January 31, 2007
Jess, The Threatening Menace
Apparently I look like a potential terrorist.
Wednesday I took the tube to Canary Warf to meet a friend for lunch. Canary Warf features a cluster of tall banking buildings and is something of an economic center. It is also on the Thames, so when I got out of the tube station, and my friend wasn't there yet, I started taking some pictures to put in the old scrapbook (read http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.agus). One of the river, and one of the tube station and surrounding buildings.
About 30 seconds after I put my camera away, a policeman in a yellow smock approached me.
"Why did you just take those pictures?"
"Umm, because I'm a tourist".
He questioned me a bit more about where I was from, what my plans were with the pictures, and why I was in London. Once he was satisfied that I seemed innocent, he had to write up a report of the 'incident'. He told me that I had done nothing wrong, but when they see people taking pictures, sometimes they ask why, and every time they do, they have to write a report.
It was certainly an amusing 10 minutes, and I enjoyed seeing my friend's shocked face as he saw a policeman copying information from my ID. I now have a police report, complete with the color of my shoes, to put in my scrapbook.
I've had somewhat similar experiences with the security guard in the Hillel building. I'm not sure if he is reflective of a general heightened security in the London Jewish community, or if he is just very vigilant. Probably the latter.
Every time I've been there, he asks me why I am there as if coming to that building is the most odd action a person like me could be taking. During my last visit, he proceeded to tell me that the picture on my ID did not look like me. The whole thing was rather intimidating on my first trip there, so I just wonder how many shy students are weeded out along with the terrorists.
Things I've been doing since I last wrote:
-On Wed I took a 4 hour walk around Southwark and London Bridge station, crossed the Tower Bridge, saw the Tower of London, walked to Spitalfields market(closed) and walked a windy way back through Clerkenwell and Holborn. I really liked the South Bank roads I walked through - less glitzy than the West End streets around my dorm, and filled with ethnic foods and cheap deals. It was also the first time I've seen the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. They were both a lot more impressive than I had imagined them to be. It was a good walk, but tired me out of the rest of the week.
-Monday night I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's Anthony and Cleopatra starring Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter. It was really fantastic. The whole cast was superb. The experience was made even better by the fact that my friend and I got tickets for only 5 pounds and sat in the front row!! It's great to be a student.
-Last weekend I went to York with Matt Stokes. It was a lovely and walkable town, surrounded by a medieval wall and boasting the 2nd largest Cathedral in the world, the York Minster. (See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.agus). We also explored a castle tower and the spectacular view from the top, narrow cobblestone market streets, Roman ruins, and the lovely Ouse River. We also visited the Art Gallery and the National Railway Museum, though admittedly those trips were more of a ploy to get out of the cold for a bit. We also had some spectacular food. Pasties - very yumm.
-I've been meeting most of my English friends through Hillel. Last night I went to shabbos dinner there. Much better turnout than Case, but vastly inferior chicken. Also, although there were over 60 people there, they refused to do it buffet style. Instead students came around with the food and served it. Seemed crazy to me, but as people say, "The British love to queue."
-On Thursday I went out to dinner with Sara Slater (from JDS) and friends to celebrate her engagement! I went to preschool with her, so it really felt "full circle", though I guess we're still just at the beginning of our lives. Anyway, Mazel Tov to her an Nick. I'm glad I'm around to celebrate with her.
More later.
January 22, 2007
A Weekend by the Sea
This weekend was my first weekend outside of London. My facilitator program, IFSA-Butler, arranged for each of its students to have a "home stay" in an English home for a weekend. It ended up being a really relaxing weekend and gave me the chance to meet some new people and see some new places.
The family I was assigned to lives in Herne Bay, which is East, and slightly South, of London. Herne Bay is on the southern part of the North Sea and serves as a resort town for Londoners during the summer months. Tourism is pretty much the town's only industry, and jobs are apparently scarce during the winter months. But the gorgeous walks by the sea seem to cheer everyone up, and the people we met seemed to be very happy where they lived, even though some people had to commute daily into London for jobs (about a 1 hour and 45 minute train ride).
Our group was supposed to meet in Victoria Station in London to catch the train, but the station is HUGE and teeming with people. It was pretty unbelievable. I was lucky to find a couple of people from my program who showed me which train to take.
In Herne Bay I stayed with Caroline, a practice nurse, and her 15 year-old daughter Hannah. They were old pro's at hosting students, and insisted that they loved having students to keep the house full and to keep interesting people around. They were really welcoming and sweet, and cooked lots of good food.
