englandWell, I'm finally back in the U.S. after two months in England. My soul has been irrevocably realligned.
U.K. and the U.S.
Everything seems a bit more, well, adult across the pond, at least in some ways. Britain seems politer in general, except for the occassional prat who judges you immediately for being American despite your reassurance that you voted for Kerry. Same mentality of our Southern racists, really: how is writing someone off because of their country any different than writing them off because of their skin color? Both are mere accidents of birth.
Which brings me to another thought. Americans, I observe, get awfully excited about being American sometimes. There can be a certain youthful charm to this, but we take it too far, and --as a new and very good friend acquired during the trip noted-- start confusing nationalism with patriotism. The citizens of the U.K. seem to quieter in their love of country. I suppose part of our problem here is that we assume --falsely, as we are heirs to the world's history every bit as much as any other nation, including one with Stonehenge-- that we are a young nation. We feel less grounded in being American, and thus have to talk incessantly about our identity since it is not quite resolved in our own minds. Contrast this with England where you brush shoulders with 500-year-old architecture on a daily basis, and where the land has been cultivated for thousands upon thousands of years. You tend to feel a bit more connected in that situation. No need to crow about what you are from the rooftops. You just know.
Anyways, here are a few things I loved about the U.K. at a glance. The list is by no means exhaustive, especially at this late hour.
-Respect of privacy -- contrast with the occassional American habit of asking intrusive questions of strangers about when they are having kids or other deeply personal matters.
-Perhaps tied into the above: the social liberalism. The women's stalls on campus has stickers about where to get emergency contraception. And no one had torn them down! Also, Darwin is on the ten-pound note. That's two things you won't see in the U.S., right there. Another example: one professor who prides himself on being conservative spent a class telling us why the Iraq war violates international law. He's also anti-death penalty. Um, yes, quite conservative there, old chap. I adore a country where he's the Right.
-Of course: the pubs. They're everwhere. Throw a stone and hit one. We need more pubs in the U.S. Bars are not the same.
-More humane treatment of workers. At grocery stores, the checkout personnel have chairs. It's a small thing, but it shows a huge difference in attitudes, in my opinion. Fancy treating employees as actual human beings!
-The T.V. shows. Far less commercials, many of them are quite well written. I'm going to have to pick up Absolute Power, The Robinsons, etc.
And here are a few things that made me glad to get back to the States:
-Customer service, especially the waitstaff.
-Yes, the food. I've never been so grateful for grits and real, crispy thin bacon at breakfast, nor for fresh vegetables at any other meal.
-The directions. Brits can not give directions to save their lives. At the airport, the Information desk gave us directions going the exact opposite way of where we needed to go. Yes, the Information desk. And in one town, I was advised to turn at the "main stoplight", in a place with multiple stoplights. So very, very useful. Thanks muchly. This also ties into the street signs. They are awful. You'll see one sign telling you to be in the far right lane, then you'll enter a roundabout and suddenly the markings painted in your lane will indicate something else entirely. You get forced off onto the wrong road, and you drive 20 miles because there's no sodding place to turn until then. Remember, that's why the British don't have an Empire: they didn't actually loose it. It's still there, but they simply can't find it.
-The water faucets. How hard is it to have two controls and one tap? They have two faucets, one boiling hot, one of Artic cold. Are you supposed to mix the water in the sink bin? Who has time for that? And the air hand dryers don't work particularly well, either.
-Finally --and I must note this after flying back to the Mid-Atlantic in late summer-- we have way cooler insects. The trees and fields are full of the sounds of singing crickets and cicadas, even near a major airport. I didn't hear anything comparable, even in the English countryside.
Yes, in the end, I missed our insects. God bless America.
U.K. and the U.S.
Everything seems a bit more, well, adult across the pond, at least in some ways. Britain seems politer in general, except for the occassional prat who judges you immediately for being American despite your reassurance that you voted for Kerry. Same mentality of our Southern racists, really: how is writing someone off because of their country any different than writing them off because of their skin color? Both are mere accidents of birth.
Which brings me to another thought. Americans, I observe, get awfully excited about being American sometimes. There can be a certain youthful charm to this, but we take it too far, and --as a new and very good friend acquired during the trip noted-- start confusing nationalism with patriotism. The citizens of the U.K. seem to quieter in their love of country. I suppose part of our problem here is that we assume --falsely, as we are heirs to the world's history every bit as much as any other nation, including one with Stonehenge-- that we are a young nation. We feel less grounded in being American, and thus have to talk incessantly about our identity since it is not quite resolved in our own minds. Contrast this with England where you brush shoulders with 500-year-old architecture on a daily basis, and where the land has been cultivated for thousands upon thousands of years. You tend to feel a bit more connected in that situation. No need to crow about what you are from the rooftops. You just know.
Anyways, here are a few things I loved about the U.K. at a glance. The list is by no means exhaustive, especially at this late hour.
-Respect of privacy -- contrast with the occassional American habit of asking intrusive questions of strangers about when they are having kids or other deeply personal matters.
-Perhaps tied into the above: the social liberalism. The women's stalls on campus has stickers about where to get emergency contraception. And no one had torn them down! Also, Darwin is on the ten-pound note. That's two things you won't see in the U.S., right there. Another example: one professor who prides himself on being conservative spent a class telling us why the Iraq war violates international law. He's also anti-death penalty. Um, yes, quite conservative there, old chap. I adore a country where he's the Right.
-Of course: the pubs. They're everwhere. Throw a stone and hit one. We need more pubs in the U.S. Bars are not the same.
-More humane treatment of workers. At grocery stores, the checkout personnel have chairs. It's a small thing, but it shows a huge difference in attitudes, in my opinion. Fancy treating employees as actual human beings!
-The T.V. shows. Far less commercials, many of them are quite well written. I'm going to have to pick up Absolute Power, The Robinsons, etc.
And here are a few things that made me glad to get back to the States:
-Customer service, especially the waitstaff.
-Yes, the food. I've never been so grateful for grits and real, crispy thin bacon at breakfast, nor for fresh vegetables at any other meal.
-The directions. Brits can not give directions to save their lives. At the airport, the Information desk gave us directions going the exact opposite way of where we needed to go. Yes, the Information desk. And in one town, I was advised to turn at the "main stoplight", in a place with multiple stoplights. So very, very useful. Thanks muchly. This also ties into the street signs. They are awful. You'll see one sign telling you to be in the far right lane, then you'll enter a roundabout and suddenly the markings painted in your lane will indicate something else entirely. You get forced off onto the wrong road, and you drive 20 miles because there's no sodding place to turn until then. Remember, that's why the British don't have an Empire: they didn't actually loose it. It's still there, but they simply can't find it.
-The water faucets. How hard is it to have two controls and one tap? They have two faucets, one boiling hot, one of Artic cold. Are you supposed to mix the water in the sink bin? Who has time for that? And the air hand dryers don't work particularly well, either.
-Finally --and I must note this after flying back to the Mid-Atlantic in late summer-- we have way cooler insects. The trees and fields are full of the sounds of singing crickets and cicadas, even near a major airport. I didn't hear anything comparable, even in the English countryside.
Yes, in the end, I missed our insects. God bless America.
Quick Links
Latest Comment
Re: I AM SPACE - Really danish? :)
| Terms of Service
| Privacy Policy
