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The Union flag has a lot more meaning than as a symbol seen on the media and as a symbol used for fashion purposes. Prior to this program, the flag was my initial thought of Great Britain. Although, the flag represents countries of the United Kingdom, not Great Britain: it has a red cross called St. George’s cross to represent England, a white cross to called St. Andrew’s cross to represent Scotland, and a red cross of St. Patrick to represent Ireland. Interestingly, Wales, another country in the United Kingdom is not represented. The flag has great meaning and importance in the United Kingdom. For example, the flags are in front of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. One flag is placed on top of both these establishments when the Queen is not in residence.  
 Another big image I thought about when I thought about the British was the Royal Family but have now learned that there is so much more to Great Britain. I asked Professor Highley if any people of Great Britain were annoyed by the family, and he claimed that some are. When the new royal baby was born, I only heard our tour guide in Scotland make a comment about it aside from the talk of it by other members in our program. To many, the history of the monarchy is important—it was portrayed in many buildings we went to including but not limited to Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Eton College.
I was also under the impression that Britain’s culture was proper, elegant, and classy. While some of it is, this does not speak to all its culture. To me, the English accent seems very proper, but England is not the only country to make up Great Britain. When we visited Scotland, their accents had similarities and differences to the English accent but did not sound as proper. They were rougher sounding and harder to understand. Someone told me on my trip here that the English do think that the American accent is faster, and the speech includes more slang. The front desk receptionist at our dorm was raised in London but lived in America for a little while and admitted the English accent is more proper. He even said that some accents are considered more proper than others in England because of many factors including the slurring of words. Although, assuming all people in England have this proper accent is far from the truth. In London, it is very diverse and, on the streets and in the Tube, I hear a wide array of accents and languages. We visited a school, St. Paul’s Primary School, and an area around Brick Lane Road in London that are very diverse with a large immigrant population. Also, the dining is a lot less classy than what I was expecting. I have eaten at many pubs in both Scotland and England because they are popular. Even “higher end” pubs are very casual, which contrasts the dining scenes of Rose in The Titanic greatly that pop in my head when I think about English culture.
On tour in Edinburgh, our tour guide said that many citizens of Scotland wish to leave the rule of Great Britain. A voting referendum took place last year and failed just slightly. She said at the time, people were not as educated on the matter, though. She said people are more educated on the matter now and believe they get the short end of the stick from the government compared to England. She seemed to think that when a new voting referendum takes place, people will vote to leave Great Britain’s rule, which could take place as soon as 2020, which surprised me. On the tour, the more I learned about Scotland coming under Great Britain’s rule, the more I felt like Scotland was treated unfairly and can understand why Scotland may want to be independent like the Republic of Ireland did.      
My experiences thus far in Great Britain have been amazing and eye-opening, teaching me many things I did not know previously, and I am looking forward to my final days here.
 

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