Language

June 28, 2017

Only three days after I had arrived in London, I began my internship at a supported housing facility called Ingram Court, a branch of the larger organization Evolve Housing and Support. Upon arriving to the site and meeting my coworkers and supervisors for the first time, I was pretty nervous. As I was introduced to everyone and given a tour of the building, everyone kept asking “You alright?” I thought for sure there was something wrong with my hair, or something stuck in my teeth, or maybe I looked sick. I spent the whole day trying to figure out why everyone though I wasn’t okay, until finally I realized. “You alright?” was the London version of “Hi, how are you?” They weren’t really asking if I was okay-it was just their standard form of greeting, where the correct answer was “I’m alright, you?” My “Hi how are you” was just as confusing to my coworkers, who also seemed to see my greeting as a more personal question. It took a few days, but eventually we got to a point where we were all on the same page, and either greeting worked.

Written By

Danielle Dottor

Hi! My name is Danielle Dottor, and I am a double Criminal Justice and Human Services major and a double Cultural Anthropology and Ethnomusicology minor at Northeastern. I've just finished up my first year, and this will be my first Dialogue. I've never actually left the East Coast, nevermind the country, so I'm really excited for this experience! I'm very interested in and passionate about working with children and adults who have experienced trauma and all of the difficulties that can arise from that. In particular, I've worked with domestic violence, sexual assaults, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases. In London I will be working with older youth who are struggling to find, afford, and/or maintain housing, which includes addressing the domestic violence/abuse concerns that may accompany this need. I will also be taking a class called Intercultural Studies through Human Services, which focuses on understanding how the culture, politics, education, and economy of a country affect and inform their social services. Since this will be my first time abroad, I am particularly interested in learning about how London's nonprofit systems and client needs differ from those in the U.S. I plan to use this knowledge to inform and improve the way I work with clients in the nonprofit system back in Boston and beyond.