Bryan in Europe: First Week Stories

The Water Bottle Story

After setting up my room I noticed that I had no water bottle. So no problem, I'll just buy a bottle of water that I can use. No problem right? WRONG. First I went to a supermarket, and ask the lady at the front where a water bottle is. She said Aisle three. simple enough.

I keep looking but can't find it. Eventually I ask again, she just repeats, "it's in aisle three!" Eventually I get someone to walk me to them. They show me this.

Above: A Whoopie Cushion, aka water bottle

Nice try, Scotland. I don't need a hot water bottle, just a water bottle. I then explain I want a plastic bottle to drink water from. They don't have any. The journey moves onward.

I get to a grocery, and still no water bottle! I decide I will settle for any bottled good, and bring the bottle back to my room to refill. After searching, I find some "orange squash." Everything in Britain is slightly renamed, and I guess orange juice is no exception....

Above: Humiliation

I drink this on the way back, and it tastes awful! oh my goodness, it's barely orange, and mostly tart. But when in Rome... so I kept drinking. I hadn't eaten that day anyways. I was pulled over by an animal activist trying to sell his cause. Sometime in the middle he paused and said, "sir, do you know you're drinking orange concentrate?"

I mentally smack myself on the head. I walked back to my dorm, coughing. Each cough tasted like orange juice. Weird.I then made a cup of orange juice with a tiny amount of this powerful stuff. I must have drunk 5-6 cups of orange juice with that first raw gulp.

Snow!
It snowed, changing the landscape drastically. I had fun catching snowflakes in my mouth on my tongue. Here was the view from my room when I arrived versus after the snow hit.

Above: Before/After shots of my view.

British Coins Solved!

So many coins, what do they mean? So I sat them all down and figured it out.

Above: Solved Puzzle

It goes left to right, from least valuable to most valuable. Here's the pattern.
1) First, it goes from Bronze<Silver<Gold
2) In the Silver, there are circular coins and polygonal coins. round<polygonal
3) Within each of these subcategories, smaller < larger.

So it goes
Small bronze < large bronze < small silver < large silver < small polygonal silver < large polygonal silver < small gold < large gold

I don't know why so many coins are necessary though. It must be a trick to get money from coin collectors.

Purchases

Besides the water bottle there were several other desired items that I got. Below is a cheap 10 pound phone.

Above: Invinca-phone

Note: I meant pound as in currency. Also, I've charged it once and the battery charge still hasn't gone down. I think it has infinite battery life.
Also a sturdy drinkin' cup for the dorm. So many uses.