Bursting the Bubble

 A week has passed and sometimes it feels like I never left the USA. At times London feels like another US city, where people just drive on the other side of the road. For example, if you turn on the tv here in London, you will find a variety of American shows. I have seen Monk, Two and A Half Men, Glee, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, FBI Case Files, L.A. Hard Hats, Lost, Law and Order: UK, among others. At the same time, you turn on BBC news and hear about Obama all day long. You can go down to the nearest pharmacy or grocery store and find products you can buy in the US, or find the New York Times or USA Today. I kind of don’t like that it is so similar to a US city, I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of ways in which London is not like the US, but you can miss them if you don’t look closely or if you don’t leave your little school bubble. Lately I’ve only been hanging out with American students, but thats just because its easier to meet them, than British people, or Europeans for that matter. From now on I’m really going to try to leave my Syracuse/American bubble and get out there and experience the real London, not the “American” London.

My first venture outside of the bubble was yesterday. I decided to go out on a walk around London, alone, instead of staying at home and hanging out with the roommates. I went to Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden and Leicester Square. While walking around I saw the TKTS booth, which sells discount theater tickets for same day performances. I decided to check it out and see what was playing that night. Looked at the board, and saw that they had cheap tickets (23 pounds) for The Little Dog Laughed, an American play that was in Broadway for a while and now was in London (so much for getting out of my American bubble). Anyways, bought the tickets and went to the theater, yes, alone. It was a good play, really funny, but not that deep, at the end I felt cheated, like there was something that wasn’t explained or resolved in the end, but I dismissed it and concluded that it was a witty play, full of funny moments, some nudity (sorry mom) and social commentary, but sadly without an ending that made sense. It really felt like the author went “Shit! This is long, I have to write an ending” and just ended it right there. Oh well, it was a good time and I would still recommend it, but only if it is at a discounted price.

Another way I’m going to try to get out of the American bubble is by trying to meet locals or Europeans at the pubs we go to during the weekends, and see if I can make some friends. I mean, the other night I did meet a German and a Australian, but that was it, we had a conversation at the pub and that was that. We’ll see how that goes.

Anyways, since my last post, classes have started. All my classes seem really interesting, except Multicultural London, it just seems boring, but the best ones are Eye on America: British Mass Media and US Politics, History of Crime and Punishment in England, and Contemporary British Theater (where we go to a theater performance every Tuesday night). I’m really looking forward to going to the Theater every week, that’ll help me get out of the American bubble. Some of the plays we are going to see are, Daisy Pulls It Off, The Whisky Taster, Enron, War Horse, Private Lives, Six Degrees of Separation, Women in Black, and others. Most of these plays are British, so it’ll be good to understand British culture through them. We are also going on a backstage tour of a big production in the West End (the Broadway of London). It promises to be a good semester, full of interesting classes, minus the boring one, but hopefully that will change.

This friday we are going on a field trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury, which is a Medieval town southwest of London, and then next week I’m going on a trip to a dog race in Wimbledon, so that’ll be fun as well. Wish me luck, maybe I’ll win some money by betting on a greyhound.

Anyways, time to go to bed. London keeps getting better and better, and everyday I tell myself that I want to live here someday, hopefully it will come true.