK, especially in large cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. You will find that black kids look to America for influence and like hip hop and RnB. Visit Brixton in London and see how the white faces are in the minority...more dreds and funky weaves than I have ever seen!

We have all sorts of broadband internet providers but I don't know anyone who uses verizon as a mobile phone provider.

Football is huge here...but you call it soccer. David Beckham plays for LA Galaxy and was a national hero! You can maybe get AF on sky sports but you are better off watching rugby, its similar with lots of running around but the men are miles tougher and dont wear body armour ;)

British people are more reserved than Americans, but to say that Americans are all loud and obnoxious is just a stereotype...right?! We have a totally different sense of humour, we love irony, sarcasm and taking the piss out of ourselves this is sometimes lost in translation!

We don't have as much national pride as Americans and don't hang flags outside our houses or go mad for St Georges day at all. Hearing English people chanting UK UK and whooping would be the weirdest thing!

Most British people think themselves more liberal than Americans. We dont have as much of a religious influence, no fire and brimstone preachers here! We have a really multi-cultural society with a busy club and music scene, you can get away with living your life as long as you are not hurting others.

If you are from Texas then you are going to be cold! Winter is freezing with snow, wind and rain. Spring is lovely with cooler days, rain and watery sunshine. Summer in the south is warmer with some really gorgeous days and green green green! A scorching day would be around 25 degrees.

Hope you make it over here, will be an amazing experience :)

s g

We wear some American clothing - after all, America bombards us with consumerism.
What's "British Clothing?" We don't walk around in Bowler hats (look it up), having tea with the queen you know.
You have to be 17 to drive.
There are loads of black people in UK, especially in London. There are also Asians, Poles, Albanians and lots of other diverse cultures/races.
We have wireless here, but I'm not sure about Verizon.
We don't live in a 3rd world country. We are the second most powerful country in the world (after the place that you come from)
Considering the size of us, tha't's pretty good going. It's funny how no-one from US really knows anything about anywhere other than US!It's cold in Uk compared to Most parts of America, but it's not arctic. Also depends on where you will be. The further south, the (slightly) warmer it will be.
You probs won't get discriminated against for being American, but you might get discriminated against for being a bit stupid

jduck1979_2005

To drive, you've got to be 17yrs old and take a Theory & practical test (both done seperately, and cost a small fortune)...... see: http://www.2pass.co.uk/

Clothing..... American stuff should fit in OK, as in recent years when the currency exchange rate has been in the region of Â£1 = $1.70 - $2.00 quite a few Brits have been heading off to the USA on Holiday and doing some pretty serious shopping sprees over there while the rate was good (now it's around Â£1 = $1.46 when I checked it yesterday for another question)
For some more ideas of British style clothing, look up these websites of a few UK clothes stores:
http://www.matalan.co.uk/
http://www.additionsdirect.co.uk
http://www.hawkshead.com
http://www.debenhams.com/
http://www.marksandspencer.com/

Black people.... depends where you go....... some Towns / Cities you may see a fair number of 'em, while in others maybe just a couple of families.... even got a few famous ones:
http://www.lennyhenry.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_McDonald
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton

We don't have Verizon over here, but we do have VODAFONE (co-owners of Verizon Wireless) http://www.vodafone.co.uk

Temperatures....... this time of year (November - March), temperatures usually range from around -5C to 18C (23 to 64F)..... while April - September, your probably looking at temperatures between 10C - 35C (50 -95F)... occasionally pushing a little higher to around 40C (104F) a couple of times between June - August.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

High School sports...... Mainly consist of Football (soccer), Rugby, Cricket, Cross country running (which usually sucks, as they usually choose to do it on a freezing cold winters day), Cricket, Tennis + Athletics.......... and they may occasionally also do Basketball + Rounders / Softball, etc

