Global Citizen

What does it mean to be a global citizen?  According to ourkingdom.com a global citizen is someone who identifies with being a part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this community’s values and practices.  Assuming that there is such thing as an emerging world community to which anyone would identify with and that they have a set of values, I would consider myself part of this community.  I can appreciate the things that other countries have to offer, as well as I do respect the other countries as well. 

I have to say that Americans have a definite stereotype in other countries.  This is not always a good thing.  There will always be those Americans that give us a bad name, and fit to well into the stereotype.  What is the stereotype? Lazy, t-shirts pants, rude, loud and ungrateful.  Yes I have witnessed this from certain Americans while abroad, and I tried my hardest to set this stereotype straight.  But it seemed no matter what we did there were still people on the underground whispering about us, or calling us stupid Americans. 

I would consider myself a global citizen I have experienced what it is like to be in another country that is so much different than ours.  I have to say I felt very safe the whole time I was there, and everyone was very friendly, as I liked to say, very politely rude!  Being aware of the social responsibility of fitting in while in another country is important.  We want people to fit in while they are here in our country so we should learn their social norms while we are in their country.  We have the freedom to travel freely to wherever we wish.  I would recommend embracing this freedom to anyone who asks me.  The experiences that you get is not something that can be learned or taught from a textbook, it is something that only living it will teach you.  Having respect for the other culture is critical if you want them to have respect for you.  You can be welcomed with open arms as well as we welcome foreigners with open arms here.

No matter where you go, no matter what country you call home or go to visit, you will always fit in with someone, somewhere.  I recommend becoming a global citizen and expanding your horizons!  It is something that will be remembered forever!  I will always remember what we did and what we saw, and the friends that I have made!

Differing ways of living in the world

The good thing about traveling abroad is the difference in food and drinks that can be experienced.  I was excited to try some new foods, and drinks, but by the end of the trip I was ready for a homemade meal and some soda on ice.  Eating out at a pub was a fun experience, but it gets old if you have to do it every day for two weeks.  Of course you didn’t have to eat at a pub every day, but it was so hard to try and find something to eat besides a pub.  Pubs are on every corner, another place to eat was hard to find, unless you were traveled with Dr. Nobiling and we learned that very quickly!  Unless we had the luxury of dinning with Dr. Nobiling, we spent most of our time looking for a place to eat.  We found some good places, and we also found some not so good places.  Our guide Maria told us that they do not eat the traditional food every day or they would all be very heavy.  I think that it is hard to eat out for two weeks straight and not go crazy, but I have noticed that a lot of the pubs have gone to a standard menu and it doesn’t even seem like it’s homemade.  I had come to enjoy the Aspal Cider with a shot of black current in it.  It was my favorite drink while I was there, and the Yorkshire pudding was good also.  I was happy to come home to a home cooked meal.

I found it very interesting that a pub would serve drinks all day, but wouldn't serve food until noon or 1pm.  I don't know how many times we walked in wanting lunch and they weren't serving food until noon, but we could drink!  The people that we would see on their lunch break having a pint was not normal to us.  Here in America it is frowned upon to have a beer on your lunch break, and over there they encourage it.  These are little differences that I had noticed. 

Wide open spaces!

After arriving home (Wyoming) I have realized how much we take for granted in this wonderful state! Although I have not been able to really enjoy anything but the guest bed in my parents' house, it is comfy! My immune system took a hit from the environment of London, could be the millions of people on the underground, the congestion of the city, or just bad luck on my part. I have a severe upper respiratory infection and I have to say I'm so thankful that I'm home to be this miserable. If we were still in London I would be struggling to breathe in the second hand smoke and congestion, while walking to our next destination.

I had a blast doing the things that we did and meeting the wonderful people that we met. This truly is a chance of a lifetime, and everyone who has the chance to go should jump on it! It is so worth it in the end!! Looking back on the two weeks abroad all I have to say is, my butt was on Buckingham Palace!! I was leaning against the wall!! I stepped into the stoop when it started raining!! Among every other thing we did of course, it was amazing! 

