Weekly Social Media Post - Week 4

A whole month has come and gone since my arrival in London, and I couldn't be more sad. This week most of our group took a weekend trip to Scotland, I was excited because I had never been before. During this trip and this week, I started to feel more comfortable and "in-place". In class after reading about the U-curve theory, I realized that something called Culture Shock, finally went away. The U-curve theory is a model that shows what migrants go through in three stages. Culture Shock is at the bottom of the U-curve theory, and is a short-term feeling of disorientation, or discomfort due to the unfamiliarity of a new environment. At first I was initially excited to leave for London, however when I got here I was overwhelmed at how different everything was. I was incredibly homesick my first week, and completely lost and confused. I even at one point felt as if I was going through an identity crisis. My whole life I had said I wanted to live in England and make a name for myself here, but suddenly those feelings became the opposite. For awhile I had feelings of wanting to go home, because nothing here felt familiar. Over time this feeling started to go away as I went on more excursions and after class activities. It wasn't until Scotland, however, that this feeling fully went away. Being with all my friends on the bus, and having movie nights, to trying to see Nessie; it was the first time that I felt comfortable and that I could be myself 100% of the time. It was also the first time, on the train ride back from Scotland, I started to refer to London as home. And I couldn't be more glad I got over the culture shock.

Social Media Post - Week 3

This week I've kept it low key. I've stayed at my home stay more and decided to catch up on much needed sleep. I did, however see Wicked; which was excellent. This week in class we've learned about the two different history viewpoints.
1. It's in the past, can't we just get over it and move on? 
In America this is typically from the white point of view. 
2. It's my history, if you don't understand it, you don't understand me. 
Which in America is usually from the view point of African Americans. 
My whole life I've been sort of stuck in between these two view points. I'm mostly Native American and Scandinavian, so in American terms I can be from both viewpoints, it usually depends on the situation for me. However, I've never had been the victim of prejudice or racism when it comes to me being White or American, only Native American (or on occasion when people think I'm hispanic). That all changed yesterday when I went to Primark. I went to buy rain boots for the upcoming Scotland trip, when I went to check them out the cashier asked how my day was. When I answered she looked up at me and then asked me if I was American, with a tone in her voice I can only describe as distaste. When I told her yes, she took the 20 pound note I gave her and ran a money detector pen over it, to test if it was real. She then quickly shoed me out of the store and proceeded to whisper to her friends. I had similar situations happen to me before, but never for being American. It was the first time that I felt like historically both nationalities I came from could fit in with the second view point. It also made me realize the color divide that we have in America is still prevalent,  here it wouldn't have mattered if I was white, black, tan, or pale, because it would have happened no matter what as long as I was American.

Social Media Post - Week 2

Week two of living in London has been a busy one; with classes and multiple filed trips, but it is still too fun to complain. This week I had the chance to go with other students to “The Comedy Store”, a comedy club in the West End. I was more than excited considering that I had been ill the day before and feeling a bit homesick because it was my nephew’s second birthday. When I got to the comedy club I was excited that all the comedians were all from different parts of the world. Part of their standup routine was to take suggestions from the audience and make a joke out of it. One comedian from Canada was given the topic of the royal baby, but instead of it being funny, most of the audience found it offensive. I didn’t think anything of it because in America it’s quite common to make fun of our political leaders, however here if anyone speaks ill of the Royal family people are quick to come to their defense. It reminded me of how in class how we’ve been learning about power distance, where power is distributed unequally, and how some cultures accept it more than others. In America we have quite a low power distance, making fun of people who are higher than us in “social rankings” is actually normal, jokes are constantly made about our president. In London however I found that there is a higher power distance within that aspect. Everyone loves the monarchy and respects it, and to even make a joke about the royal family seems preposterous here. The level of respect people have for one another and their leaders in Brittan, makes me wish we had that. 

Social Media Post - #1

My first week in London has definitely been a wonderful experience thus far. However, the far most interesting/strange new experience for me has to be “The Tube”. It isn’t strange because of how fast paced everything is, or even the multiple ways to get lost. The most interesting thing about the tube is the amount of different types of cultures you see while taking it. Earlier this week I hopped on the tube the last second; and in the process my jacket got stuck in the door. Several people immediately jumped in to help. One man who couldn’t speak English tried to pull my coat free from the door. A Muslim woman moved from her spot so I had a place to stand. And a British man told me that the same thing happened to him once, then proceeded to help tug my coat out of the door. Despite different cultures, race, gender, religion, ect. It seems that everyone was willing to help the American. If the tube can be so peaceful in this way, then why cant the rest of the world? This is what I truly love about London.