Week 5 of London: (The lack of) Culture Shock

Living in Boston and growing up in New York City, London’s lifestyle was no different than what I have been used to. The pace of the city, crowded train rides, architecture, and noise were all too familiar to home. The biggest cultural difference for me was simply being a tourist in a big city rather than knowing like the back of my hand. I usually don’t have to ask for directions or look confused completing a task like getting onto the train, but there were multiple times that I was slightly embarrassed. For example, for a morning cup of coffee I accidently paid in euros rather than pounds. Both are small gold coins, and when the clerk informed me of my mistake I quickly exchanged the euro for the right currency and apologized, hoping that he did not think I was trying to screw him out of money. Another example is through language. Even we spoke English in London, some accents were difficult to understand, and many times I had to ask a person repeat what they were saying as if English was not my first language.