on living in a different hemisphere
I like england. I like living in england. I like that I am living here and not just visiting. I guess I am really just visiting but it feels like I'm living because I have a key and and address and friends.
I'm in Bristol now. Going to London, Budapest and Istanbul soon. I went to Bath, the Roman Spa, Wales, a welsh castle, plenty of pubs, gigs, and I've had enough chips curry and tea and biscuits to last me forever. I haven't bought a single article of clothing either. Just a few postcards. Everything is so damn expensive.
It's cliche to say that I have fallen in love with Europe, so I won't say that. I'm moving to NYC for the summer after I graduate (next summer) so then after that summer I'm really thinking about moving to England for real. I am the kind of person who generally fits in most places I move, but I seriously have never felt so at home anywhere. Everything just makes so much sense here. Everyone has been saying that too me too, like it's crazy you've only been here a few weeks, it feels like you've been here forever. I have been living with my friend Steven who visited me and lived in the art collective in SF, and we took him around and showed him the US (he's orginally from Manchester, UK) and now hes returning the favor with me. Anyway he's been insanely nice and we are becoming close, his housemates are lovely too. I've had so much time to think and wander, drawing and working on all my freelance projects and watching boats at Bristol Harborside, talking to random people, drinking tons of ace pear cider and brilliant beer.
I don't think it would be hard for me to move here. And if I don't fall in love with ny and get stuck there that's what I'm going to do.
A thing that really completely floored me about living here is just how self absorbed the US is. We are very self contained here. In England, American politics and American news are everywhere, on Tv constantly. Just as much as it is in the US if not more. I didn't really understand until my friend Steven said if America has a cold, the whole world sneezes. We are really worried McCain will win. It kind of amazes me after taking a step back. How insular we are. Here there are people of all nationalities coming in and out, I guess because its much closer to a larger variety of cultures in a small space (Europe)
I'm tired of hearing about politics. I'm tired of people asking me incredulously "Do you actually think McCain will win?" or "I don't understand how he even has a chance in America, we think of him as the grouchy old grandpa who would just make Europe look down on America even more, and bully the world, America is like a awkward arrogant rebellious teenager," I answer, I don't really know the US is a huge country, full of a wide variety of religions, viewpoints and philosophies. I can't answer for people who think that way.
Being here has made me appreciate the US and and yet also realize that when people try to justify a US weakness by arguing "Well it's so much worse in other countries, it may be bad here but its horrible elsewhere" are pretty wrong. The only other countries I have been to before this trip (for an extensive amount of time) are Mexico and Venezuela, which yes are definetly in a much more politically rough and corrupt environment.
But the UK? No way. Taxes are higher but healthcare is practically free, even for me if I got sick. School costs a considerable amount less than it does for us here, and student loans aren't crippling. Every week their politicians have to sit down and have the press and sometimes normal citizens ask them questions, real questions not talking points. Tony Blair had to face really hard questions constantly like "Why did you lead us into a war with Iraq by shakey evidence at best, lies at worst?" Can you imagine if George W. Bush would have had to answer that question?
Religion is not considered a platform to run off of on the contrary, it is a personal private thing that is not considered relevant in the political process. The press is not extremely partisan and distorted like FOX and CNN are because the BBC is funded by the people, here they have to pay a monthly TV license fee, which sounds kind of crazy but if it ensures a nonpartisan unbiased media source that doesn't have to answer to the political leanings of any one principal. It's kind of like if our PBS received a lot more funding and became the largest broadcaster of news in the US. I used to try to watch the BBC in America anyway it felt like a real source of global news.
The only things that I really think I enjoy about the US is the culture, music and art and literature. It takes stepping back to see something in a better light. I'm not trying to hate too hard, I was born here but it is sad to see how people of the world view you in a bad light, sobering, that we are greedy and gluttonous and wasteful and foolish and easily lied to. Nobody I've met here has been anything but so kind and interested in who I am and where I come from, these are some of the nicest people I have met in my life, kind, funny witty sarcastic and contented, I felt instantly at home and was instantly ushered into a large group of friends who were extrmeley interested in me and my culture. But the conversation would always inevitably turn to the negative traits of America, not in a way of judging me or even Americans just in a gentle like wow you guys have really gotten off track now, doesn't that make you frustrated?
