Wrap Up

      So we are finally done here in London and it truly is a really sad time. We just said bye to the entire team and me and Jake are leaving for Belgium in a few hours. I couldn't of asked for a better group and a better time in London. My internship was great experience and I met people that I will be friends with for the rest of my life. This experience has taught me a lot about identity and who actually represents a true British person. There is a major complexity of identity going on in London and being able to see all of the cultures mix was very interesting to digest. It was awesome to have a class teaching us about identity and then being able to go out, explore and realize what kind of identity struggles were going on in London. This experience has taught me to be proud about being an American and never be afraid to say it. Everyone should be proud of where they came from and they should say it with pride. Not that I ever wasn't proud but some people aren't proud because of what we stand for and what others view us as. But I learned to be prideful in where you came from no matter what. When I come back to the UK I would love to visit the outside places from London especially more North. I wish I could of visited more places like Glasgow and Manchester while I stayed here. 

Sports Cafe

This weekend we went to a place called Sports Cafe that is located in Picadilly Circus. On Tuesdays they have student night and there are always a ton of students there drinking and casually talking. They also have beer pong going on so you can play for 5 pounds which is also a nice touch. What I love so much about going here is you are able to meet others students from all around the world in a common place with a vibe that everyone is used to. What is so apparent when being there is the language that is going on all over the place. There are so many different languages everywhere you don't know which one is coming from which place. I really enjoy just listening to other languages are trying to learn some of the language. It is also one of my favorite places because the amount of other people you meet.

What also was interesting this time at Sports Cafe was that one girl we met from France was one of the coolest girls we have met on this trip. We were talking to her for a while and we realized she had never played beer pong before in her life. This was so shocking to us and we had to show her how to play. We played for a while and after playing I realized we were showing her a tradition and ritual that americans always use. Beer pong is one of the biggest drinking games in America if not number one and it was so surprising to see she never played before. One of our biggest traditions and she had never even heard of it. It was really awesome to show her how to play and she actually one a game! It was one of my favorite times because we were able to teach someone from France a major tradition and ritual that goes on in America.

Chelsea Football Game

At the start of our program we all went to a chelsea soccer game and experienced what it was like. Even though we didn't go in it still was awesome to see the stadium and really feel the vibe of what a real football game is like. is an English football club based in Fulham, London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Their home is the 41,837-seat stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since their establishment. Chelsea's regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The club's crest has been changed several times in attempts to re-brand the club and modernise its image. The current crest, featuring a ceremonial lion rampant regardant holding a staff, is a modification of the one introduced in the early 1950s.
Walking around the stadium we were able to see a little of the game and it really was awesome. Being able to see all of the fans standing up and cheering for their home team really made me realize how much pride in place they had and the respect they had for the club. Being a fan in America is nothing compared to being a fan in London. Especially a fan for the Chelsea F.C. Pride in place was very apparent here in the way they were screaming and yelling at the top of your lungs. They really loved where they were from and were going to show it.
I also noticed a sense of tradition watching the game. A lot of the fans there knew everything there was to know about the club and what they stood for. Tradition was everywhere and this was especially apparent when I saw a dad and his kid go to the game dressed in the same gear so excited to watch it. It was a tradition to them to go and watch the match father and son. Even though it was very loud and abusive on the field, it was still a tradition that a father and his son had in their family.

Finsbury Park

For my internship I worked for an American Football team that was based in Finsbury Park. Finsbury Park is in North London and is extremely different than the Chelsea area where we are staying. It grew up around an important railway interchange at the junction of the London Boroughs of Islington, Haringey and Hackney. It is not to be confused with Finsbury, which is 3.3 miles (5.3 km) farther south in the London Borough of Islington, although in some local contexts the name is shortened in this way. What I experienced when working in North London was how people respond to you when you say your from Chelsea or staying in Chelsea. When I first met the team they asked me where I was staying and without really thinking I said Chelsea. Immediately they were saying how posh I was and asking how much money my parents give me a week. It took a while for me to explain and tell them I was placed there not that I wanted to live there. This really showed me how important pride in place was. The players who were from North London just kept saying how amazing and better the North was from the South. It was so interesting to hear that and it just showed how important they felt their home place was to them. And when I would discuss this with the people in Chelsea they would just say that they all were bums that didn't know what they were talking about. This really showed me how different each place was and how important their place was to them.

