I’ve noticed here in London that it’s easy to look around and get fooled into thinking that British culture is just like American culture. People here obsess over the same actors and musicians, drink the same sodas and eat the same chocolate bars, buy the same types of shoes and clothes. Of course there are distinct differences in accents, what side of the street people walk on, types of buses, etc., but at its heart, sometimes it’s easy to think it’s all just the same.

However, every so often someone says something that jars me out of my mistaken belief and makes me realize that I am certainly not in America anymore.

Couple of examples:

I would say that in America, most of the people I talk to, even at college, would profess to be of some religion or another, whether they attend any sort of regular religious event or not. I know atheists, but they honestly don’t tend to talk about their beliefs too much. Here, within my first week, I knew about the non-beliefs of some of my co-workers, my teachers, and the people walking by on the street. Atheism is much more common here and people are comfortable talking about it, while I think in America, atheists often feel like an attacked minority. As strange as it sounds, this is definitely one of the things I’ve noticed first here.

People here tend to lean so far to the left politically that it’s occasionally very startling. Despite the lack of recycling facilities in the city itself (I know they’re around, but I certainly don’t see them anywhere), nearly every person you’ll talk to is vocally environmentalist- determined to drive their small cars and recycle as much as possible and save electricity as much as possible. I made a joke once about how tiny the cars here are and got a lecture from someone on how environmentally irresponsible Americans are. In addition, though in the states I pretty much never heard someone in support of the Auto Bailout, I’ve now had long conversations with Englishmen heartily in favor of it. I also had an interesting conversation with someone about the American army system- this person believes that it’s actually morally reprehensible for a poor man or woman to join the army to try to gain an education and support their family, since they’re supporting war, in a way. Though I’ve been on a college campus for a few years and have gotten more used to hearing strong statements such as these, it’s still fairly shocking to hear it in normal conversations throughout the day.

Everyone here is so well-traveled. I find it ironic that nearly every British person I’ve met thus far has visited the States at some point while I know very few Americans that have done the same here. In addition, I’ll be honest, I never really heard of a “special relationship” between the States and Britain before I came over here- now it comes up fairly often.

There’s just a certain cultivation people have here that they’re not ashamed of at all. In the States, if you’re too educated or particular about how you wear your clothes, you’re often seen as elitist or too big for your britches. Here, even men proudly take time in selecting their clothes, converse about what type of hand lotion they use, and go to the theatre on a regular basis without any fear of being called names. It’s actually quite refreshing- I haven’t heard anyone get called a homosexual epithet or teased for being too feminine the entire time I’ve been here.

It’s also just this feeling sometimes you get when you talk to the people here, that their viewpoint on the world is somehow different than yours. Their country is smaller in size but more joined on the global scale, in some ways, than the States are, and it seems to reflect in the world view. It’s hard to put a finger on the difference, but it’s there.

I’m really enjoying getting close enough to notice all these differences- I hope I get to see more.