For those interested in food, here are the meals I had. Skip this section if you are hungry, or if you have little passion for food.
-Friday night: fried potatoes and steamed mixed vegetables (She also made roasted chicken, before she knew I kept kosher. I wanted it. It looked really good.) For dessert, we had raspberry crisp and warm custard on top.
-Sat morn: toast and tea. Caroline put out butter, peanut butter, and jams of all varieties so I could chose what I liked. She was talking to me energetically, and all of a sudden stopped mid-sentence and got quiet. "You just put jam on top of your peanut butter." She was shocked.
-Sat lunch: packed lunch of a cheese and lettuce sandwich, cheese flavored potato chips ("crisps"), a banana, water, and a chocolate bar. The chocolate bar was exactly like a Kit Kat, and the slogan on its wrapper was "Take a break". Quite a rip off.
-Sat dinner: Cheese and onion quiche and baked potatoes ("jacket potatoes") topped with baked beans and shredded cheese. Definitely worth trying.
-Sun breakfast: English breakfast tailored to a vegetarian - two pieces of toast topped with two fried eggs, a baked tomato, and sauteed mushrooms. Really excellent.
-Sun lunch: garlic bread and noodles and vegetable stir fry. yum.
I was well fed.
On Saturday we took the bus into Canterbury and saw the famous Cathedral there. The archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Anglican Church, so the Cathedral, parts of which date back to the 7th century, is a big deal. It has a mix of Gothic and Norman architecture, and is quite beautiful and large. It is also the site where followers of King Henri II killed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Beckett, in 1170. (Also a big deal.)
Canterbury also had an old wall surrounding the city and some other Churches and monasteries which we could see from the outside. The town of Canterbury now contains lots of shops and chain stores, so it is a very popular location for tourists and teens. The streets were very crowded, but I could definitely feel a difference in tone and tempo from the fast-passed, high-fashion London shopping areas.
In Herne Bay, Caroline and I took a walk around the sea which was really beautiful, but really windy and cold. At home, we watched a large amount of TV from American television (Ugly Betty, American Idol) to British take-offs (the controversial Celebrity Big Brother) to the widely watched British soaps (East Enders, and some hospital drama). Hannah and I bonded over MTV. They have about 100 music video channels.
All and all, it was a really good weekend, and I'm looking forward to other travel weekends in the future. Matt Stokes and I have already booked our train tickets and hostel for next weekend's trip: to York in Northern England. Stay tuned.
January 14, 2007
More pictures
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I made a new photo album from my travels today. This is the web address that will hold all my photo albums. http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.agus
January 13, 2007
Photo Album
I put pictures online at http://picasaweb.google.com/jess.agus/UnderTheGraySkies.
January 12, 2007
Thoughts walking home from the library
-I love the library. The main reading room has lots of wood and books, unlike Case, which has lots of computers and lots of open space.
-There are many more advertisements for Angus Beef here, on buses and on restaurant doors. They make me uncomfortable, and as I pass them, I often picture myself as a walking piece of steak.
January 11, 2007
Breakthrough Tourist Realization: The British are Individuals
I was walking on my way to class the other day, passing by various students and professionals, and thinking, "I need to make British friends so I can see what they're like." And that was when it hit me - British people are not a homogeneous people. They are not one united block of people and culture. They are not all the same, and they are not all representative of each other. It's an obvious point, that I have always known. But somehow, I have gotten into the habit of seeing myself and the Americans I am with, as an outside group in the midst of a very unified people. It's hard to jump in and meet people when in your mind, they are not just one person, but an entire nation.
In fact, Londoners are extraordinarily diverse. There are so many ethnicities, languages, and even styles. It's been healthy for me to realize that people are not looking at my clothes and branding me as American, and if they are, they probably couldn't care less. I'm just part of the mix - not outside of it. Now that I've been able to rationally remove that barrier to a degree, I feel a bit more comfortable talking to people.
Another consequence of my great realization is that I feel like I can now look at how individuals here choose to organize themselves. I started noticing social groups a lot more clearly. I was a bit surprised to learn that just as in the US, social groups are often separated by ethnicity and color. I don't know why I thought that would be different here. The tendency to feel more comfortable with people similar to you, and fear of people who are different, is obviously a universal feeling. And certainly sticking together is important for preserving identity, culture, and ethnicity. But I guess I was a bit disappointed that in a country that supposedly has a lot less problems with racism, people aren't really mixed.
