cautious. Londoners on the tube will almost always completely everyone else and avoid eye
contact at all costs. It is very hard to drive in London unless you are familiar with it. In some
place the lack of traffic signs could make a defensive driver take an hour for a drive that should
only take minutes. I was shocked when I saw young children taking the tube and walking the
streets of London alone. I live in a very quiet small affluent town back home and children are
seldomly seen crossing the street without an adult present. I have been nearly hit by
cars/motorcycles a few times since I’ve been in London, so it concerns me that children who
tend to have less of a sense of mortality than adults could be given such an enormous amount of
responsibilty. Although I will never be completely comfortable with the notion of children
having so much responsibility for their own safety in such a dangerous place, I understand they
are quite familiar with the dangers involved and take the neccessary precautions. From the
reactions of the surrounding people you would come to believe talking on the tube is a very
serious crime. This pretains mostly to rush hour times but is the most evident in the morning.
I nor anyone I know have exhibited any symptoms of culture shock. I am more than
happy to be here and am not looking forward to moving home. London feels more like home to
me than California does. I have made so many friends here from all over the world and I
thoroughly enjoy learning all about their different cultures. However, I believe a large part of
the lack culture shock has a lot to do with the extreme amount of similarities between the UK
and the US. The most important factor that contributes to the lack of culture shock, in my
opinion, is the language. Since we speak English the feeling of not fitting in or knowing what’s
going on, is brought to a bare minimum. We went to Amsterdam this weekend and when we
were on the train and looking for our hostel it was very frustrating because the language was
different. We weren’t sure which stop to get off at on the train. We were then given bad
directions by 3 different people as to the location of our hostel. Eventually we made our way to
the places we had to go and tried to keep the reliance on other peoples directions to a minimum.
The people there, however were extremely friendly to us and we had a wonderful time. The
United States’ economy and influence is huge, and we contribute so much in the form of
entertainment and products to the rest of the world. No matter where in the world you are,
products, ideas or entertainment directly from the United States or influenced by it are inevitably
seen and/or used.
I disagree with Ferraro’s summary in relation to my perspective on the capital markets
and the generation of wealth pertaining to the governments role in social systems. .
Individualism is, in my opinion is the best approach to achieve financial success in life.
Individualism gives you the ability to generate a higher level of efficiency. In most cases people
can provide better for themselves than the government can.. To say the tax cuts were only for
the wealthy is anything but true. Everyone received federal income tax cuts, the child tax credit
increased, the taxes on capital gains decreased and the taxes on dividends were eliminated. Most
senior citizens receive residual income through dividends, eliminating the taxes on dividends
made a huge impact on those struggling to live on their retirement. This summary, however
paints a realistic picture of how most of the world views us.
Even though the United States and United Kingdoms cultures are somewhat similar there
are vast differences to be seen. When British people greet you they kiss you on both cheeks,
people do that in Massachusetts as well, but not in California.. The verbal communication is
also different, they use the word mate instead of friend, and flat instead of apartment. The non
verbal communication is also different. Walking down the street back home everyone for the
most parts smiles or says hi, people do not do that here. I met a guy from England when I was in
Las Vegas in June, and he had a mullet, I thought it was funny. When I came here, I was
surprised to see, mullets are actually in style.
For some reason even with all of the differences, London feels like home to me as well as
many of the people I know within the AIFS program. I love the culture here, the history and
mostly the people.
References
Ferraro’s summary pg. 22-23 Cultural Anthropology- An applied perspective
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030107.html