Having this dicussion it also showed me how important family was to all of them. When I told them I lived in Chelsea they started to talk about my family and if I was wealthly. I wasnt even from Chelsea and I felt like I was being offended and needed to stick up for my family and what they stood for. When someone talks about your family you immediately want to strike back and defend them. It was interesting to see someone come at a family member like that when you just met them.

Victoria and Albert Museum

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum today and it was the last time we had our tour guide Trudy! It was a pretty sad moment but she definitely saved the best for last. It is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. They even have a David Bowe exhibition! The British do love their David Bowe.
What was the coolest was seeing all of the ceramics. This is the largest and most comprehensive ceramics and glass collection in the world, with over 80,000 objects from around the world. Every populated continent is represented. The one thing with this museum is the cultural fusion that they bring into it. It's collection has pieces from almost every time span. When bringing in that much cultural fusion it really allows you to see each time period and you are able to compare and contrast the differences and how each culture brought their own twist to it. I loved seeing all of the different cultures under one roof.

 One of the coolest parts of going through the museum was the end where we saw all of the clothing throughout the years of british history. It was really interesting to see how the clothing changed and how some of the mens clothing still looks so similar to the clothing men wear today. The jackets looked almost identically to a jacket someone would wear today. I would actually wear one of the jackets we saw and i'm sure I would get plenty of comments on it without a doubt. With the different clothing it brought out class and artistic expression. What you wore showed your class and where you stood in society. Back in the day and even today what you wear shows your class and where you stand in society. It also showed artistic expression because when the women started to wear skirts everyone went crazy. Women were allowed to show their legs and have some expression to what they wore everyday.

Camden Market

We went to the Camden Market last weekend and it reminded me of canal street in New York where everyone is selling completely fake stuff and trying to sell it off as real. I do love stuff like that though because you can always mess with all of the sellers and try to get them down to the lowest price possible. I never can get enough of that haha. Among products sold on the stalls are crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, and fast food. It is the fourth-most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 100,000 people each weekend. 

There is a sense of fusion everywhere you walk because there are people from every culture under the sun all trying to sell off their fake products. You get everything from sunglasses to hats to vintage clothes to gross chinese food. There is so much fusion going on there that you don't know what to do with it.  From the food they were selling to the cultural clothes they were having people try on. It was awesome to see that much mix in one place. There was even a rave store called Cyberdog that had gogo dancers in cages and the entire place was lite up by black light.

There were plenty of artistic expressions too when walking around and taking in everything. Everyone had a personal way of dressing, talking or engaging with other people. It was interesting to see how everyone went about showing their identity and who they are as a human being. Expression was every where you looked even on the walls and on the ground they had artistic expression. That is one place where you shouldn't be worried to wear something that is different or that's not exactly hip right now. That place is where you go to show your identity and who you are as a person inside and out.

Afternoon Tea

We had some afternoon tea today and this is the most posh I think i've ever felt! All I needed was a funky hat on and I would of been a typical traditional tea person. It was actually pretty awesome to do and I really enjoyed having tea and some crumpets with the team. I never really enjoyed tea before but it was pretty freaking good I couldn't stop drinking it. I also didn't realize how strong it was and it had the same effects as coffee. I always thought it was a weak version of coffee but I was extremely wrong hah. I definitely was wired after the tea.

Tea consumption increased dramatically during the early nineteenth century and it is around this time that Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford is said to have complained of "having that sinking feeling" during the late afternoon. At the time it was usual for people to take only two main meals a day, breakfast, and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The solution for the Duchess was a pot a tea and a light snack, taken privately in her boudoir during the afternoon. What it really showed was class and how much that changed people's view of you and where you stood in society. Back during that time class was huge and being able to have afternoon tea showed that you had wealth to enjoy a third meal when everyone else had 2 if they were lucky. Class has and will always be a huge thing in society but I think since that time it has gotten better and it's great how everyone can experience tea time now not just the wealthy.

Seeing how the British would do their tradition was an awesome experience and I really felt like i was part of it. Traditionally, the upper classes would serve a 'low' or 'afternoon' tea around four o'clock, just before the fashionable promenade in Hyde Park. The middle and lower classes would have a more substantial 'high' tea later in the day, at five or six o'clock, in place of a late dinner. Nowadays, afternoon tea if often used if you wanted to have a business meeting or meet up with a friend you haven't seen in a little while. Today everyone can enjoy afternoon tea not just the wealthy!