Over here it also depends on the controller in the tower at the time.
Frankfurt for example (quite busy sometimes), coming in from the north was:
T: "Are you familiar?"
Me: "affirm"
T: "overhead at 1500ft behind the tower to the H" (south side = correct side)
Wonderful thinks I, until it took me 12minutes to get a clearance to a parking spot that was no more than 30 yards from where I was waiting!
Another time I was directed to intercept short final for runway 27R (north side = wrong side) until I asked if that was REALLY what they wanted, and was promptly sent into VFR holding while they had a cuppa and thought about it!
The phraseology does change alot though, as said, it really depends on whether they are used to helicopters or not.
Question: do ATCO's get special helicopter handling training? I think this has been chewed through before but I've forgotten
