Ever wondered why the Americans call football, soccer and not football? Well its probably because across the pond they have their own kind of football (which everyone else calls American Football and they use their hands too), and this weekend it descends on London.

 Over the weekend the NFL (the National Football League) takes over London as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Denver Broncos at Wembley Stadium. And to celebrate this, on Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers will be holding a free fan rally in Trafalgar Square. For those of you studying English in London, this is a great chance to experience the razzmatazz of American football. Starting at 1pm there will be cheerleaders, a live band, DJs and former players and coach. Additionally there will be games shown on the big screens as well as competitions. There will even be a chance for you to try playing some of the game as well.

 This is the first time a NFL fan rally has even been held in London and is likely to be a fantastic day out even if you don’t know anything about the sport. Well worth a visit I reckon.

While you have been studying English in London, you have probably become aware that the national dish in the UK is the lovely Fish and Chips.

 Did you know at one in four potatoes eaten in the UK as used to make chips. That’s a lot of potatoes! Luckily for you there are many Fish and Chip shops around London and blow we have listed the top ten.

1. The Golden Fish Bar – Farringdon Road – A true working class chippy over 150 years old.
2. Masters Super Fish – Waterloo – Quality food, huge portions and close to the Imperial War Museum.
3. The Golden Hind – Bond Street – A small and busy restaurant serving good food in the heart of central London.
4. Rock and Sole Plaice – Covent Garden – Established in 1871 and is popular with both locals and tourists.
5. Fish Bone – Great Portland Street – Here the fish is cooked to order and the chips are hand cut, great for a walk in Regents Park.
6. Livebait – South Bank – A popular restaurant with a very creative menu including lobster.
7. Fryers’s Delight – Holborn – Traditional chip shop and is a favourite of London taxi drivers.
8. North Sea Fish Restaurant – Russell Square – Chunky and cheap take away chips.
9. Laughing Hailbut – St James’ Park – Friendly and traditional fish and chip restaurant.
10. Sea Shell of Lisson Grove – Marylebone – Good quality food from a busy and popular restaurant.

 Go on, try something new this weekend!

As you are on the internet now, it is highly likely that either before or after you read this you will go onto one of the most visited websites in the world, Facebook. You will go on and see how many notifications you have, how many friend requests are waiting for you and what the next event is.

 Facebook has been become a part of our live in a way we could not have every imagined. Today the membership stands at 500 million. That’s the population of the whole of Europe. And everyday, just like you, these people go on Facebook to see what is happening in the world. Facebook has gotten so big that there is even a film about its creation. The new film highlights the role of facebook in our society. But is this a good thing?

Thousands of people spend hours everyday viewing profile after profile on facebook at home or at work. It is estimated that thousands of working hours a lost due to people being on facebook when they should be working. Many work places have even banned the website because their employees use it too much.

 Have you ever stopped and thought what life would be without facebook? Can you even remember what life was like before facebook? For many of you this may seem like a scary thought but consider this, there are people out there without a facebook account. How do they survive you may think? Even without facebook, they still have friends, they still go to events and they still know what is happening in the world. A lot of people, who do not have an account, choose not to out of choice. For example they do not like having their photos on the internet or they do not like the idea of everyone knowing what they are doing. For these people these points are the negatives of facebook.

 But what are the positives? For 500 million people there are many. It is a way to keep in contact with friends and family all over the world, hear new music, discover new things and chat with friends. All our favourite bands, artists, TV shows all have facebook pages which enable us to keep up to date with the things we like the most. There have been many stories of families being re-united through facebook. Fathers finding son and mothers finding daughters, which is always nice to hear.

 It would seem that there are equal amounts of positives as there are negatives to having a facebook account, so I guess the most important thing is deciding what is best for you.

 If you are studying English in London, or would like to, why not check out the UIC facebook page where you can ask us questions and see what’s

Libraries across England are now stocking and promoting a new range of books – those which have been banned for one reason or the other. Some books, as you might expect, have been banned in some countries and not others – for example The Satanic Verses was banned across the Muslim world and the author subject to a fatwa while it was freely available in the UK. The selection has been made form nominations form public libraries in England. If you are in London to learn English you should  really take advantage of this wonderful resource – there are public libraries in every part of London, and if you’re staying for a while you can even join and borrow books. They are open to all if you want to go somewhere quiet and read – and it’s nice to know that the librarians are now promoting something a bit rebellious – contrary to their reputations for being boring and quiet!

Did you know, for example, that Harry Potter and The Wizard of Oz have been banned in some parts of the US for encouraging witchcraft ! There haven’t been many famous cases of books being banned in the UK for some time. Perhaps the government realises that with the Internet so widely available – and virtually uncontrollable -  that the only certain thing to happen if a book is banned is that it will get to the top of the sales charts.

So I have just left my daughter at nursery and as I gave her a kiss and headed for the door, I could hear her voice behind my back shouting “Daddy” and her crying and crying.  I know I have to leave her because that is part of the process and I know that when my wife picks her up 3 hours later, she won’t want to leave and she will be laughing and running around.

It doesn’t make it any easier though and made me think a lot about her but also our students.  We have a few students every so often who really struggle to get used to life in London.  They don’t want to come in and they miss their family and friends.  But just like my daughter, they find that when they come to classes and go out on the Social Programme that they soon don’t want to leave UIC or leave London.

This culture shock or homesickness is a very strange thing when you are experiencing it but it is a very predictable and normal thing for everyone. It has 4 clear stages: Honeymoon, Horror, Humour and Home or more formally Honeymoon, Disintegration, Reintegration and Independence (see diagram)

taken from http://www.britishgermanassociation.org/special.php?pageno=19

 The Honeymoon stage is when everything is new and amazing and exciting.

The Horror stage is when suddenly you realise that you are not at home and your family is not with you and you don’t know what to do (how my daughter felt this morning)

The Humour stage is when you get used to the new culture and can laugh about the problems you had at the beginning.

Finally the Home stage is when this new, foreign situation feels normal and you feel that this is how your life is meant to be.

What is most interesting about the graph is that it is a W shape which means that the whole cycle repeats when people return home. Have you ever got back from a holiday and felt that the weather in your country is awful, that the views out of your window just aren’t as nice and that the thought of work the next day isn’t something you’re really looking forward to? If you have (and who hasn’t?), you have experienced the second half of that graph and all of our stduents experience this.

When my wife picks up my daughter, she will probably start crying saying that she still wants to play with her friends and still wants to play in the big sand pit of the school which would never fit in our front room.

And this is all part of the experience.  This adaptation to a new culture makes us stronger, more informed and more interesting people which is why I would recommend it to anyone.  Come to London, come to UIC and see what changes that experience will have on you!