1. How white and polite street beggars are. Back where I live, beggars are either black and polite or white and mentally ill. The combination of very white and very courteous while begging for money throws me off.
2. How white the town is in general (aside from tourists and students). Even at the Lebanese deli everybody was whiter than me. I wanted to visit an Indian restaurant but was afraid to find only blond Brits there. No offense to anybody, but I don’t see the point of Indian food which is not made by Indians.
3. That there is a Jamie Oliver restaurant here and that I spent 2 hours in it before realizing what it was.
4. That the stores close so goddamn early, especially on weekends.
5. That it is so blissfully cold! It’s +15°C and it rains. In July! I adore this climate.
6. How much the local people like to joke. Everything is an opportunity for humor that is delivered with a totally deadpan expression.
7. The very indifferent bread coupled with sensationally good butter.
8. How bizarre British parking practices are. One can often encounter cars that are parked facing each other nose to nose. How that happens is a mystery.
9. The number of men who spend time with each other in public spaces is overwhelmingly greater than the number of women.
Clarissa's Blog 
I know that Britain in general is much less ethnically diverse than America, but we do have a large Indian/Indian subcontinental population and the Indian food is excellent (or at least I’ve not found any equally good restaurants when I’ve been in North America).
If you’re still in Oxford, and haven’t already visitied it, the ‘Treasures of the Bodlein’ exhibition in the Weston Library is very good (and woefully under-advertised).
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