Ghessi - D
After living in the UK for a few weeks I have an entirely different perspective of what makes this country what it is; how it citizens identify with their country. During our first week, we went to Edinburgh. I realized that there is an apparent lack of unity within the UK. I cannot speak for the other countries within, including Wales and Northern Ireland, but based on my conversations with the tour guides and the natives, there seems to be strong resentment towards England for many reasons. The most important one seeming to be Brexit. One tour guide said that that when Scotland voted on UK independence, the English government assured them that they would not leave the UK. Then, they proceeded to do so anyway which made Scotland lose faith in their judgment and loyalty. When speaking with some of the Scottish citizens it became clear to me how proud they were of their country and how they essentially view themselves as a separate entity, despite being a part of the United Kingdom. Having these experiences and interactions made me realize just how divided the UK has become over the past few decades.
In general, my experiences in London have been quite like my experiences in New York City. London is very much a city with a rich and complicated history with beautiful architecture sprinkled around. However, the city is far more complex than I ever imagined it would be. Take for example the tube. The intricate underground rail system is incredibly comparable to the subway in New York city. Its bounds are a few hours in each direction from central London. Although it was initially overwhelming, the system has proved to be logical and relatively straight forward after a week or so of practice. What I was more interested in though, was not the London underground itself, but the people within. Typically, they are a relatively quiet bunch who will avoid interaction with others at any cost. However, the people I did meet gave me much needed insight on the unique British humor. I have found on more than one occasion that I will have an interaction with an individual and he or she will say something that I don’t quite understand only to find out he was just making a joke. Although, I am familiar with British humor it is sometimes difficult to understand as it can be subtle.
Another interesting encounter I had on the tube was with a Manchester City Fan. We were walking home from the Jack the Ripper tour. As we were descending into the tube, I heard the echoes of what appeared to be a drunk man singing. I came to realize it was a Manchester City fan who was returning from the FA cup final which Man City beat Wattford 6-0. The man was decked out in gear from his club and happier than words can describe. He was carrying two flags and offered to give a flag to another man on the tube. I was aware of this passion for one football club, but I was glad I got to see some of that first hand. His happiness was contagious, and you couldn’t help but share a small portion of that happiness. Can you connect this loyalty to a sports team to the loyalty of Scots to their country? Did the man seem to be from Manchester?
Although the English have this sort of inherent patriotism for their country, I’ve learned that there is some small form of shame that lies within that patriotism. interesting and perhaps worth exploring further: we have also encountered a lot of shame connected to empire. After learning about the various monarchs throughout the past half century and the bloody history that accompanies these monarchs, it makes sense that there is some regret but also hope for how far they’ve come. I can recall a conversation had at the Westminster Abbey about the differences between the Protestant and Catholic religions. We could not help but laugh at the miniscule differences between these two religions. It was quite interesting to learn about the amount of bloodshed that occurred because of these differences. However, this is no different from any other country. It is interesting how glorified these monarchs seem to be and the English people seem to just acknowledge it rather than ignore it.