Room mate + Alcohol = Fun

Straight after I wrote to you last my room mate and I (already slightly sloshed from the wine and some cheap beer) went out so she could introduce me to some of her mates. I learnt about any timeless American drinking games such as Beer Pong and Flip cup, ahhh the wonders. I am entirely crap at both seeing how they rely on ability to aim (which I can't do well when sober!) or a light tap to flip a plastic cup. I may well be found one of these days practicing in my kitchen. It was really good fun, a bonding experience with Lisa (is there a better way to get to know your room mate other than getting pissed together?) and was nice to meet some other people, although I think I left my cardigan there. I have also learned the vital lesson that American beer is vile, it tastes more like Soda water than beer, but that does not matter because it fulfils two vital criteria for American students - it gets you pissed and its cheap. In England we just go for cheap vodka mixed with coke, but apparently that's too sophisticated for most American palates!

We stumbled into our beds happily steamingly drunk. Good times.

Yesterday I had my first real taste at how ridiculously expensive American health care is. I went to Student Health to register and was told I had to pay $27 for a TB skin test despite the fact I have had a BCG and therefore know I can't have TB. Its something they require me to do and yet despite paying around $400 a semester for health insurance I still have to pay the extortionate price. Even worse than that was when I asked if I could see a doctor or nurse whilst I was there because the night before I had slipped over and hit my knee really hard on concrete and it was now stiff and swollen, I was told that it would be $54! I know fully well they'd look at it for two minutes, tell me it was fine but might give me some anti-inflammatory's (which I'd also have to pay for), possibly sending me for an x-ray (kerching!) to make sure there is no hair line fracture. So am I going to pay that or am I going to wait and see if it gets better? What do you think - I'm a skint student! Thankfully it appears to have paid off, not hurting nearly as much today and I think the swelling is going down. I also discovered that when my next door neighbour cut her food really badly in a nightclub she had to pay $1200 (and that's with medical insurance!) just for an ambulance! If I ever get hurt I hope someone sticks me in a taxi instead of calling 911 - much cheaper.

Having got myself an iron and ironed all my clothes (worryingly I enjoyed that a lot) yesterday I was at long last able to wear what I wanted to and went out in a nice 50s style skirt. However I quickly realised just how stereotypically English I looked - everyone else was wondering around in shorts and even though I know I don't fit in style wise with England I fit in even less in America. I love these clothes, but I'm not sure whether I feel comfortable wearing them. I'm going to give it a bit longer and then hopefully I won't care and I'll happily go around as "the English one".