Ok, enough contemplation. Here are some things I've done since the last post:
-In an effort to meet new people and to miss our home choirs less, an American friend and I went to an open rehearsal of the UCL chorus. It turns out that during the Spring semester, they act as a chorus in the UCL opera. So, we learned the opening, and the finale, and 2 hours into the rehearsal, we decided to turn in our scores and leave. It was overly intense, and the director was no Dr. Dunn (the patient and sweet director of Case Concert Choir). Also, I just have not gotten to the stage in life where I can appreciate opera. I have gotten over my dislike of peppers, and the other day I even ate and enjoyed multiple olives! But somehow I need a bit more time to appreciate opera.
-For those of you who know London: I walked through Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, on a footbridge over the Thames, saw Big Ben and Parliament, walked on Oxford Street and other big shopping streets, and walked through the West End, including Chinatown and Soho, at night. Parliament is particularly gorgeous. I was surprised at how close I am to everything, and how much shorter the walks are from place to place than they seem on the map.
-Last night I went to Golders Green, a heavily Jewish area in London, with Sara Slater (from JDS) and met some of the people she's living with at the Hillel House. They're really nice, interesting people from all over Europe. We went to a kosher dairy restaurant where Sara and I split a falafel platter and a pizza, which tasted surprisingly good. (For those of you who don't know, kosher cheese, and therefore kosher pizza is often quite unappetizing in my opinion.) We went to a Jewish study center and heard some famous Rabbi (Tate?) talk about free will. It was a very good and engaging talk, and a fun night.
-Tonight I saw the English National Ballet perform Giselle. It was beautiful, and predictably made me wish I could dance like that. Or more accurately, it made me want to live in a ballet world where everyone dances as they do everyday activities.
-I've gone to all my classes once. I am taking 17-18th century British History (Transformations in Britain), 20th century British History (Britain and the Wider World), Introduction to Political Philosophy, and History of 19-20th century Art in London Collections. All of them seem good. The structure of class is quite different than in the US. I have about half of the in-class time that I'd have in the US, and I'm expected to take charge of my own education to much greater degree. For my history classes, tutors (the professor equivalent) give a reading list of about 12 readings, and we are supposed to choose which ones to read, based on our own interests and preferences. The difference in approach from the US is supposedly because the state subsidizes college education, but only allows top students to go. So it is more of an honor to go to school, and students presumably take it more seriously. I will try to investigate that claim.
-I bought a cheap little battery operated alarm clock. It is awful. It clicks extraordinarily loud when I'm trying to sleep and drives me insane. It also has no "snooze" button, so it isn't very effective for me. I only mention it now because its ticking is louder than my music, and I'm thinking of smashing it into the wall (or taking the battery out.)
-I also bought a 5 piece knife set because it was cheaper to buy them all than to buy one. I love it and felt like a real cook tonight when I used one knife to cut a pepper and a different knife to cut an onion. Brilliant.
Tomorrow's plan is to break into the library and crack some books. Wish me luck.
January 06, 2007
"I am a foreigner in a foreign land."
Hello America,
This is Jess, in London. Can you hear me?
This blog thing is new to me, so I am quite apprehensive about it. I have put off writing my first entry for quite a while now, but I think its time to bite the bullet and do it.
I am writing this blog for three primary reasons:
-to keep friends and family at home updated on what I'm doing and thinking while abroad
-to keep a record for myself of what I did and thought
-to force myself to analyze and internalize my experiences
I have struggled with how to structure the blog, and what to include, but I suppose the best path is to make no promises and to just write. So here goes. You can choose which parts you want to read, and which parts you want to skim over. But please do leave comments!
Thoughts of a tourist.
"I am a foreigner in a foreign land." That's what one of the speakers during our orientation told us to remind ourselves to avoid culture shock.
Being a tourist is an odd occupation. We (the Americans I am with) are constantly comparing and contrasting what we see in England to what we know in the US.
-British people are more reserved than Americans
-British people are more fashionable than Americans
-British people are funnier and smarter than Americans
-British pubs are similar to American coffee shops in their function
-London looks like some parts of New York
-British people are more liberal than Americans and less religious
We're constantly comparing what we see in London to the picture we have in our minds of the US. Of course each of us has a different image in our minds of what the US is like, and what Americans are like, so the comparisons are never objective, and probably rarely accurate. But regardless of the accuracy of our observations, it seems to me that they are rather pointless in themselves. Perhaps it was because I sat in Dr. Warden's English class too long (my 11th grade English teacher) or perhaps because my history classes are always discussing causality, but I find myself regularly asking, "so what?" As Warden students will understand, asking this question does not mean to say that our observations are unimportant, but that there is a meaning behind them that we have to search for.
