A Whole New Life
Ava Wishon
After “living” in London for approximately fifteen days, I have learned quite a bit about the culture in the United Kingdom. A couple of my perceptions that were created through the media were correct, but many of them were incredibly wrong. I have finally begun to get a real, accurate grasp on what it is like to be “British.”
I had always pictured London to be relatively peaceful and calm. The image that would come to mind was New York City turned down about ten notches. My first day I learned that I was rather ignorant to the city life here. The particular experience that caused this awakening was the first commute to the Arcadia center. Immediately following our departure from the Princess Elizabeth House, we encountered people hurrying right past us on the sidewalk at an alarming speed. I never imagined that the tube system would be that chaotic. In my head, I had been comparing it to the “T-system” in Pittsburgh, laid-back and casual. The locals here truly mean business when it comes to this underground transportation system. We were packed so tightly into this tiny, hot car. I did not expect to be literally touching a fellow sweaty Londoner on the first day of class. I soon realized that my slow-paced, leisurely strolls to class were not going to be cutting it here. Honestly, I have come to realize that London is very comparable to New York City. Everyone always seems to be in a rush and angry at most hours of the day. When the weather is poor, it appears as though people are in even more of a rush. They shove through the sidewalks in order to escape the rain and wind. The main difference between these two metropolitan areas are transportation methods. In New York, it appears that most people ride the subway, catch taxis, or drive. On the other hand, London natives seem to walk everywhere. When they are not walking, they are taking some form of public transportation. This is particularly noticeable around the area we are residing in. This likely leads to citizens being fit and lower pollution levels in the city. It would probably be quite beneficial for U.S. cities, such as New York City, to adopt some of these Earth-friendly habits. As a country, we could take steps to become less wasteful and sloth-like.
I have had the opportunity to interact with numerous people while in the United Kingdom. To my surprise, London has been far more diverse than I ever expected. When walking down the street, it is likely that I will overhear five different languages being spoken. The tours on May 21, were the specific moments that I realized this. In the primary school, there were children as young as three speaking fluent English in addition to another language. I imagined that the classrooms would be filled with white, Aryan, monolingual children. There were many different skin tones. It was also clear that they value various ethnicities and religions. Their curriculum has been built to include religions other than the traditional Protestant Church of England. I was genuinely surprised by the mass diversity in the schooling system. After completing the tour of the school, we went to a guided walking tour of Brick Lane. It was incredibly eye-opening to see the community of people by the docks. People were mostly of Muslim and Bengali backgrounds. At home in the States I have never seen a mosque as large and beautiful as the one that Kate showed my group. Indian culture is shockingly very prominent on Brick Lane. This surprised me because of the history that England has shared with India. They were ruthlessly colonized years ago. The natives were treated like uneducated heathens, so it was interesting that they adopted a culture that they once disrespected so strongly. I have never seen so many authentic curry restaurants in my life. This experience has really opened my eyes to my life in the United States. It seems that segregation and racism is far more prominent there. I suppose I had simply assumed that London would be the same way. Personally, I have been exposed to more cultures in these three weeks than in my nineteen years in Pittsburgh.
In the first assignment, I reflected on my perceptions of what it means to be “British.” Most of these had been shaped by different forms of media that I have experienced over the years. It only took a few weeks to realized that being “British” means more than I imagined. People stay environmentally conscious on their confident, brisk commute in the morning. Diversity is a massive factor in the society that has been seamlessly integrated. A handful of my assumptions were correct, such as everyone having a love for tea, but most were far off from the truth. Although I find the commute in the mornings to be more stressful than expected, the diversity that is present is a truly beautiful thing. While in Edinburgh, we did not have the opportunity to visit an educational facility. I did notice, however, that most of the people there were tourists. Amongst the local population, I did not see the same diversity. This may simply have been because we were not there as long and did not dive as deep into the local culture. I imagine that the rest of the United Kingdom is less diverse than London. This diversity probably began because of the mass colonization of the empire. The imperialism created links between Britain and foreign countries. Members of other races could have been brought here against their will, or come in pursuit of a different life. Diversity, while it existed, was not always welcome. This was clear on the Brick Lane tour when we learned about the tension between fascists, Jewish, and Irish communities. Even today the Bangladeshi citizens appear to be rather segregated to the poorer part of London located on the docks. This was rather eye-opening that this progressive society still has it flaws.
