What have you observed about British society while you are here?

Going out for a drink isn’t something that is just for the night.  Pubs are places where people can have a drink in the middle of the afternoon.  It seems that British people really value a good drink, because they can socially have one before 5:00 and not go crazy about it.

What similarities and differences do you observe between our cultures?

If anyone here ordered a drink with their lunch, they’d be thought of as boorish.

People in England and New York ride the subway in the same manner: staring straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with strangers, always sitting one seat away from a person unless you absolutely can’t.

There are no cops patrolling the streets as there are in New York, so if you need directions, you’ll have to ask a pedestrian, which in New York is a faux pas.  In England, people on the street are more than willing to help you out.

What are important links between our cultures? (Language, cultural history, art, theatre)

Both England and Manhattan are considered epicenters for theater, and the two will connect by exchanging shows (Billy Elliot coming to New York, Avenue Q going to England).

Accents in New York and England will change depending upon what region you are.  A Queens accent differs from a Brooklyn one, just as Liverpool’s will differ from East End.

Both cities are also hot spots for museums of all kinds, be it art of history.

What are some unpleasant connections or left-over biases, or are there any? (racism, religious biases, classism, sexism) How does theatre and art seek to address these issues?

There are English people who still carry the “loud American” bias, but it’s not theater or art in and of itself that can address these issues.  An American can strike up a conversation with an English person within a theater and/or museum about art, and then they can see that not all Americans are boisterous, and that some do appreciate true culture.

Have you seen any theatre or art on our trip that speaks to these or other difficult cultural issues?

I haven’t.  I kept to myself or some of the other students in the museums and theaters.

Why is it important to know our history as well as to stay current with events?

Knowing our history will give us insight as to why things are the way they are today, and it can help us to see patterns that have occurred in the past, so that we may see them coming in the future.  But honestly, I feel that many people our age know why history is important (after all, it was mostly art students on the trip, and New Paltz puts heavy emphasis on history in its art programs).  I believe that most people don’t know why it’s important to keep up with current events.

In August of 2005, I was helping my parents paint our summerhouse.  This was a large project that took a full week of working all day to accomplish.  To stay entertained, my parents had the radio tuned to NPR.  The week we chose to do this project was the week of Hurricane Katrina.

For the entire week, we would hear news reports and updates about the hurricane while painting the house.  To this day, my parents still associate painting our summerhouse with Hurricane Katrina.

Keeping up with current events will help us put things into context when we try to recall it in the future, and give us a frame of reference.  In that respect, I kept up with the news as much as I could via the free Metro, so this trip will always have the association with the Haiti earthquake for me.

Has this trip changed your perspective on Western culture?

Not so much.  I said earlier that England reminded me of New York a lot, so even though I know that the cultures are different, in my mind the similarities outweigh the differences.
 
What is your “takeaway” from this trip personally?

My journal.  It contains every little trinket and souvenir I have, and each entry contains a date and timestamp for easy reference, so when I re-read it in the future, the memories I have will be easy to conjure.

What would you do if you had another week?

If I had another week, I’d by another week long zone pass for my Oyster card and then go explore the districts we weren’t able to spend a lot of time in, or even visit at all.

Did you have a moment of personal reflection or impact in which you realized your viewpoint on something had changed?  If a person were walking through the museum of your life, what would the exhibit of this experience look like?

These two questions actually go together for me.  The answer to the museum question involves my desire for something all-encompassing, my views on how quickly time can pass, and my tendency to delve into the occasional melodrama.

My life’s museum would contain wings dedicated to different parts of my life: Boy Scouts, each school I went to, my hobbies, etc.  Naturally, some would overlap, like how my high school wing would have a spot in the senior room dedicated to me becoming an Eagle Scout.  It would all be categorized so one could easily follow it, and arranged in a manner so you could walk through it chronologically (i.e. elementary school leads directly to middle school).  The wing parallel to my school wings in the Boy Scout wing (since that was a part of my life since childhood), and there would be music you could listen to in each room.  The music would differ depending upon either what I listened to during that period (elementary school would be Green Day’s album “Dookie”) or what song best encapsulates my feelings and/or events of that period (twelfth grade would be Less Than Jake’s song “Look What Happened”).

Within the room devoted to my senior year of college is the exhibit on this trip.  It would consist of a podium displaying this book for all to read since the best way to understand something is to read a firsthand account of it (hence why it’s my main “takeaway”).  Above the podium hangs a banner or scroll that lists the things I’ve learned on this trip for all to see.  Things I’ve learned, or just had reconfirmed, with my personal reflection being the last one listed:

-       I learned that I genuinely enjoy watching Shakespeare, much more than reading him.

-       I learned that ballet isn’t a genre I have a taste for.

-       I learned that pantomime is.

-       I learned from pantomime that there are other, more talented people than myself who share my view of never taking yourself too seriously.

-       I learned , thanks to Nation , that puppets, unfortunately, don’t always make a play better.

-       I learned that the Tudor’s history is an era that I am actually fascinated by.

-       I learned that chips and mashed peas are side dishes that go with any meal.

-       I learned that sausages are something I should order more often if I ever go back to Britain.

-       I learned that there is fruit cider other than apple and pear, and it is delicious.

-       I learned that there are people who share my level of devotion to obscure, niche TV and movies (even if it’s for different genres).

-       I learned that if they have that level, I enjoy hearing them talk about it.

-       I learned that even if you can’t sing, you could still impress people by memorizing full songs and bringing them up at a perfectly relevant moment.

-       I learned that it is possible for me to easily navigate a subway system without help from anyone.

-       I learned that I still need to work on navigating city streets.

-       I learned that there are times when it’s okay to go a but overboard with how you spend your money.

-       I learned that jam is considered a liquid.

-       I learned that you shouldn’t watch a movie about cooking while you eat airline food.

-       I learned that as long as you don’t constantly harass people, they’ll let you join them, even if you run in different social circles.

-       I learned to mind the gap.

-       I learned that I’m one of the only people who looks both ways before crossing (most just look at the direction traffic comes).

-       I learned that you don’t need alcohol to enjoy a drinking game.

-       I learned that you should exchange your leftover money before you board the plane home.

-       I learned that it’s possible to get the same Kinder toy twice.

-       I learned that as long as you share a big event together, strangers will befriend you.

-       I learned that I really enjoy scrap booking.

-       I learned that I can live in an unfamiliar place for a period of time.

-       I learned that I need to just go out and do things.

For association, and because they were stuck in my head the entire trip, the music here would either be "The Story That’s Told by the Bard” (because it's humorous take on a prominent subject of English culture)  or “Raining Sunshine” (because, saccharine as it is, it reflects the idea of optimistically starting on a new chapter in life, and because the title is ironic).


That's all, really.  There's not much left to say, except cheerio!