Once the plane landed at Heathrow, I knew I was home. There was never a difficult adjustment to be made in this new yet all so unfamiliar city. From the outside it looks exactly like any city I used to live in or travel to back home. Busy people, large shops, quaint coffee spots, angry cars, loud buses, and fast undergrounds were all too familiar to me. The large difference seemed to be the emotional perks of finally being in London after all these years of dreaming it.
When I got all settled in it seemed more real. Thankfully the rooms are single person and spacious.
I’ve noticed not only is it hard to understand the older people because their accents are much more heavy, but I feel embarrassed to speak to people with my American accents. In my mind, the British accent is the epitome of intelligence and class, and the American accent is quite the opposite. So when I speak to people I try not to speak too much for fear of sounding, for lack of a better word, like a dumb American. Also, their juices are very different from our juices back home. It seems all their juices are carbonated, so an apple juice tastes like apple juice and a Sprite, a lemonade tastes like a Sprite and a lemon in it, and their orange juice is just Orangina. I spoke to a lady about the cultural difference between England and America and she found it incredibly odd that juice would not be carbonated. She didn’t understand because she thought that meant they would all be the same but flat, so I tried to explain that they are not flat because they were never carbonated in the first place. She found that very weird. I also very much enjoy the idea of renting a bicycle for a pound and riding it around town and dropping it off anywhere with another bike rental stop. I wish we had that in America, i plan to use those at some point.
I’m still exited to see what else I can learn and do while I’m here.
Allison
London is indeed a very sensory city, and the fact that you have some experience with city life serves you well in London. Several students have written about carbonated vs non-carbonated drinks–a simple but very interesting cultural topic–flat vs drinks with “gas” or bubbles! I believe it is these simply things that we notice initially that aid us in becoming a bit more assimilated into the culture, especially on a short program. You have made very good observations, and I look forward to more. Michele
Barcelona has the same type of bike system, where you can rent one and drop it off. I’ve never used it, since I’m not much of a biker, but I think it’s a great idea.
I hope you start feeling more comfortable about speaking! You’re definitely not alone in feeling like British accents are more intelligent and classy. What’s funny is that there are a lot of different kinds of British accents, and in England some of them are really looked down on and seen as uneducated and low class. IMO, anyone worth talking to will understand that what you say is more important than what accent you have.
London must be crazy right now! I hope that you are getting settled well. Food is deeply woven in our culture and can be the cause of discomfort. Something so simple can shake our world when taken so casually differently. It seems weird having to ask for “uncarbonated water” at restaurants, but to the locals that is just the way it is.
Good luck!
Cain