To view American sports in the UK, you'll need a subscription to SKY Digital Satelite: http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyproducts/getsky
which you can now also watch online: https://skyplayer.sky.com/vod/page/home.do
Then you'll also need to add the NASN channel (part of ESPN): http://www.nasn.com/content/nasn/portal.nsf?open&region=uk
Basic sky package also gets you FOX NEWS, so you'll likely get some American sports news on that too.... while if I remember rightly, Motors TV often shows NASCAR + Indycar (or whatever they call it these days): http://www.motorstv.com/

As for if it's Liberal over here...... let's just say it's started getting a little bit TOO liberal in some ways, and some current laws being introduced have a slight air of the former East Germany about them (or are just plain insane):
http://www.politicallyincorrect.me.uk/
http://www.capc.co.uk/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092513/Has-child-CAFed--How-Government-plans-record-intimate-information-child-Britain.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082225/March-dustbin-Stasi-Half-councils-use-anti-terror-laws-watch-people-putting-rubbish-wrong-day.html?ITO=1490
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082864/Brew-told--tea-bag-task-force-targeting-office-kettle.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1079907/Boy-16-loses-cleaning-job-health-safety-rules-hes-young-use-Hoover.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7643175.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7674874.stm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1079205/RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-To-scaffold-rubbish-Sandwich-Stasi-thinks-workmans-lunch-industrial-waste.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1904035/No-wonder-prisoners-donandrsquot-want-to-leave.html

Geez a Drink.

We wear whatever we want. It probably wont be much different from people in america. Maybe a little more experimental and covered more because of the weather.
You have to 17 to drive.
18 to drink that's the important one :)
Yes, there are a lot of black people here- more asian though.
verizon?? Guess not.
You should be fine, if you are a respectable person most people will be great (especially is you visit Scotland but i'm bias)
I'm not going to guarantee you'll be fine, but i wouldn't majorly warn you against it.
And it's generally cold. England is slightly warmer.
The summer is ok and can have hot days, but usually it's pretty mild.
With the winter now, it's freezing.

Shrimp

Clothing wise - I know a few people who wear A&F and high top shoes but people really just wear anything... whatever they feel like.
17 years old you can start learning to drive.
I'm going to say I don't really know how many black people there are, because it's not something people really notice, people are just people really.
Er, I don't have a clue what Verizon is... sorry!
No descrimination for being American! People in England seem to quite like different accents.
Unfortunately I'm sorry to say it's absolutely freezing here at the moment... about 2/3 degrees celsius and there was some ice around earlier.
It can get to 25 degrees celcius in the summer. I'm not too sure how much higher than that it gets.
Hope this was at least a little helpful.

Arnold

17 to drive

verizon isnt here

lots of afro-european here so you won't be alone

and yes it can get cold and miserable, but thats why we lov... err no i hate it i need to move to australia asap!!

scruff

Clothe wise, just wear what you like, I wouldn't put on anything special to go to another country.
You gotta be 17 to drive
Lots of black people and other ethnic groups
No idea what verizon is
You shouldn't get discriminated at all, as far as i'm aware, most people are very accepting of americans.
Oh and it's always cold, sorry. It'll prob be raining too, but make that a fun part of your visit if you can :P

ryN

your blackness dosent matter and they dont wear too much american styles and if your virison phone says Qualcomm on it your fine

F**K BOB.

1 - New Look, Top Shop, River Island, Primark Are big ones, But theres some american stuff too ;)

2 - 18 ..I think?

3 - Yeah of course!

4 - You wont, people will find it pretty cool

5 - Very. lol

See you Soon! :P

Alyssa P

Im american and lived in the UK for 2 and half years. The big brand over there is Burberry but its very expensive. If you can afford AF then you should be ok. They also have primark which is an awsome outlet store. Be sure to check one out. You have to be 18 to drive, but will need an international license. There is a significant amount of black people. No verizon, the big one there is t-mobile and 3 network. If your vorizon phone is tri band you can use it over there. You will get discriminated alot. A LOT! but most of it is just playful so take it as that. It doesnt get very cold there, having said that, it doesnt get very hot either. When i was there i saw snow maybe 3 times in 2 years, and not much when it did snow. Good luck dude, it's an experience. Youll like it. Make sure you go to a westham soccer game. They are nuts!

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