ninarache's blog

This will probably be me in a few weeks

Before this class, I had a very romanticized perception of the city of London and the British. I think that after browsing travel websites about England and reading my travel books I’ve realized that the things which have helped me the most are those that point out the cons or downsides of living there, mostly because it helps me feel prepared for anything (and the worst). I sometimes imagine a place I’ve never been to too far out of the realm of reality, and therefore when I actually get there it’s inevitable that I’m slightly disappointed by reality. I feel much more comfortable knowing about the high prices and exchange rate (although it has definitely been decreasing!), the serious drinking problem among the British, how easy it is to get lost in the city, how the British are still a “class obsessed” culture, etc…It’s comforting to know what to truly expect.

The map of London's TubeLondon, along with basically every other city in the world, has been undergoing some major changes as of late both in the city itself and its people. When I went to Bobst to look for my second travel book on England and the culture, they almost all were outdated and consequently didn’t seem as relevant when I flipped through them. Therefore, I figured that my best option would be to scour my travel guide, which is Fodor’s See It London and was published this year. I had only used it once before, in order to find stores and main sights for the map assignment, but I hadn’t explored any of the book’s many other features. The guidebook itself is set up in a fairly generic way, outlining top stores, restaurants, hotels, and things to do. Where it seems to stand out (and the reason why I picked it over other similar ones in the bookstore) is that it is filled with tons of colorful images and large maps, and offers a bit more on London’s culture, community, and history—with tips. The first part of the guidebook, entitled “Living London,” highlighted these features and was the part I chose to focus on.
I learned that London is split into three parts: “the City,” which is the financial district and the center of London which contains the majority of the historic sights, the West End, which is filled with parks and museums and considered the more elegant area, and then the East End, which is more working-class London. I will be living in the West End in the district of Marylebone, which is right above Mayfair—a district filled with chic and expensive restaurants and shops (that’s going to be a mixed blessing for sure!).

Looks from London Fashion Week, Fall 2008

With this open assignment I decided to research British fashion, since fashion is a primary part of my concentration and I will, after all, be studying at the London College of Fashion. After I searched online for a while it was certainly confirmed that London is one of the fashion capitals of the world, but it was hard to find information about what distinguished British fashion from that of America and other Western European countries. Interestingly enough, in the United Kingdom there are National costumes for Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, but not for England. The few informative websites I did find, however, emphasized that England (particularly London) has a unique style; the clothes themselves are pretty much the same as in the U.S., as they rely on a mix of vintage, chain store, and designer pieces, but Londoners mix these items in a rather avant-garde manner. What distinguishes the city in the fashion world is its eccentric mix of styles and its residents’ experimental, outgoing attitude toward dressing. London stands out in this sense even compared to New York, where—as described by New York Magazine—“the aesthetic [of designers] is generally more nervous and better behaved.” It also seems to me as if people in London take fashion much less seriously than other places. Not to say that Londoners don’t care any less about how they dress, only that they seem to have more fun with it and care less what other people think. There is a certain level of theatricality in their outfits that isn’t as prevalent in the style of other countries.

My fish and chips meal from A Salt & Battery
When I looked over the syllabus at the beginning of this class, I was particularly excited for the food assignment. I think food and the manner in which it is eaten says so much about a culture, and I’ve always been amazed by how easy it to experience a culture or region through eating (regardless of whether the food is homemade or is eaten at a restaurant). I love going out to eat, and one of my favorite things about New York is how there is such a diverse selection of international or “ethnic” restaurants that serve authentic food from some other region of the world (of course, not to say that there isn’t a fair share of Westernized or “inauthentic” options as well). I knew I wouldn’t have much difficulty finding a great British restaurant.
The English aren’t particularly renowned for their cuisine, but rumor has it that things have been vastly improving over the past few years. I found out in doing the map assignment that London is filled with Middle Eastern restaurants, and they seem to have almost—if not just as much—variety with international cuisine as New York. In terms of traditional British fare, it seems as if much of it has remained the same and has stuck to its traditional roots. These simple, carbohydrate-filled dishes are actually the kind of things that I love: savory pies, Welsh Rarebit (toasted bread covered with a cheese sauce), and all sorts of puddings and tarts. I even found something called a Chip Butty (which they had at the restaurant I went to) that is essentially a fry sandwich (or “chip” sandwich I should say), with fries sandwiched between two pieces of bread.

View Larger Map
Since I’ve never been to London before, I was having some difficulty grasping distances when I looked at maps of the city. Even though they gave keys, it was still hard for me to gauge how far one building was from another and how long it would take me to walk to certain places. I downloaded Google Earth and the satellite image made this much easier; I was pleasantly surprised to see that Hyde Park—which seemed not too far from my apartment on a regular street map—was in reality only a few minutes walk away! I was also pleased to discover that Regent’s Park was surprisingly close by. In fact, I used the ruler tool to make a path and found that it was only .42 miles to Hyde Park (and the Marble Arch) from my apartment, and around 1.2 miles to the university center (luckily within walking distance). Unfortunately, the 3D and street views didn’t work, but I played around with the “Places of Interest” feature and looked for bars/clubs, coffee shops, and dining options in the area in which I’m staying. I found a cool looking pub called Duke of York that’s almost next door to my apartment, and I also was surprised to discover a plethora of Middle Eastern restaurants within a three-block radius. And then, of course, I found a McDonald’s and a Starbucks equally close by.

