olivia, your place sounds just like the place i lived at last year. except that we had a great group of flatmates.

lights of and no water: happened to my place, too. it was an electricity failure in one of the blocks, meaning that the other blocks still had light but not this one. the water stopped in all blocks because the central water pump was run on electricity and was based in the first block, where the electricity failed. that was fixed quite soon, but happened several times.
as for the heater, i first thought mine was broken, too, until i figured out how it worked. the same thing happened to a friend of mine in a different hall. it might be obvious for english people, but coming from abroad it's just not straightforward!

Hypothesis, you would be more than welcome to come with a sheet over your head and say whoooo whoooooo and set the ambience! but you must also scrape chairs on the floor, bang doors late at night, open windows when it is raining, and leave grease on the stovetop when you cook onions late at night.

Shani, I am so glad I am not the only one to find that these things are not straightforward. It does your head in a bit to not be able to do such simple things like have heat or turn on a light.

Every day an adventure in this flat with the poltergeists!!!

A question on the psychology of poltergeists...do they hide in their rooms waiting until the coast is clear before they emerge to cook, bang, scrape, and so forth? Are they huddled up in some kind of misery waiting for this moment? Or is it just random timing that prevents them from being seen? What would happen if someone were to actually lay eyes on them!!!

I'll be round at eight so you can show me my corner ! As to the psychology of spooks, they don't have to wait for the coast to be clear, they're invisible flatmates!

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7183169.stm

This gave me quite a good chuckle, a BBC reporter having culture shock in the middle of the US--his cheeseburger the size of a dartboard, and his comments on bacon!!!!

Hypothesis,

No need to confine yourself to a corner! You can waft in and out of the various rooms and up and down the well heated hallway and turn off lights and water at will if you want. Hmmm...don't ghosts create a draft--or cold spots--I think I saw this on Most Haunted. Hmmm...perhaps the first clue to the real nature of this flat was the VERY COLD ROOM I had when I first got there--nothing to do with the heating working but everything to do with poltergeist flat mates. It is all starting to make sense in a weird sort of way....

Culture shock...I had a good read about this, thanks to Shani's post about what it was ( thanks Shani for the info!) --the little everyday things in life that you used to be able to take for granted that now become bewildering in a new place! It seems there are several phases to going through this and indeed, I am in the midst of it! I did not expect it, since I have been to the UK several times in the past, am a native English speaker, etc...but there is a huge difference between a short stay and a long one!

Even my "boredom" is a symptom of culture shock.

No mention made of where poltergeists fit into the culture shock symptoms--I think they are a causal element rather than a symptom of the culture shock!

I've moved around a lot, including 4 overseas moves. There are always times ,in the first few weeks especialy, where you are a bit adrift - especially in the evenings when it is harder to go out alone, especially as a women - especially in some places. You might feel a bit lonely - but that's just a normal part of settling in so don't let it get you down.

As for culture shock - that is the part I enjoy and the more of it the better. It's fascinating. I think people moving between UK, US and Australia often don't expect it so much but then always experience it. I think people are often shocked at how run-down and grotty London is, for example. That's just typical old-world vs new-world.

Thanks, Smilodon, for that. Yes, it is all a process! I was an exchange student in high school to Australia, and can remember going through the same phases--loving it and being so euphoric, then getting bewildered and frustrated by little things--and in time it levelled out to be a great experience. Coming from an incredibly small town with family and friends everywhere you go, part of the adjustment is just not having that "support network", and needing to make new friends and colleagues--again, something that will happen over time!

Frankly, London is not the friendliest place to move to in the whole world. You cannot rely on people making an effort because you are new - you really have to be prepared to be make an effort and sometimes be rebuffed. There's quite a fraternity of Australians though and other overseas visitors might be a good source fo companionship.

I lived in teh middle east for 5 years and people their are so friendly you almost have to barricade your door to get some time alone! Living overseas really made me understand why some people say the Brits are unfriendly. Doesn't seem like that to me because it's my culture and I know how to work it.

My prior experience with the UK has been that when people know you, on an individual level, people are friendly, helpful, warm, humorous, etc.; that the big difference is the "shield" that people have around them as they move about--but understandable in a way because the UK, well, England in particular, and London most of all, is so densely populated! Some of it is my own surprise at feeling a bit disoriented and out of sorts--because I have been to the UK a lot--but staying is different than visiting! And its lovely to have this forum!

olivia, my mum is english, english is my "first" language, and i am an english citizen and have consequently been here often, visiting family and all. so, like you, i was not expecting culture shock. maybe this not-expecting makes it hit you all the harder!
i knew i was going to have to use adaptors for plugs, and was more likely to get good tea than good coffee. what i didn't know was, for example
- that buses don't stop when you are waiting for them at the bus-stop.
- that, even when i spoke plain english, people would have a hard time understanding me.
- that post-offices are red, not yellow, as they ought to be - accordingly, that i was going to only recognize that there is a post office in this street once i actually stood in front of it. the same counts for pharmacies.

- that i was going to have to read the labels of all kinds of products in shops, instead of just knowing that "that there in that kind of bottle is orange juice, and anything packed like that is bound to be rice". that's hard work!
- particularly butter - what on earth got the brits to invent whole shelves full of different kinds of butter? on what basis are you supposed to decide which kind you want?
- that, however metropolitan london is, some of my staple foods are simply impossible to get here. amazing, that!
- that you can't just get a "beer" but get to choose between many kinds - on the other hand, you can always just order a glass of wine without saying which kind, beyond "red" or "white"!
- that you can only get on the bus through the front doors.
- oh, there is much more... little, unimportant stuff really, but it just makes every day life more exhausting, and knocks your confidence.

Anyway, good luck with it all - don't let it get you down! It's a great experience, in the end. You get to inhabit this perspective on a place only once. Soon, you will be used to things so much that you will hardly notice them anymore, and be surprised when you go back "home" and not be used to things being "normal" anymore!