So far, I’ve been having the best semester of my college career. I can confidently say I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. However, this is not implying that I haven’t felt homesick and/or being faced with cultural confrontation. The cultural aspect that is being the hardest for me to adapt to is how kind people are. I know, sounds extremely ridiculous, but coming from the US, which has a very individualistic culture, it's not surprising to feel this way. I hope my fellow peers can relate.
It's very easy to notice this drastic cultural difference. Everywhere I go people are kind and respectful. In the Tube (London’s subway system) people will respect your personal space, be quiet and apologize if they believe they have acted improperly. Even at pubs, people are extremely polite, they voluntarily do lines for the bar and it seems like this is an unspoken rule that should be thoroughly followed. The fact that people act this way is amazing and I truly believe that everyone should take of page from their book. Nevertheless, I’m not there yet. More often than not, I find myself being pushy, getting in people’s spaces, talking louder than normal, and worst of all, being unapologetic about all of it. Safe to say, I’ve received plenty of judgmental faces and that is the reason why I get frustrated at this beautiful kindness. The “normal” behaviors I practice back home are now perceived as strange and disrespectful. So, naturally, I feel frustrated at the fact that people here expect me to not be my “American myself”.
On a more positive note, I’m getting kinder and feeling less frustrated every day. At the pace that I’m going, I can see myself becoming as kind as the British. Who knows, maybe when I come back to the US my friends will feel like I felt when I just got here.
