Wednesday 4 July 2012

Update Wednesday :D

As promised here is your Wednesday update :D

First, I am going to change my updating schedule. I know. Terribly unreliable of me. However, it seems like there will be so much happening every week that it makes sense to just update at the end instead of in the middle. Every Friday will be Travel Story day and Wednesday will be for other miscellaneous type posts.

Matt is walking without crutches and so tomorrow morning we are off to Trafalgar Square to catch a bus to STONEHENGE!!! I'm a little sad that we can't see Avebury but it's really not a very easy place to reach unless you have a car so STONEHENGE is totally fine for now. Honestly though I cannot wait to see it. It's been a dream of mine to see it since I was little and now Matt is taking me. *SQUEE*

Next week we're off to Canterbury :)


Today is the 4th of July for those of us American's and being in the UK for it is odd. After being a part of the Diamond Jubilee and watching Euro 2012 (my first time understanding and liking football that isn't american) I was amazed by the amount of national pride that permeated every event.

It's been noted to me that part of the reason I might not like crowds much is that American culture breeds distrust. At first obviously I was offended. However, I now think it might be true.

Britain is much smaller than America. It has a lot more tradition and with so many people in one place I've seen more common curtesy in my time here than I've seen in many places in the USA. It is simply a necessity of life. In America it's just so easy to go without seeing or interacting with others. Some people don't even know their neighbors. We live in the culture where the American dream breeds a sort of every man for himself kind of attitude across the nation. It's just an odd difference in culture that I couldn't really fathom.

Of course I don't want to seem as I disapprove of our culture, this is simply an observation. It's not my place to say whether or not either it's right or wrong. It's just interesting what you can learn about your own culture by spending even a little time immersed in a different one.

Just to end it off, here's a lovely picture of British pride that can also kind of count for the 4th of July :D

Diamond Jubilee Street Party Cakes - Enfield, London (photo credit to Janet Gordon, 2012)
x T

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