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The
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Photos: Elizabeth
with her friend Josephine, her dormitory at American University, plus
the sights of London, England.
The Next Journey
My Country Tis
of Thee
By Elizabeth Horner
The decision to spend my freshman year abroad was not made lightly.
Many people warned me about “culture shock”, the uneasy feeling that
comes from being in a new place, surrounded by people whose way of life
is different than my own. And so, I tried to prepare myself.
In the days and weeks leading up to my journey, I did additional
reading about the English monarchy, tried to learn the proper English
etiquette, and even set myself to memorizing the British national
anthem. I was a bit surprised when I discovered that it has the same or
very close tune to “My Country Tis of Thee”, but I was so caught up in
the fervor of my fast approaching trip that I could not give it much
attention.
My plane landed at Heathrow Airport on August 27. So far, I have
tried a Kit Kat bar that was only slightly different from an American
Kit Kat bar. Walking through a park, the natural contours remind
me of Greenville Park, in my hometown in Darke County, Ohio where if
not for the centuries-old castle I could see in the distance… that the
irony of it struck me. When I stick out my arm in order to point
out something to a classmate… half the time it is because it is foreign
to me but the other half, it is because it is so outrageously familiar
--- and familiarity was the last thing I was told to expect.
Contrary to everything I pictured Britain does have Papa Johns and
McDonalds, and BLTs, and books, not just Harry Potter, but all the
wonderful American authored stories that I love and was loathe to leave
on my shelves at home. I even found Mt. Dew while wandering about
Chinatown with my cousins, who welcomed me on my first day into the
country despite warnings before my departure from the United States
that “there’s no Mt. Dew in London”.
It drives home the point that the world has gotten very small --- that
this island in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean is infused with so many
representations of other cultures --- that so many people from all
parts of the globe have found England their home --- and probably not
altogether dissimilar from the one they left behind.
Technology and modern equipment have made products and ideas travel
over airwaves, over and under the sea faster and faster. It is so
easy for individuals to journey much further from home. And
people… people are learning that they have more in common than
differences with the rest of humanity. We all wake up in the
morning to go to work or school, we delight in the taste of sweets and
we all look at the sky as one way of checking for changes in the
weather. With all that in common, there’s little difference about which
side of the road is the “right” side really. It just doesn’t
matter as much.
I am a citizen of the United States. I am proud of who we were at
our founding, and of who we are today even in the midst of some
economic and political uncertainties. Nothing and no one will ever make
me refute those words. But it is important that I recognize something
vital about myself too…. that I am also a citizen of the world!
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