Why am I here?

Studying in England is pretty much like studying in America. I never had to learn a new language to understand what was going on. I didn't stick out like a sore thumb until I opened my mouth to speak. The article "American Students Abroad Can't Be 'Global Citizens'" is written by a student who was transplanted into a vastly different culture and way of life. I, on the other hand, had to adjust to only a new timezone. (Granted, there were a few differences such as slang and Lancaster University did things differently in way of education than Allegheny.) With that said, it is a bit difficult to answer the prompt. So I am hoping to modify it a bit to fit my experiences. I have decided I shall tell a story about my flatmates.

I suffer from migraines. I have since I was a small child. In eleventh grade I had to start everyday medication for them as I had a severe migraine for three months straight. We discovered that the migraines and a few other issues I have stem from a hypersensitive nervous system. That basically means changes in temperature, barometric pressure, stress levels, and sleep/schedule patterns can cause me to get a migraine. Today I have things pretty much under control, as long as I try to stick to a schedule. One of the times I wound up having a migraine was one afternoon. I do the same thing each time I get a migraine, I take my meds, stick my head under a pillow, and sleep it off. I'm almost asleep when I hear one of my flatmates start blasting dance music. At like 3 in the afternoon. I hoped that it would get turned down a bit. I also hoped I could just block it out with a pillow. Nope. It just seemed to get louder. I actually had to get up, still in my migraine stupor, and knock on his door. I asked him if he could turn it down, to which he replied "Sorry, I was just trying to annoy (insert flatmate next door's name)." Now, you must be wondering what this has to do with the prompt. I'm about to tell you. Cut to a month after that. The day before the time I am about to describe, I had gone to Liverpool with two friends. We got back late that night (a Saturday). So my schedule was slightly off, as I went to bed about an hour and a half after what I would normally. To adjust for that, I was planning on sleeping in. Being a Sunday, I figured that would not be a problem. I wake up a one point  to music BLARING down the hall. Honestly, I never heard this loud of music being played at any point in a dormitory in my nearly three years of college up to that day. I think to myself, it's probably like one in the afternoon. I glance at my phone. It was SEVEN FREAKING THIRTY on a Sunday morning. Why on earth was club music playing at such an hour?!?!?! Well, like the time where I had a migraine, I had to stumble over and knock on my flatmate's door. This time in my pajamas. My flatmate opened his door and I see he has at least six people in his tiny room and they're all dressed for the club. I politely ask him to turn it off and he looked shocked that I would request such a thing. It was clear to me that they were still awake from going out the previous night. This experience caused me to think about things at Lancaster compared to things at Allegheny:

1. The first thing it made me consider (at a more reasonable time, after several more hours of sleep) was the difference in going out/partying at Allegheny compared to Lancaster. One of the biggest differences is the fact that in the UK, and much of Europe, people are legally allowed to drink at 18, meaning first year uni students are able to purchase and consume alcohol. In America, the drinking age is 21, which means college students cannot (legally) drink until around their third year of school. This completely changes partying. At Lancaster, there are nine bars on campus. Plus two stores that sell alcohol. So people start drinking on campus and by midnight they move onto the clubs, which don't close until six or seven in the morning. One could party every night of the week. At Allegheny, the people who go out to the (off-campus) bars are usually of legal drinking age. And most bars close by two or three in the morning. 
2. Another thing I began to muse about is the difference between one's first year at Allegheny compared to a first year at Lancaster. At Lancaster, the first year is basically a blow off year. One could essentially muck about, party every night, never go to lecture, and it means absolutely nothing. This never would fly at Allegheny. I had to study, study, study since my first year. I never really 'partied'.
3. All of my flatmates were first years. They could drink and party every night and then sleep until four in the afternoon. I, however, being caught between second and third year (in the eyes of Lancaster as they only go for three years), couldn't do what they did. (Which isn't something I would want to do anyway.) I felt like a grandma because of my need for consistent schedule and scholastic-goody-two-shoes nature.

After thinking of these things, I began to appreciate the differences. Sure it was kind of awful to be rudely awoken early on a Sunday morning by screeching club music. But was I learning what life was like for natives of my host country. The author of "American Students Abroad Can't Be 'Global Citizens'" write about how she was unable to fully immerse in her host country because of one specific detail. For her, that was the fact that she was treated as an honored guest over a family member. For me, it was that I was unable (medically and personality-wise) to party the same way as my English colleagues. I know it is a slightly odd comparison, but as I said earlier, I was still in a predominately white, English-speaking country not unlike my home country. 