I have made some forever friends (Jessica, Michaela and Nick) because let's face it, once you stay with someone for that long in one setting, your practically family!! I will now have someone I can bug when I decide to go back (Constable Watson) haha, and of course you have a place to stay if you ever want to come stay in the real mountains in Wyoming! Elk hunting? What do you say Constable Watson? I hear retirement can be awfully boring... Just saying :)

We all have to expand our horizons and experience things we haven't experienced before. We do have things in this country that we would consider luxuries, (soda, ice, wide open spaces, regular water pressure, free public restrooms, and toilets that flush, just to name a few) but other countries have things that we could never have, history! I will always be blown away by the tradition of this country that dates back to before our country was even born! They have buildings and castles that have been standing since before time! You can not even grasp the concept until you are standing next to that building or touring that castle, or standing next to that reporter taking pictures listening to him tell you why the soldiers are doing what they are doing! Not to mention the monarchy! That alone is so different for us to experience. Everything about the police force that is responsible for the birth of our police force is still so different! I don't want to give them props, but they have things pretty figured out, but after all these years, you would hope so. :) I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of those on the force in England, especially those on Watson's team! They really have a hard job trying to plan those events that America would never have to worry about because we do not have a monarchy, or 13 million people in one city.  

We have to be aware of what is going on and how things run in other countries, hey maybe our leaders should take some notes. America is all we know and all we like to come back to, but they feel the same way about us. I think I have heard more bad thing said about us than good, but it's all we know. We could improve, we could be a better country, but they aren't perfect either and outlawing guns wouldn't solve our problems, it goes much deeper than that. I would not trade my wide open spaces though, I love the fresh air and the fresh river running through my home town, even though it might flood it this year! It beats the green water flowing through London :)

Global effects of local behavior

So I am sick along with three of my fellow travelers. The one thing that I have noticed the most about this country is the smoking, everyone smokes everywhere here! And the congestion of the cars, they tax you for driving in this city. It's called a congestion tax to try and make you take public transportation. There are an average if 6 million people that use the tube system here and there is black soot in our lungs and nose because if the tubes. The germs alone on these trains are outrageous, I'm not surprised that we all got sick! We will be bringing this sickness back to America with us! I will not miss walking out if a store and getting second hand smoke blown in my face! I have only seen a handful of people using the vapor cigarette. This city is very comparable to the cities in the US, but most if our cities are outlawing smoking in public.

I will not miss having to use public transportation, I'm so sick of the smell of the underground. I have to say that I do have the handle on it though! The public restrooms here are nothing like America either, you have to pay to use a nasty bathroom, and the people working them are so grouchy! I have had a good time but I have to say we are spoiled in our wonderful country!

Oxford, Stratford and Warwick Castle

For our last organized day in England we went to visit Oxford University. There are 38 colleges within this university. The biggest college within this university is the Christ Church College with a total of 435 students. The process of applying to this second ranked university is you have to pick one if the 38 colleges to apply to and then go through a vigorous interview and if you are hot accepted they might refer you to another college, but if not your out of luck. The Christ Church college has significant ties to the filming if Harry Potter. The stair case below is part if the film and the dinning room is the basis for the dinning hall in the movie. This was very interesting to learn about the process of how these colleges work. 

Stratford Upon Avon was interesting to see the house that Shakespeare grew up in. We are at the best pastry shop, I had the best raspberry cheesecake I've ever had!

The Warwick castle was by far the best part if yesterday! My kids would have loved it! This is the oldest castle in England, it was built in 943. They had all of the rooms in the castle made up with wax people that looked so real! I wish we would have had more time, but all in all it was a really good day!

Group photos

In front of New Scotland Yard

10 Downing Street

Buckingham Palace before we went through the gates!!

Day of No Access

Today was our last day with Constable Watson (boohoo) and it was probably the best day so far, well the morning anyway ;) Watson and his colleague Phil (can't remember his last name) took us to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. If that wasn't enough he got us inside the gates and the ceremony was literally right in front of our eyes! Yes the guards almost ran Phil over!! It was so amazing! We couldn't take pictures while inside the gate because the Queen does not allow it, but I really wanted to take a picture of all those people outside the gate! Their faces when we walked through the gate was priceless! I felt so important I thought I was going to faint! Constable Watson you have out done yourself! Oh and not to mention he got us in to see 10 Downing Street too (where the Prime Minister lives)! So I have to say the only thing that would have made today better was meeting the queen, but even he doesn't have that much pull, haha! Though her entourage, personal car and police escort, were pulling up as we were being escorted out of the gate, so we could have potentially seen her if Watson wasn't rushing us along haha. But we had to go to 10 Downing Street before lunch so Constable Watson, I'm not complaining! :) I have never met anyone who works harder than Constable Watson (yes I need brownie points, but it is also true)! This trip would not have been nearly as amazing if it was not for him throwing around his weight and pulling strings to get us to see things that normal people do not get to do! Constable Watson, I might just take your place when you retire, you truley do have the best job in the world! Thank you sooo much for everything you have done for us! Cheers Mate!!

Phil is the head of the mounted police, and graced us with his presence today, thank you for your knowledge and company today! It was a pleasure to meet you, sorry I can't remember your last name (seems to be a pattern)!