An American Dream
This past summer, I worked in a resort with an entirely European staff. Since we were in New Hampshire, USA and I was one of two Americans working there, it was a cultural experience for me. I am a small-town girl form New York. New York the state, not the city. The state is full of small towns, abandoned mills, old industry, and mountains. I decided to get out of my small town and work away from home for the summer. New Hampshire is eight hours away from my house, so you could say I was a world away. People there were from all over Europe - France, Spain, and Russia to name a few. The British by far outnumbered the rest of us put together and I got my first taste of British culture before I ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
So I was a bit more prepared than some of my American comrades who came here with me. I knew that there were no marshmallow cereals in the supermarkets and that there were pubs on every corner. I was told, and shocked, that guns were completely illegal unless you were a hunter. Even as a sportsman, I was told, you are subject to random checks by the police force to ensure that you are keeping your weapon in proper conditions. One of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution guarantees citizens the right to bear arms. There are hand guns that are illegal, but anyone can own a basic rifle and under no circumstance can the police force check on it unless they have a warrant issued by a federal judge to look in your house. Perhaps that’s why London is one of the safest cities in the world and why Washington, DC, my nation’s capital, is the murder capital of the world. Never the less, I couldn’t imagine living in a place where I was not allowed to own a weapon to protect myself and my home with. Americans are very protective of what is theirs.
Despite the advice and warnings, many things about Great Britain have surprised me. I was shocked when I went to the theatre with a friend and they searched her purse. In America, warrantless searches are strictly against the law. I understand that they were doing it for our own safety. Many people are wary of the IRA - and with perfectly good reason. Yet it still unnerved me that a security guard could demand the right to search my belongings.
Americans have their myths of the British. On one particular occasion, I joined a conversation that several of my British friends were having. They were casually discussing their sexual experiences. What of the famed English reserve? These people were much more comfortable with sexuality than the average American. Our Puritan roots still lurk in us. They didn’t seem to find anything embarrassing. Most Americans would be quite offended if you asked them questions about their sex lives unless you were quite close friends or drunk.
On the subject of drinking, my American friend and I were sure that our European friends would be able to drink us under the table. We were not disappointed. Many of them could easily down a six pack of beer and start a bottle of wine without any true infringement on their cognitive skills. Since drinking is illegal until you are 21 in the States, much of college culture is based on finding and consuming alcohol. So while university life in Great Britain is based in the pubs, college life in American has unique staples such as the Fraternity party and the coveted fake ID’s.
I have found that British students have heard of the viciousness of the American drinking laws. My English friend Paul lied about his age on his International Student ID card before going to America to ensure his access to alcohol in the states. My, I thought, perhaps the British aren’t so different from us after all.
Fraternity parties, though, seem to remain for the most part, a mystery to the British.
If you’ve ever seen "Animal House" with John Belushi, you would have some idea, however glorified, about what a fraternity party is. Fraternity brothers throw large parties with a cover charge. After paying 4 or 5 dollars, (about 2 or 3 pounds), you are led down a dirt stairwell and into a basement that is packed with at least four times it’s capacity of people. You are welcome to drink all the bad beer you can get. Milwaukee’s Best, or "Beast", is the frat party keg of choice. It’s very cheap. You do have to stand in line and push your way forward to get at enough beer. If you want to get drunk, the only way is to get a beer, then go back to the end of the line and drink it up while you wait to get to the front again. If you are lucky, the party swells to the upstairs and you can get out of the sweltering hole. After only two such experiences, I retired my fraternity party-going shoes. I am in the minority. For many American students, it is a weekly or bi-weekly experience. It is certainly nothing like the civilized drinking that goes on in the pubs.
Unless you have a fake ID or older friends, this is the only real access to alcohol. Freshman orientation weekends are full of "welcome" fraternity parties. New students heady with freedom flock to them. Eager to meet people and enjoy their lack of rules, freshman and freshwoman forget every piece of advice ever given to them. On the upside, it is wonderful way to meet other people just as nervous as you. Unfortunately, many young girls end up drunker than they have ever been and do things they never wanted to do or were even forced to do.
Date rape, although certainly not the fault of Fraternity parties, is often linked to them. Date rape is a major problem of university life in America. So far, I have heard absolutely nothing about rape in this country. My British friends said that it isn’t talked about very much at all and that the term date rape is not often used. In America, 1 out of 4 women are raped at some point in their life and the number is moving closer to one-third. There is no bureau on this campus which keeps any record of rape statistics on the campus or in the country. In the freshman orientation book, rape is briefly mentioned as a rare occurrence. I am shocked at the lack of interest in the subject in this country.
London is a marvelous city. It is inevitable that it be compared to New York City. The most obvious difference is the actual buildings. The buildings in New York rise to forever more, defying the earth they are built on and commanding the sky. In London, everything is smaller and closer to the ground. Well-kept buildings are intended to match their surroundings and blend in with the earth. New York is a planned city, looking like a grid, or a microchip as you fly high above it. It is difficult to get very lost in New York. Finding your way is the difficult part in London. This city is so confusing that one wrong turn can lead you astray for hours. Yet I am awed by the history that made it this way. London just grew up around itself. For hundreds and hundreds of years, London has been a growing city, always ahead of any type of city planning.
The underground system is wonderfully clean compared to the New York subway system. Yet it befuddles me why in one of the largest metropolitan centers of the world, the tube closes at half past midnight. After dancing at a club in Soho, I have had to wander around the city to find a bus that went my way. The trip home has taken me a couple of hours. Finally, a local showed that Trafalgar Square was the place to catch every bus and my travel time home has been cut in half. So the London Underground is cleaner and safer than the New York Subway, at least I don’t have to wander the streets in New York to get home.
London does sleep. After 1 a.m., it is impossible to do much in this city. Excluding, of course, Soho and it’s surrounding areas. This is the only area of London that I have found to be as lively as New York City.
There’s a reason why New York is called "The City that Never Sleeps". At any time of the day or night, you can grocery shop or grab a beer at a bar. I had been under the impression that London would be much the same. What both cities do have in common is the diversity of people. The British seemed to be outnumbered here by immigrants as Americans in New York are outnumbered.
On a bus tour around London, I laughed when we passed the American embassy. We had torn down the historic building that had been on the lot and built a very tall and modern replacement. We also added a couple of charming statues of past presidents in the square yard. It was very hard not to notice the American presence.
Perhaps that is the greatest surprise. The American shadow. Every where I have looked in England, I see a McDonald’s or a Burger King. In the supermarket, many American products are disguised with more conservative packaging to appeal to the British eye. Americans are led to believe that the British do not like Americans or anything American. There is the occasional merchant who figures out I am American and tries to swindle me. (They never seem to realize that Americans are very hard to swindle because we are trained at birth to find the best bargain.) But in reality, the British are much easier to approach. With the exception of the tube - I have never seen a quieter lot of people- the British are friendlier than the average American.
Now I just need to find the British in this city.