The Kooks: One of my favorite British bandsWhen it comes to music, my tastes are rather scattered; fortunately, this fits perfectly with the wide variety of music coming from British artists past and present. For some reason, I always find myself attracted to a lot of British music; I’ve always imagined (perhaps “romanticized,” is the better word, as is my tendency) going to a concert at a London club, in the stereotypical venue with low ceilings, dim lights, and ideally up close to the musicians. It’s also been a dream of mine to go to Glastonbury, a huge outdoor music festival reminiscent of Woodstock but with lots of British musicians and other popular artists from all over the world. Sadly, this festival takes place in the summer, but I’m still determined to see some live shows when I’m in London.
Last year when I was organizing my music, I actually created a playlist of over 300 songs by artists from the U.K. Most of these songs are rock and are by popular British artists like the Beatles, the Clash, the Kinks, Queen, and the Who. Some more modern British rock bands I like are the Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles, the Fratellis, and the Kooks, and then the more popular alternative bands like Coldplay, Oasis, and Keane. With my strange affinity for eighties music comes Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Depeche Mode, and New Order. And then of course there are classical music groups like the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Philharmonic. (I listed a few YouTube videos below showing British musicians from all different genres and time periods.)

Notes from a Small Island
When I started looking for my travel books on England, I knew I wanted to find at least one that was written from an American perspective. The differences between British and American culture (and language, for that matter) have always intrigued me, and I thought that reading a book on British culture by an American author would give me the best preparation in that it would highlight (or diminish) the differences I expected to encounter when overseas. Therefore, when I saw Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island in the Strand bookstore, I knew it would be perfect. I heard of Bill Bryson’s books (and subsequent praise) a few times before but had never gotten around to reading any of his notoriously humorous works, so I jumped at the chance to do so now.

Hugh Grant in (")Notting Hill(")
For my British film I decided to watch Notting Hill, one of those quintessential romantic comedies from the 90s that had been recommended to me multiple times. The movie is a love story between Anna (Julia Roberts), a famous American actress, and William (Hugh Grant), an unknown British bookstore owner. I thought it might be interesting to see if the film would focus on the cultural differences between the two characters (especially since I’m soon going to be in Anna’s place), but unfortunately most of the differences seemed glossed over or excluded altogether.
In light of the film’s genre, I wasn’t at all surprised to see London (specifically the area of Notting Hill) as portrayed as particularly quaint, not really focusing on the typical fast-paced city life that I’m sure is present in much of London. The character William lives in this quiet area that has a very small-town feel to it, and the movie starts with him narrating about Notting Hill and how everyone there knows each other (William even works at a small travel bookstore!). The fact that the movie is a love story and that many of the scenes are set in parks, charming flats, and fancy hotels like the Ritz definitely fit with my romanticized image of London (and England in general).
On an interesting side note, I found earlier on New York Magazine’s travel section that Notting Hill in London is equivalent to the West Village and Fort Greene in New York City. This description helped give me a better idea (through a more personal reference) to what the area is truly like, and it seems fitting now that part of the West Village is seen as Little Britain. The movie also frequently featured the food market that runs down one of Notting Hill’s main roads, which looked a lot like a more varied version of the Union Square Greenmarket.

Thomas Gainsborough's "Wooded Upland Landscape"I went to the Met this past weekend to look for visual representations of England in the European Paintings section. I had never visited this part of the museum before so I wasn’t sure what kind of paintings I would find. Surprisingly, there were much fewer English landscape paintings than I thought there would be; the English section of the gallery primarily consisted of portrait paintings. Some of these paintings, however, were created with the traditional English landscape in the background and I was therefore able to get a glimpse at how the country was perceived and depicted. In the portrait paintings that were set outdoors, like that of Elizabeth Farren by Sir Thomas Lawrence, the concentration on the human figure doesn’t seem to detract from the wish of representing the background scenery as incredibly beautiful and rich. The woman’s elegant clothing and posture seem to highlight (perhaps even add to) the landscape behind her. 

A typical house in "Literary London"Before I started looking for pictures of London to include in my post, I could easily predict the kind of images I would come across: images of red telephone booths, the London Eye, the Queen’s guards, and Parliament to name a few. Those are the quintessential images of the city, the images that immediately come to mind when “London” is mentioned. Therefore, when searching for images on various travel websites, the ones that caught my eye were those that differentiated themselves from these “typical” subjects. I feel like I have been fed the guards and Parliament images for so long that now I’m starting to realize how many things I haven’t seen or have been overshadowed by these more popular portrayals of the city. For instance, a picture from the New York Times travel site of a British writer’s home in London caught my attention for its simplicity and how it seemed to capture what it is like to just walk through the streets of the city. However, while I found these “new” images especially attractive, it isn’t to say that I don’t like or appreciate the more typical photographs of London. As much as I like seeing these alternative representations, I know I will also still go on the London Eye and go watch the Changing of the Guard when I’m there.