Reading Between the Lines

In "Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication", Laray M. Barna lays out six common types of issues associated with intercultural dealings. On this list are things like differences in body language and differences in outward personality (Assumption of Similarities, Nonverbal Misinterpretations), differences in spoken language and connotation (Language Differences), being caught up in stereotypes (Preconceptions and Stereotypes), misinterpretation of actions and immediate judgement as "wrong" or "abnormal" (Tendency to Evaluate), and stress caused by being in different situations and with different people (High Anxiety).

I found that I experienced three of these during my time in England: Assumption of Similarities, Nonverbal Misinterpretations, and Language Differences. The biggest difference I noticed was the difference between the American form of politeness and the English form. In America, as noted in Barna's article, we are friendly in our politeness, perhaps overly. We smile and wave. We say 'bless you' when someone sneezes in public. We are vocally thankful more more loudly than our English cousins. When someone asks how we are, we respond with how we are actually feeling. People in England usually give a nod when they run into someone they know when they're out, if they do respond at all. Sitting in class, I noticed that my English peers don't say 'bless you' when someone sneezes, when I feel automatically compelled to say it. (Much to the chagrin of Professor Bulman back at Allegheny) In England, the automatic thankful remark is 'cheers'.  You say 'cheers' when a server brings food, as you disembark a bus, as you collect your groceries to depart. It's rather informal. Another thing that people in England do is ask "you-all-right". This, I have learned, is almost rhetorical. Once, in the hallway of my flat, my flatmate said this to me. I responded with how I was feeling (good but a bit stressed) and she looked a bit thrown off. I asked her how she was and she just said fine and continued on her way.

There are small language differences that exist between American English and British English. For instance, what is featured in the picture below:

I would call this a faucet. People in England call it a tap. I confused the porter when I spoke about the separate faucets in my bathroom sink. 

I confused lots of people by asking where the restroom was. Many just gave me a weird look and I had to clarify. My English friends say toilet or loo over bathroom or restroom. As an American, I find toilet a bit.

Finally, now that I know what "Tendency to Evaluate" is, I can hold back on judging others for things like this. Now I know that every action, every word, is defined by culture. And I must pause and reflect on what I mean and what I present and also on what others mean and present. 

Resetting Our Goals?

The term “developed” seems to be this era’s version of “civilized”. The Ancient Greeks called anyone who was not a part of civilized Greek society “barbarians” (barbaros), yet they also used the term derogatorily between their own city states. Gilbert Rist’s article “Development as a buzzword” lays out the multifaceted but entirely vague concept we have come to know as “being developed”. This idea of development is somewhat difficult to discuss in the context of my study abroad experiences in England. England was the original modern super power. It was the seat of western civilization after the Renaissance and only gave up the title last century. It has been a developed nation for hundreds of years. But there was a time it was not developed.

On my sixth day in England, Lancaster University had arranged a trip to Chester, one of the best examples of a walled city in the UK, for the Study Abroad students. Chester also has Roman ruins. The Romans came to England around 55 B.C.E. The Romans, believing themselves to be the more civilized people, seized the lands from the Celtic peoples. With the Romans came Roman ideals of development. Amphitheaters were created. Baths were built. Gladiatorial combat was ordered. All the things the Romans believed to be the epitomes of western civilization were brought to the barbaric Celts.

Keeping this in mind, we can now, as Rist writes, "debunk the 'development' buzzword." Rist also writes: 
To do so [debunk 'development'] means that we must define it properly – relying on actual social practices, rather than wishful thinking. We must be aware of its inclusion in a corpus of beliefs that are difficult to shatter, expose its mischievous uses, and denounce its consequences. The most important thing, however, is to make it plain that there is life after ‘development’ – certainly a different one from what we in the privileged regions are used to, but there is no evidence to suggest that we would lose on such a deal.

 
Romans forced their beliefs on the Celts. They used these beliefs to hold themselves above the 'lesser' Celts. But this was not the end of the so called development. Today, England has developed past the Romans, past the Normans. But this doesn't mean that it is done developing. There is no ultimate utopia that marks the supposed end of development as things are constantly changing, constantly in flux.

Amphitheater in Chester

Roman Baths