Yesterday, I went into London to visit a childhood friend of mine who goes to the London School of Economics. She's currently living in a house in East London in what she described as "the dodgier side of town". Going there was interesting because it seemed to continue the theme of visiting the "real" part of town.. A striking feature was that as we walked from the tube station to her place, there were people just loitering on the street.
There were several aspects to my visit that tied in directly with our class. One thing was that the people who were at her house seemed to be an interesting representation of the diversity within the city and LSE: there was my friend (who is American, with an Indian heritage), one of her flat-mates who is from Northern Ireland, another one of her flatmates who is German, another of her flatmates who is Chinese, a friend of hers who is Indian, and another friend who was from Malaysia.
Also, the neighborhood, as my friend told me, was primarily Bangladeshi. It was kind of funny to see the way in which my friend and her flatmates' culture interacted with that of the Bangladeshi culture. For example, we had the window open, and her flatmate began complaining that he could smell the curry being cooked. (It smelled really good). There was also apparently somewhere nearby a "Ramadan Special" where you could get 50 wings for 5 pounds that they kept daring each other to get.
And one final thing ties into the idea of assimilation. My friend-- who was born and raised in Texas and has only spent two years in London-- has adopted an English accent! It was very strange to hear her talking so differently, but also quite interesting that in just that short amount of time there was that drastic of a change.
It seems like you hit the jackpot with finding all things relevant to our class! Did this neighborhood look anything like the Bangladeshi neighborhood shown in Brick Lane or remind you of it in any way?
ReplyDeleteIt was similar in that most of the buildings were pretty boxy and similar looking all with this same weird yellowish-brown brick. The only one I went into, of course, was my friend's, and it was actually pretty nice, it was nothing like the Brick Lane residences. It had two floors and a pretty back porch area, and most of the rooms I was in were around the same size or bigger than most UT students' housing.
ReplyDeleteOh ok. I was just curious :)
ReplyDeleteI would have totally taken on that special... just saying. But I agree with Paige. You were able to experience such a dive into so many cultures at once and I have to admit I am a little jealous. I have never actually been surrounded by so many people of varying (and not to mention different) ethnicity to have actually had the chance to really interact with them. Yes there a quite a mixture in the classes I have taken, but I feel I have never been able to get on a level with so many as to just discuss different things in a friendly/laid back and familiar environment.
ReplyDelete