Cultural Collisions

Good evening, or if you're in the US, good afternoon :-)

London is a super posh city, if I haven't said that before. Last night I was walking with some girls to the tube station and we started talking about the differences between Americans and the British. They actually like, get dressed up to go everywhere. It makes me wonder what they wear when they're hanging around their flats on a rainy Saturday. Anyway, in an effort to fit in and not appear so "American" we've all subconsciously, I think, been trying to dress and act a bit more "British", which is actually beginning to feel a little embarrassing!

One of the girls I was with last night had put on a very classy dress and heels. She looked lovely, but still said she felt like all Brits could just look at her and know right away that she was an American. We physically look the same, so it can't be so obvious, but I have the same feeling every day. Ironically, I feel less obvious when I'm wearing my typical jeans a flip-flops, which is trademark American gear.

Today I was hanging out with a different group of UNH kids and one of the guys was saying that it must be so much easier being an American woman in England than being an American man. British men apparently love us ladies-- someone actually told me that our accent is beautiful. Ugh, I think it's gross, especially if you're from the southern east coast.

Last night a small group of us stopped at McDonalds for some late night munchies on our way home from a pub. A mixed group-- two guys, myself, and another girl. We got our food and sat down. We hadn't been there long when a friendly, chatty young British guy came over to chat with us. We were sitting down, having a good conversation about why were in London and such, and then some other, much older guys came over, who had been with the young guy that had been chatting with us. Somehow something was mentioned about good ol' G.W., the phrase "fucking Americans" was dropped by one of the men. Kelly, who was a little drunk, very happily wanted to know why they were putting "fucking" in front of "Americans"... Next thing I know one of the friends I was with grabs me and tells me to get up and leave with Kelly and wait for them outside. I don't really know what happened, except that they clearly didn't like us.

Thinking about it now, and taking into consideration what was said today about being an American guy in England, I don't think there would have been any sort of problem if it had just been a group of American girls last night. It seems like American men are pretty much a target for someone to pick a fight with, because of course, American women have such beautiful accents...