Culture Block

Cultural note of the week: my family warned me before I left that there may be some people overseas who simply don’t like Americans. Nearly everyone I’ve met so far has been very nice and welcoming – the cab driver to the res hall on my first day told me, “English people are nice to you Americans because everybody else hates us both.” There’s only been one real exception, which is laughable enough not to count: the conversation with a drunken neighbor who told me he had the impression all Americans were stupid. I said I wouldn’t be at this university if I were stupid; to which he replied, “Oh, you guys have to apply to get in here?” I think that settled it.

The disturbing thing is that the greatest instances of anti-Americanism I’ve witnessed here have been in the behavior of other American students. There’s a special subgroup of study abroad students who are so vehement about “blending in” that they’re embarrassed to be seen with other international students. I do support anyone who wants to learn about and become involved in another culture, but I’m also wary of anyone who likes to pretend they’re something they’re simply not (Americans claiming to be “British” after a month and a half). And it’s these students who also most freely bash American culture and habits – who make the most cruel fun of other American students’ accents, who most consciously deploy British slang at every available moment and refuse to recognize its American counterparts, and who are most culpable of shunning other Americans socially. Learning about another culture doesn’t have to mean vilifying your own!

A couple of my friends from JHU had spent the two weeks before coming to QMUL hopping European cities and staying in hostels. They love telling stories about the Canadians they met in Prague or the Australian they hung out with in Venice; in a similar way, I think that hearing about other Americans’ experiences here can be just as rewarding and interesting as getting involved in British life. I know one American student at QMUL who studied abroad here last year, and loved Britain so much he transferred to finish his degree and stay. He told me he couldn’t stand study abroad Americans who came here simply to befriend other Americans; so he was deliberately mean to other Americans when he was an international student, to ensure he was completely immersed in the British culture. The first half makes sense – only socializing with other Americans seems like a mistake – but the second half is sheer nonsense.

This same guy described his hometown, San Diego, to a Greek/British student from QMUL; and after going over the tourist attractions, the weather, the roads, he finished up with “It’s such a shithole country!” The British student only replied, “It sounds kind of nice to me.”