More travelling: USA

Apologies for my recent absence from blogging. It started with having little to share with you, but ended on just being too busy!

After the end of my Year Abroad in France in April, May saw me taking to the United States of America. Since the school trip to New York and Washington, D.C. stopped happening, going there regardless had been a hope or pipeline plan of mine. Five years later, finances in order, and I made it.

People seem surprised and impressed when they inquire as to whether I went with friends or family and I tell them that in fact I went on my own. Perhaps in a few years I will understand this more than I do now, but whilst planning it seemed little more than a passing concern: I never really thought about being a target of attack or abuse, nor about getting in trouble, nor about the distance. The only thing that bothered me on occasion was how I might feel about the loneliness. I am not averse to spending time alone but ten days in a foreign country I had never visited before, and that my immediate family had never been to either, and the idea of that loneliness did cross my mind.

However I have travelled with friends when it has been much, much less than successful. Squabbles (even arguments) and resentment are always potential problems, especially when you really do not know each other as well as you migh think, and sometimes (just sometimes) it can spoil the whole trip. On your own you can do what you want, when you want, and if you want company then simply stay in a good hostel. Besides, no one I knew had the money to go with me, and if I hadn't spent it then, I would have frittered it away on nothing before I knew it. Go alone or possibly never go? It is obvious what I'd pick.

New York City is a bustling city, and unfortunately from Immigration to the trek from JFK airport to the dingy, often escalator-less subway to my tiredness, my first impressions were pretty low.

But you can't be too unimpressed with New York for too long. Even though many of the people seem incredibly depressed, it really is a city full of life and things to see: even with my perhaps excessive planning I still didn't manage to see everything. I decided it wasn't a city I could live in for very long, and I could have done without the crass consumerism that embodies it (Times Square is somewhat disappointing!) but from Brooklyn Bridge in the sunshine, the view over Downtown Manhattan from Central Park in the rain, Broadway, the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building, it really is a city to explore.

What surprised me about New York, and probably shouldn't have done, is the number of flags on everything. I've said this to nearly everybody, but there were US flags on every single car of the subway trains., about three feet by two. But if I wanted flags, I got them in Washington. The capital of the United States knows how to show it - if I thought France loved their flag, in comparison I was very wrong. It is an in-your-face patriotism, and symbolism is everywhere. Every monument, every flag, every design is specifically created to represent something - usually the number of States in the Union.

I enjoyed Washington, but again, as a tourist. With the sun paying a visit, the white of practically every monument and the National Mall shone, and that isn't a sight I'd like to get too used to from seeing it every day.

As a Brit, I'm a pretty sceptic kind of person. You might be able to see where I am going with this. The USA is a place where my scepticism reigns supreme: the American accent is a problem for me, and the enthusiasm too - I find it very difficult to believe (especially after I've seen those depressed people on the underground systems). What was hardest though, was the sort of semi-indoctrination that appeared to be going on. It began with the flag, and it continued with the introductory video in Congress, and with the teacher and his students in the Holocaust Museum.

I know Americans are very proud of their country, but a completely biased account of all of the positives of the political system with the rousing, patriotic music is not, in my opinion, the best way to instil that sense of pride. Pride has to come from knowing your flaws, not just pretending they don't exist (because they really do). Also, does anyone really believe George Washington is a god? Because my tour guide told me he was painted on the ceiling of the Capitol Building in the process of "deification". I kid you not. Oh and if I hear "E Pluribus Unum" (Out of Many, One) spouted one more time in an over-emphasised American accent I might have to punch someone. But tour guides can keep telling me about how my British ancestors burnt down the Capitol Building in 1814 because honestly that one is pretty funny.

So scepticism served me well. It is not great to be permanently cynical - and I am not, despite what you may think - but not having an ability to question something is dangerous. As I toured the US Holocaust Museum, I came to a point where three maps lined a wall, depicting Germany's expansion from 1939 to 1941. A description board hung to their left, explaining which countries fell when and why, along with the explanation of what prevented Britain from also falling to the Nazi regime, namely the Battle of Britain. I sat and read. The teacher had been doing a decent job so far of involving his teenage students in the topic. Then he let me down. He explained to them briefly what Hitler's strategy had been, and how his empire had expanded. He mentioned nothing of any European attempts to hold Hitler back, he mentioned nothing of the RAF's efforts and how they nearly gave way but found resolve enough to succeed, he mentioned only the following as I stared probably open-mouthed:

"Then America came in and saved the War, let's move on."

I enjoyed my trip, as I say, and they are two quite stunning cities, with a vast diversity of interesting people. But anyone believing that to be what happened in history is quite mistaken. And for the "leaders of the free world", it's pretty terrifying that no one questions it.


If anyone wants to chat to me about other things I thought (there are many), just give me a shout.