Re: Ellen Tappen's Oct. 1 column:

I'm sure getting used to a roommate from across the pond is hard -- my roomie certainly struggles with my accent -- but Ellen, please imagine how hard Heather, myself and the 40 other Anglophiles are having to struggle to come to terms with your home.

All the things you mention stand.

Football with helmets: How crazy is this? Beer pong: ditto.

Some strange music.

Who is Dave Matthews anyway, the son of God? You'd think so walking down my dorm.

The simplest of pleasures -- chocolate bars -- are all labeled wrong.

I ate what I thought was a "Milky Way" the other day, but no! It was a Mars bar dressed as a Milky Way -- wolf in sheep's clothing.

Not to say that we don't already love it here.

Yes, you drive on the wrong side of the road, your paper is all sorts of stupid sizes, and three advert [commercial] breaks during Friends is insane.

But any country with frats and one that can fill 110,000 seats at a university(!) football game gets the thumbs-up from me.

So next time you hear a "'Cuse me chuck" or "Cheers, thank you very much" over in West, wander over and say hey.

If you're lucky, we'll come to your parties and entertain your friends with such classic lines as "I like strawb'ries" and "Is my goat in your backyard?" as we've been requested to do already. English, I miss 'em. Americans, got to love 'em.