Blogging Requirements

Basic requirements will be the following:

* Three posts per week minimum about your own project.

* Posts must be done by Sunday each week.

* One contribution/comment about one of your classmate's posts that offers additional insight to their experiences.

* Your post about your own project is to be a minimum of 200 words.

* Your comment about another experience should be positive and encouraging.

* Photos and/or videos are not required, but definitely encouraged. It's nice to have a visual to help the image in our head as we read about your project.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Since arriving in London I've had to adjust to a variety of different things. Theres no huge culture shock but definitely little things.

At home I'm used to saying"Hi, how are you? Have a nice day" to complete strangers in elevators, in passing, wherever.. Here, that doesnt happen nearly as often. People sorta take a step back and look at you funny. As a great example of that Friday night, I went to a comedy show. One of the comedians went up and goes, "The funny thing about americans, is when they tell you to have a nice day they sincerely mean it. Here those are fighting words." Now of course I'm just paraphrasing and he was much funnier, but everyone agreed. It explained all the weird looks I had been getting though...

Its sorta amazing but I never realized how meaningful the small points of communication were to me. Coming from an area of the world that is very open, visiting a much more reserved, formal culture can be a little rough. Now thats not to say I havent met some wonderful people while here, but theres nothing like a loud obnoxious american to hash things out with.
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3 comments:

  1. SraBMay 16, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    I think more than being American, the polite greeting thing comes from being a midwesterner! I don't think New Yorkers say hi in the elevator nearly as often as we Clevelanders do. :)

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  2. Ezgi CubukcuMay 16, 2011 at 10:43 PM

    Marie,

    I'm so jealous that you're in London right now...I went there over spring break and it was wonderful!

    On the politeness level, I kind of had the opposite reaction. I was personally impressed at how nice the Londoners were to us and how they treated us well. They still believe in chivalry and kindness - or so it seemed. But it might have just been because we had just been in Paris and the French people are notorious for how rude they are to others.

    Either way, that's just my two-cents.

    Hope you're having a blast!!

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  3. MarieMay 19, 2011 at 4:28 AM

    I defintely agree with you about the level of politeness and I really appreciate it to. Its nice to have a more formal meeting and welcome but at the same time it can seem a little too formal. My aunts been living here for the past 3 years and has an a very diverse group of friends culturally. Some have voiced the same sentiment. The one german girl ("they're all girls here") went on a rant about how Londoners hear an accent and automatically write people off because its a sign of a temporary transplant. You really have to find the right people to become friends with here

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