I am very excited to start class so I can start potentially making connections between London history and my observations about modern London. I wonder how much historical events affect the culture and personalities of a people. Was it their experience with WWII that made the British less openly patriotic than Americans? Does the American tendency to be less reserved than Brits have to do with its foundations in personal freedom? Or more likely, because of the counter-culture movements of the 1960s? The more I think about, the more I think that some causes seem obvious while others seem impossible to prove. But, regardless of the limitations on proving a cause and effect relationships between historical events and modern day culture, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of British contemporary culture as I study their history in greater depth.
My beginning in London
My time here so far has been mixed. Getting settled into a semester is always hard, and there were lots of orientation activities and settling work to be done just at the time that I felt I should be exploring the city. Its hard to balance the feeling that I should be seeing everything in London right away with the reality that I need to wait in very long lines to enroll, register with various campus services, sign up for classes, buy cell phones, appliances, and groceries, and of course make entirely new friends.
However, it has been fun to think of the potential that the semester holds in this huge city, and to make significant strides in feeling more comfortable every day.
These are some of the highlights of my trip so far:
-On the plane to London, the girl sitting next to me fainted on her way to the bathroom. Everyone was sleeping, so I sprinted out of my seat to alert the flight attendants. She ended up fine, but I did not get any sleep.
-On the ride from the airport to the hotel, the coach bus I was on hit a guy on a motorcycle. I had been trying to keep my eyes open to take in the first glances of the city, but I was not being very successful. Suddenly there was a jolt, and I thought we'd gone over a curb. The driver slammed on the break, and I saw a motorcycle lying on the ground on the right side of the bus, and a man with a helmet, with half of his body under the left side of the bus. It turned out that the tires had not actually gone over him, so despite being carried away in a stretcher, he was fine. He must have anticipated the crash and jumped off his bike and rolled under the bus. He was a lucky lucky man, and it was quite a crazy first experience in London.
-I have done a fair amount of walking around my area. Although when I walk by myself I invariably get lost, I enjoy those walks alone more because I can really appreciate where I am and I feel more in control.
-We had an International Student Reception, and they served us wine and cold fried foods. It was quite an odd combination, but everyone was very amused by the faculty coming around asking to refill our glasses. Talk about contrasts.
-I went to a supermarket (Tesko) for the first time today. It is great. Lots of quality produce, and inexpensive ready-made food, including a large variety of vegetarian options. They are very good about marking vegetarian food with labels that say "Suitable for vegetarians." They also have a good selection of fresh bread, and I was so hungry this morning that I ate half my loaf. I bought a yogurt-sized cup of custard and ate it as a snack later. It was delicious. I can't wait to try my rice pudding one, though I do have lower expectations for it.
-I went to the British Museum by myself today. It is only about a 10-15 minute walk from my dorm, depending on how many wrong turns I make. There are only about two turns that I need to make though, so it was very easy. The museum is huge so I quickly decided this would not be my only visit and set out to explore. I went through the Ancient Mesopotamia section, Ancient Egyptian section, and Ancient Greeks in Italy. It was very interesting and fun. The mummies in the Egyptian section were the natural highlight. I tried to discern who was in the museum as well. It seemed to be mostly tourists, and a very high percentage of French speakers.
-I have been to a few pubs for pints. I was very intimidated at first, but feel a bit more comfortable now. They come in all shapes and sizes. The first one I went to on my first night with Matt Stokes (from Case) was probably the most cozy one I've been to so far. We sat at a table under a staircase in a small dimly lit room where all the tables were filled with seemingly good friends. It seemed like a really nice hang out spot for friends. Since then, the other ones that I've been to have been a bit larger and more like American bars in their ambiance. Tonight we met a hilarious drunk Brit from 30 minutes north of London who kept telling us that he was so happy to meet Americans because we were so polite and intelligent. "And George Bush doesn't get enough credit". Then he looked around the room to make sure there was no crowd around waiting to throw him out.
I guess there will always be more to write about, but I am getting awfully sleepy now, so I will have to continue later. I hope you all are doing well.