Discovering London
Living in London for two weeks has caused my assumptions and perceptions on what it means to be “British” to change tremendously. While riding the tube I have noticed that people don’t dress as formally as I had assumed they would. The men wear dress pants and dress shirts, and some women wear dresses, but the fashion has not been as high end as I was expecting. I have noticed though that many of the women wear pantyhose, which is not as commonly worn in the United States. I had previously read that London was a fashion-forward city, and people do dress nicer here than they do where I am from, but I pictured it more like New York City. When I went to Piccadilly Circus and saw the street performers and the large screens and billboards, it reminded me a lot of New York City. This is what I imagined London to look like. The style has not been as individualized and unique as I thought it would be. There is more uniformity of dress in London compared to New York. New York has a more "in your face" and "loud" kind of style, whereas in London it is much more subtle. I imagined that “Londoners” lived a very fast paced life, and on that assumption I was correct. When on the underground stations, people walk extremely fast to get to where they are going and become impatient if it takes too long to scan your oyster card or to get on the train or escalator. I also pictured pubs as more casual establishments, and some are, but I mostly see them as normal restaurants. Besides the fact that you order at the bar and seat yourself, they are fairly similar to restaurants in the States.
The accents I have heard, for the most part, have been fairly similar. They were very different in Scotland, but around London they have sounded the same to me. I was right to assume that “Londoners” love their soccer, or football, as they call it. I happened to be at a pub while a game was on, and the men in the pub were very into it. I am not sure if only the tour guides and the people interested in history greatly appreciate the incredible city that they live in or not, but the tour guides in particular express the great love and appreciation they have for their country and their country’s history. I assumed that people that have lived here did not really pay attention to it, but I have found that may not be the case. While talking to locals and asking for advice on the best places to visit, they all wanted to be sure that we saw all the history the city has to offer. After living in London for a few weeks, it has been surprisingly easy to settle in. The city itself and the people that live here have been very welcoming and made it feel like a home away from home.
An important thing that I have noticed while living here is that London is a very diverse city, with a very diverse population. While on the tube, I look over and see people reading books in many different languages and I hear people speaking many different languages to each other. It is very common to hear at least two or three different languages a day. This diversity has become mainstream in London, it is not a social issue, there is no repression, it is just a fact of life. This fact is amazing to see because I grew up in a very preppy, upper middle-class city where there was not much diversity. Due to this diversity, I have come to the conclusion that what it means to be a “Londoner” isn’t something that fits into a box; it means that you can be a little bit of everything or nothing at all, it means something different to every person living in London.
