Transformation of My View of British Culture
From the time already spent living in Britain, my initial perceptions and views of British people have changed drastically. Throughout my time in Britain, I have noticed a lot of similarities between British people and Americans. At first, I believed that most British people dress in a way that is very sophisticated the majority of the time. However now I realize that they dress in a similar style like Americans do. As I wandered around the city of London, it felt very similar to the streets of New York City. For instance the tube rides in London and subway rides in America were something I found to be similar. In both cases, people keep to themselves and rarely interact with others around them. Also in both atmospheres it is important to make sure not to make eye contact with anyone during the ride. Politeness is also another similar thing I noticed to the extent that people always say “excuse me” and carefully make their way off the train when leaving. However I noticed a difference in reactions to apologies when someone accidentally bumps another person. For example I was riding on the tube and it was very crowded and in the midst of people going and leaving the train, I accidentally bumped a woman’s head and apologized and instead of them replying, like people do in America, she just gave me a death stare. When walking along the streets of London, I noticed the building architecture in the city and also the residential areas were very similar to the buildings of New York City, especially the more modern buildings. The building architecture of both London and New York looked similar to that of Brownstone buildings with many linear designs. Also I noticed that there are even many gothic style buildings in both New York and London. There seems to be a big influence on London architecture that lead to many American architects styling their buildings in similar ways.
London Brownstone
New York City Brownstone
Something that still amazes me is the amount of diversity in the city. My first perception was that most of the citizens of Britain are white English people but I soon learned that the race of people expand far more than just white. There has not been a time here where I mainly heard English speakers talking but hearing completely different languages each and every day. Not only do I hear many unique languages, but also see many different races in London as well. Because of the many different cultures in London, there are many ethnic foods to go to and are also very authentic and not “Americanized” like the many ethnic restaurants in America. Learning about Britains colonization of other territories and the fall of their empire helped explain why there is so much diversity in London. Once other colonies like in the Middle East, Africa, and India became independent from Britain, they began to travel to Britain for new job opportunities. For instance there was a huge wave of Caribbean immigrants called the "Windrush Generation" coming to Britain after World War II to help rebuild the country. Being immersed in the many different cultures of London has shaped my view of how big of an impact a big city like London can bring together so many different groups of people.
Outside of race, the diversity in religion as well is a big difference between American cities and London. I have seen many different religions being displayed on billboards, restaurants, and even on television. Something I found very interesting about how religion is portrayed in London is how accepting London is of the Islamic faith since the religion has faced a lot of backlash because of terrorism linked to Islam. Something that I have never seen in America are the many signs about Islamic Relief and how it is important to accept them in society just like any other religion. Along with that, there are also many communities, of the Islamic faith and they are nice communities with many parks and restaurants. In fact, one of the most famous ethnic areas in London is Brick Lane which has a majority Islamic community. In America however, the Islamic faith is looked down upon in many cases and there is rarely any positive portrayals of the religion. The amount of diversity in London seems to be more impactful than any of the other big cities in America in the sense that the exposure of diversity leads to a better understanding of different groups of people and their cultures.
