Some thoughts on differences

So I've been here only two days and have already encountered many differences between here and the U.S., which probably shouldn't surprise me as much as it does.

First, most pressing thing: there really is a difference between American English and British English. And while I certainly know that I'm having a hard time understanding the Brits' accent (if I had a nickle for everytime I've had to ask people to repeat themselves in only two days, I wouldn't have to worry at all about the expsensiveness of this city!) - the most recent case in point being today at lunch when the cashier asked me if I'd be eating in or carrying out, and she had to repeat the 'eating in' part three times, and even then I figured it out not so much because I finally understood her accent as I figured out what she meant from the context - I am rather stupidly surprised that they have a bit of a hard time understanding me as well: today when I asked a man in a store if he had clothes hangers, I had to resay 'hangers' for him. Then there's the fact that I use American words for things, like restrooms, and it takes people a minute to figure out that I'm asking where the toilets are, and not some kind of luxury space for the really top notch customers to rest. And then sometimes people stare at me like I'm crazy and I don't know if it's because they can't understand my accent or because of my American words or if I really am just crazy.

The best example of this last point was yesterday when I was at a store, and the young guy helping me struck up a conversation with me about what I'm doing here. There'd been lots of Queen Mary students in the shop that day, so he guessed correctly that I was a student here, but things started to get a little less clear when I then proceeded to explain that I was only here for one semester as a study abroad student, though he seemed to just accept the 'only for the fall' part if not the phrase 'study abroad'. Then he asked me what I was studying, and the conversation just went to hell. I explained that I'm a political science major (again, not quite sure what that is but could figure out it's probably like politics), but that I was also taking an econ and geography class, which I assume he found puzzling because there's absolutely no concept of a liberal arts college education over here, since students start specializing their focus in high school and never take classes in more than two departments in college. And then I threw in that all the credit would just transfer back home for credit at my regular college, and that was it. He smiled and said, 'Well I don't really know what you're talking about, but sign here please.' So obviously there's a little more being lost in translation than I would have thought.

This morning there was a long meeting for all of us study abroad students, and I really liked the director of study abroad's attitude toward drinking and crime. Even though Swarthmore has a really liberal attitude towards drinking on campus, and the RAs during freshman orientation emphasize that it's their job to take care of us, not report us for underage drinking, and there's absolutely no attempt around campus to prevent those who are underage from drinking, it's always known that Swarthmore's in flagrant violation of the law and that, obviously, is always in the back of everyone's minds when the topic comes up. Here, the drinking age is 18 and it's talked about as a given that most everyone will drink. I just really liked the tone that that fact allowed the director to take when he spoke about drinking, stating warnings for practical reasons only and as if, well as if we were adults. For some reason, being advised to be aware of how much you're drinking because you become less aware of your surroundings and therefore even more of a target than being an American and student already are, actually sounded like exactly that, not like they were trying to come up with reasons for us not drink when the real reason was that we were underage. He also pointed out that we'd all save ourselves a lot of money if we didn't drink, which really made me smile (since cheapness+uptightness=75% of my personality).

He also talked a lot about crime, and I found the tone he used when addressing that topic in to be very interesting too. In America, I really hate to hear people talk about personal safety because I feel that they're usually overly cautious to be talking about it at all and also because I so often feel that I sense a touch of racism in their voices when the topic comes up, because it's usually people from the suburbs (read: white) talking about personal safety in the city (read: black). But today when the director talked it up, his tone was different I think because, for one thing, there actually is crime here in the East End. Obviously there's crime everywhere, but the chances of it in lots of American cities has fallen to incredibly low levels since the early 90s, whereas here in London the chances of being pickpocketed or someone just coming up and running off with your mobile are much, much higher than back in the States. So it wasn't oversensationalized - as it is when colleges back in the States reassure the parents of their students that there are blue lights all around the campus, which is in a residential, suburban neighborhood, so that students can call for help if their ever attacked, when really your greatest threat at most colleges comes from your fellow (drunk) classmates. As for the racial component, I was really surprised that I didn't sense that same tone here as I do back in the States, because I think of white Britons being much more uncomforable with the changing face of their nation than white Americans since they've been an entirely white country up until recently. Maybe this is just because racial issues here are different than they are back in the States, and so I'm not attuned enough to pick up on that undercurrent.

But I have been very surprised as I walk around to see people from all different backgrounds in this neighborhood. The diveristy of even New York city doesn't begin to rival the diversity I've seen in the East End. In America, even if there is a lot of diversity in an area, people so rarely actually rub shoulders with people different than themselves. We seem to stay in neighborhoods with people who look just like us. I've never seen an old white businessman, paragon of all that was power on the back of others until recently, literally rub shoulders with a working class person, let alone a working class woman in full hijab, and I saw that twice today.

But after all, I've only been here two days and have only seen the neighborhood around Queen Mary. And I do know that the other parts of London (the incredibly expensive, posh parts) probably aren't very diverse at all. The East End is the up-and-coming part of London, and it'll be interesting to see if it's still diverse, with businessmen rubbing shoulders with real people, as it continues to be developed, since after all, in the United States, 'development' might as well mean 'gentrification'.