Culture Clash

My mother asked me if I passed as a Scot or if I stuck out as an American. By looks, it's hard to say. Certainly if I am gawking around at buildings with my camera as a natural extension of my hand, then no, I am being the blatant tourist. If I am just walking with a clear direction of where I am going and not daydreaming, or if I am just going to class, I think I might blend in, depending on what I am wearing (sweatshirt and jeans are not the norm here -stylish boots and skinny jeans are popular) Once I just stood in the middle of a shopping mall watching the faces of people walking past, and they just looked British. As soon as I open my mouth however, all doubt is removed. My vocabulary is different too. For example: pants refer to underwear, not trousers; trucks are lorries; garbage is rubbish; and soccer is football. This last one comes as welcome change, as I have no sentimentality for a sport (American football) I never understood but find that I actually do enjoy watching a sport I used to play, which is conveniently the sport of choice in the UK. Neighborhood signs that read "No ball games" do not refer to baseball but instead to football, and the game featured in the pub is the Celtics v. Rangers. I went to a home game for the Aberdeen club team, the Dons, against Dundee (a city just south of Aberdeen and also ranked above them in the league). Boy do the old men in the bleachers get angry! I heard plenty of colorful Scottish slang there. I also just met a girl who fences and one who does archery. I think I should be better friends with them. ;) There are plenty of other differences (grocery stores alone could fill a book), from milkshakes turning out to be milk with flavored syrup instead of blended ice-cream (so disappointing!) to British senses of humor. Some people just interact differently than I am used to . . . but that is to be expected. Hopefully I will be able to voice it better by the end of my stay.
Cheers,
Karen