Previously, my perspective on what it means to be British was very amateur as I had never really studies Great Britain or visited Europe at all. I had only knew that Londoners had accents that I was fond of, lived under a royal family, and were very fashionable as London is a very fashion staple city like New York in America. Since I have been living in London and visiting Scotland, I have developed a more in depth opinion of the British and what it means to be a part of their culture.

First off, I think prior to living in London, I assumed their lifestyle was greatly different than Americans. As it is very different than my hometown life in small town Ohio, it really is quite similar to bigger cities such as New York. After using the tube and the bus system to get around and exploring the city, it made it seem like their lifestyle wasn’t as separate and differentiated from Americans like I had previously thought. would you expect to find just one 'lifestyle'?

The first actual experience that we did that broadened my view was as soon as we arrived when we went on the open top bus tour. It really opened my eyes right away that there were so many sights to see in London and far more attractions other than just the castles that I had previously associated with the city (give examples). In addition to this, one of the first lessons we learned was about the beginning of the royal family and the succession of rulers since then. This gave me a basis of the fundamentals of how the royal family came about, and what decides who is next in line for the throne, which I had previously been very unaware of.

An experienced that followed this that I thought gave me a better perspective of the history of Great Britain was visiting the Westminster Abbey. It seemed like the people here are very much more religious and connected to their previous rulers than we are in America. The fact that the royal wedding was held at the Westminster where over 3,000 significant people are memorialized is something that seems so foreign to me as an American. I couldn’t picture the president’s daughter getting married in such fashion. I also think the commemorate previous famous people a lot more than we do. We have specific memorials around the country, but nothing that I’ve seen that even compares to the Westminster Abbey.  What's the evidence that people today in Britain are more religious than in the US? What other signs of religious culture have you found?

Something more recently that we have studied that I previously had been quite oblivious to was the school system here in London. Not necessarily the public school system, but learning about and visiting Eton and Oxford was really interesting to me to learn how private (or public, here in England) schools as well as colleges work and how they differ from our school systems in America. When our tour guide at Oxford explained to us the assignments and coursework for their students, I was very surprised at the complexity and difficulty of the work and how it is completely different from America. For example, he said they have 8 weeks of school followed by 8 weeks off of school. During their 8 weeks of school, they have about two 2,000 word essays two every week. These essays are not graded, but must be completed, and for the end of their term, they have a final exam that basically determines their final grade. It was just very interesting to me that the grade they received in the class fully depended on such minimal grades. Overall, I would say there are still very many differences between London and America that I had previously assumed, but I am definitely learning more specific details and also learning that some things really aren’t so different than America.
How does the education system reflect and help to perpetuate or break down the British class system?
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