Cultural Change

As I stepped off the plane I was tired and hungry, but still I found myself smiling. The eight-hour plane ride didn’t seem to ruin my excitement about jump-starting my summer in the Big Apple. I had been to New York City many times, but never for more than three days. The whole thought of living in a big city other than London was nerve-racking but intriguing at the same time.

            The weekend before I moved into the city I stayed in the Hamptons with my best friend from freshman year in high school. Having my 17-year-old friend drive me around was the start to the cultural differences I began to get a feel for. In London, only a few of my friends drive—we just grow up not having to drive ourselves around the city. We take the bus, the tube, cabs or walk. I know many adults in London who don’t own cars and have never even driven in the city. As for me, I’ll probably be that girl in college who uses her friends as cabs because she doesn’t know how to drive.

            The different phrases and words are the best and funniest culture change. People here look at me funny when I say “tube” instead of “subway,” “toilet” instead of “bathroom,” “cab” instead of “taxi” and so on. When I order a “still water” at a restaurant, the waiter looks at me, raises his eyebrows and goes: “Uhh, so just a water?” The most entertaining facial expression I received was after I said “Cheers” to a stranger in NYC after they held open a door for me.

            When I was in fourth grade, the age when girls began to let loose of their “cooties” phase, I learned that 10-year-old British boys can have a slang that is as foreign to me as my British dialect is now to Americans. My whole grade was on a school trip to a camp site called Little Canada. We did daytime activities within our own school, but when we had breaks we were able to play on the playground with other schools. One day when I was on the playground with my friends choreographing our own little dance, one of the boys from the other schools came up to me and said “Hi, my friend fancies you and thinks you’re really fit.” I looked at my friends, who were giggling behind me, trying to understand what this boy had just said to me. When I tried to speak, nothing came out, so the boy smiled and walked away. I was left there trying to decipher the confusing lingo that had just come out of this stranger’s mouth.

            Although America and England have their dissimilarities, they have many similarities as well. It’s funny what Americans say to me when they find out I am from London. The majority of the responses are: “Do you drink tea all the time?”; “Do you drink tea with your pinky up?”; “Do you chill with the princes?”; and my favorite one: “How come you don’t have a British accent?” I have even been asked some of these questions: “OMG, can you see the Eiffel tower from where you live?!” and “Do they still ride horse and carriage over there?” Yes, it is true. My answers are usually, “No, I do not drink an excessive amount of tea” or “No, I do not chill with the princes on a daily basis.” The truth is: Yes, London is different, and it has definitely changed me for the better, but really I am still just like any other American teen. I am young, fun and trying to find what I want to do in this world. The only difference is I live 2,983 miles away.