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Volume aaa, Number 7 |
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Greetings from across the pond
ALISON L. McCONNELL
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
There are quite a few notable differences about going to school in London rather than good old Brunswick, as one might suspect. Having been in London for a full month now, I feel that I've reached the status of "Absolutely Accurate London Specialist," and can therefore regale everyone back home with my expert insights on the topic.
I'll start with the most obvious and crucial: All the men wear purple ties. This may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, and with careful scientific research I'm sure you could prove me wrong, but I'm talking about the impressions I've gotten here, not facts.
Consider my frame of reference: On the way to a Bowdoin class, a student is likely to witness as many pajama-clad passers-by as formally dressed ones. Obviously, this won't happen in a city-people always get dressed for work or school. (Side note: I received more than a few strange looks as I ran out to the pay phone yesterday in my peacoat, pj pants, and slippers. Not recommended.)
But the purple tie phenomenom is extraneous even to the difference in formal dressing. I have never seen so many purple ties in all my life! Half the men on the street at any given time are displaying their violet, lavender, or lilac office wear without a second thought.
Perhaps my surprise at this phenomenon should be attributed to what I'm used to-the "I'm much too cool to care about how I look" style of American men. A nice looking tie? Nooooooooo, they have to wear their pants eighteen sizes too big around their knees, throw on a T-shirt that's been sitting on the floor for at least a week, and be sure to find a nice stained baseball cap to cover any sort of combed hair they might have.
The European mentality is totally different-men over here are apparently secure enough in themselves to wear leather pants on a regular basis. Playing Sarah Ramey's wonderful game of transposing images onto people you know is particularly amusing when you imagine the guys you see in the gym wearing scarves and tight jeans, believe me.
Another difference here: NOTHING starts on time. And I mean nothing.
This may have something to do with the fact that LSE is incredibly overcrowded and disorganized, but in four weeks of classes, I haven't had a single lecture begin before ten minutes of twiddling my thumbs and reading trashy English newspapers have elapsed.
The best example of the lateness factor: my advisor, a government professor, didn't even SHOW UP to our first meeting. When I finally tracked him down later that afternoon and mentioned that I had been at his office at 9:00 as planned, he casually said, "Oh, I was a few minutes late." Right. I waited until almost 9:20, buddy, before giving up on you.
More noticeably different (and almost as significant as the purple tie explosion, I'm sure) is the profusion of cell phones-excuse me, MOBILES. I asked someone about his "cell phone" the other day and received a glance indicating that three extra heads had sprouted from my neck.
Yes, the mobile phones. There are seven million people in London, and roughly 6,999,999 mobiles to go with them. And no, I didn't survey the population to reach that figure, but I know it's correct-because I am the only person in this city who doesn't have one perpetually plastered to my head as I yak away at the top of my lungs to be heard over the racket of the other 6,999,998 people carrying on their own noisy conversations.
I'm attempting to avoid buying one, so I can spend my (small amount of) money elsewhere-at currency exchanges, probably, because changing dollars for pounds these days is akin to throwing your wallet into the river.
There is one vital difference that sets London immediately apart from Brunswick, and I noticed it the first time I walked around. I encounter more people on a daily basis than I do in Maine in a month, and these people are of every racial, ethnic, social, and religious background you can imagine.
This is not to say that Bowdoin isn't a wonderful place and that I don't miss it, because it is and I do. However, the everyday differences (both mundane and profound) are enough in themselves to make studying abroad a worthwhile experience.
McConnell is spending her junior year at the London School of Economics, studying economics, of all things. She'll be back in a couple of weeks with musings on how tie colors relate to the war with Iraq.