I guess I have more to say but I'm tired.
I'm in Bristol now. Going to London, Budapest and Istanbul soon. I went to Bath, the Roman Spa, Wales, a welsh castle, plenty of pubs, gigs, and I've had enough chips curry and tea and biscuits to last me forever. I haven't bought a single article of clothing either. Just a few postcards. Everything is so damn expensive.
It's cliche to say that I have fallen in love with Europe, so I won't say that. I'm moving to NYC for the summer after I graduate (next summer) so then after that summer I'm really thinking about moving to England for real. I am the kind of person who generally fits in most places I move, but I seriously have never felt so at home anywhere. Everything just makes so much sense here. Everyone has been saying that too me too, like it's crazy you've only been here a few weeks, it feels like you've been here forever. I have been living with my friend Steven who visited me and lived in the art collective in SF, and we took him around and showed him the US (he's orginally from Manchester, UK) and now hes returning the favor with me. Anyway he's been insanely nice and we are becoming close, his housemates are lovely too. I've had so much time to think and wander, drawing and working on all my freelance projects and watching boats at Bristol Harborside, talking to random people, drinking tons of ace pear cider and brilliant beer.
I don't think it would be hard for me to move here. And if I don't fall in love with ny and get stuck there that's what I'm going to do.
A thing that really completely floored me about living here is just how self absorbed the US is. We are very self contained here. In England, American politics and American news are everywhere, on Tv constantly. Just as much as it is in the US if not more. I didn't really understand until my friend Steven said if America has a cold, the whole world sneezes. We are really worried McCain will win. It kind of amazes me after taking a step back. How insular we are. Here there are people of all nationalities coming in and out, I guess because its much closer to a larger variety of cultures in a small space (Europe)
I'm tired of hearing about politics. I'm tired of people asking me incredulously "Do you actually think McCain will win?" or "I don't understand how he even has a chance in America, we think of him as the grouchy old grandpa who would just make Europe look down on America even more, and bully the world, America is like a awkward arrogant rebellious teenager," I answer, I don't really know the US is a huge country, full of a wide variety of religions, viewpoints and philosophies. I can't answer for people who think that way.
Being here has made me appreciate the US and and yet also realize that when people try to justify a US weakness by arguing "Well it's so much worse in other countries, it may be bad here but its horrible elsewhere" are pretty wrong. The only other countries I have been to before this trip (for an extensive amount of time) are Mexico and Venezuela, which yes are definetly in a much more politically rough and corrupt environment.
But the UK? No way. Taxes are higher but healthcare is practically free, even for me if I got sick. School costs a considerable amount less than it does for us here, and student loans aren't crippling. Every week their politicians have to sit down and have the press and sometimes normal citizens ask them questions, real questions not talking points. Tony Blair had to face really hard questions constantly like "Why did you lead us into a war with Iraq by shakey evidence at best, lies at worst?" Can you imagine if George W. Bush would have had to answer that question?
Religion is not considered a platform to run off of on the contrary, it is a personal private thing that is not considered relevant in the political process. The press is not extremely partisan and distorted like FOX and CNN are because the BBC is funded by the people, here they have to pay a monthly TV license fee, which sounds kind of crazy but if it ensures a nonpartisan unbiased media source that doesn't have to answer to the political leanings of any one principal. It's kind of like if our PBS received a lot more funding and became the largest broadcaster of news in the US. I used to try to watch the BBC in America anyway it felt like a real source of global news.
The only things that I really think I enjoy about the US is the culture, music and art and literature. It takes stepping back to see something in a better light. I'm not trying to hate too hard, I was born here but it is sad to see how people of the world view you in a bad light, sobering, that we are greedy and gluttonous and wasteful and foolish and easily lied to. Nobody I've met here has been anything but so kind and interested in who I am and where I come from, these are some of the nicest people I have met in my life, kind, funny witty sarcastic and contented, I felt instantly at home and was instantly ushered into a large group of friends who were extrmeley interested in me and my culture. But the conversation would always inevitably turn to the negative traits of America, not in a way of judging me or even Americans just in a gentle like wow you guys have really gotten off track now, doesn't that make you frustrated?
I guess I have more to say but I'm tired.