I finally did something I have been wanting to do for ages: I made non-Americans draw a map of the United States, free hand. Two in the sampling pool were English, one was Japanese, and the last from Singapore. The results were hilarious to me, though in the artists’ defense, American’s maps of the US wouldn’t be much better. And if most Americans tried to draw the UK, it would probably just be one small circle labeled “London/England/United Kingdom.” I noticed that simply the shaping of the US was difficult. It ended up as a chunk for most, and while Florida was always remembered, its iconic shape was not. Everyone knew Texas was near the bottom and Canada was on top. Colorado was usually recognized as being in the middle, but this was mostly because I talk about it a lot and point it out on maps to people all the time. Beyond that, places like Hawaii and Alaska were really just a gamble. There were some funny stereotypes that came out of the experiment. There is an impression of racism in the south, along with jazz. Things like lobsters in Maine, retirees in Florida, and Los Angeles as a state all its own in the west were some of the ideas people had. A quick note, though, is that all these maps were made in a joking and friendly manner and any apparent biases against the US are simply "banter." This map was my favorite because of the abstract shape and labels. Salt Lake City is inscribed over Utah- this state and city are apparently well known by many in the England because the history of Mormonism is apparently taught quite thoroughly. I also appreciate that Alaska is almost the same size as Canada and the attempt to place Hawaii in the Atlantic before realizing it was in the Pacific Ocean. The above map was drawn by my Japanese flatmate. I apologize if the handwriting is hard to read, and I can't tell you what's happening around Hawaii besides a quiet mentioning of Pearl Harbor via the word "remember." I thought it was funny that large cities were more likely to be remembered than the names of states. Also, jazz! The shape in this map (drawn by my friend from Singapore) is wonderfully abstract. I appreciate the attempts to place Texas and LA. Honestly, the more you look at this map the more of a mess it appears to be. Of course, knowledge of US geography isn't universal. I didn't expect very high success rates just as I hope no one would expect me to be able to draw, say, all Asian or European countries. But to see how the US leaves an impression on international minds is both fascinating and hilarious. For example, North Dakota is in the north and South Dakota is in the south. A logical, if inaccurate, impression. And last but not least, by another English person. Simple but elegant.
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All in all, it was a memorable day in England...
This week, someone asked me if there were any expectations of mine that England had not met. In other words, was there anything that I had expected to be an English thing that wasn't true. And there are a few! First of all, I feel extremely lied to by Harry Potter. In this iconic Christmas scene, Ron and Harry wish each other a "Happy Christmas." Which led to my natural expectation that British people wished each other "Happy Christmas" rather than "Merry Christmas." Unfortunately, untrue. While wishing someone Happy Christmas isn't unheard of in England, almost everyone says "Merry Christmas." I was heartbroken.
That isn't where British stereotypes have had the greatest let down, though. The most shocking fact will have to be with the consumption of tea. I was under the impression, like most Americans, that all British people drink a lot of tea. In my mind, there was an image of British people coming together every day around late afternoon to sit down and enjoy a classic cup of tea while discussing the queen and Sherlock Holmes. I have noticed that British people do take their tea seriously: every kitchen in the country has a kettle. This is different than in American households like my own, where owning a kettle is optional. There is a lot of shock explaining this fact to people here. They demand to know how we warm our water. The answer is either boiling it on the stove, using our coffee makers (which British people don't own?), or microwaving it. I said this and there was only utter shock on the faces of my English friends. But while everyone has a kettle, many young people don't even like tea. To me this was shocking. In my mind, I understood that ever single British person not just liked tea, but loved it. Worshiped it. An tragically untrue stereotype, apparently. An odd thing, though, is that the word tea doesn't only refer to the beverage. The evening meal (what you or I might call "dinner" or "supper"), is often referred to as "tea." I don't know why, but many people do it. If we were to sit down to have an actual cup of tea during an allotted time, the term would likely be "afternoon tea." There are a lot of people who don't drink tea, but those who do are quite strict about how it's made. I've learned the method pretty well at this point, as I have made a few British friends who like tea, so I can share with you the "proper" way to make tea (at least according to one British person):
Last Saturday we made a day trip to the "big city" of Northeast England: Newcastle upon Tyne. Most people just call it Newcastle. It's about 40 minutes away via the Metro (or subway). It's about the same size in population as Colorado Springs (my hometown), but it was founded back in the 2nd century so it's a quite bit older. There's a huge shopping center that we wandered around, and we ended up eating dinner at TGI Friday's. That was a funny experience because the British TGI Friday's felt like that familiar American restaurant, but from another slightly altered dimension. The desserts were amazing, though. I really love seeing other parts of England and will be exploring more soon.
For the past few weeks, I have heard so many fireworks going off in the middle of the night, I could have sworn it must have been the Fourth of July. But, in fact, it was the lead up to what I've dubbed the British version of Independence Day: Bonfire Night. I've tried to understand this night with the various explanations from my flatmates and this is what I have concluded: a man named Guy Fawkes tried to blow up King James with 36 barrels of gunpowder* and so to commemorate that night, British people set off a bunch of fireworks and build big bonfires. This is where that rhyme "Remember, remember the fifth of November" comes from. There are bonfires and lots of fireworks, much like the Fourth. So we went out to the sea, at Roker pier (near Illuminations), to watch. There were tons of fireworks right over the sea, just past the sand. They reflected off the waves, making everything burn twice as bright. The fireworks were close enough that we could feel each explosion. We stood enchanted by the magical display, and it felt familiar and different at the same time. Familiar because I knew these fireworks and their lovely displays, but different because I'd never seen them dancing over a sea before.
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Amy Golden
Amy will be spending the academic year at the University of Sunderland in England studying journalism. Archives
February 2018
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