American werewolf in Leicester

In honor of American Independence Day, I thought I would reflect on the relationship between America and our friends across the Atlantic, the United Kingdom. 

July 4th, 1776: United States declares independence from England

After several frustrating attempts to gain more control over the governments of the colonies, the founding fathers sign the Declaration of Independence to cut off ties to the motherland and create their own country. The Revolutionary War rages on and claims the lives of many. Obviously, relations between the US and UK were bad at this point. The war could have been considered another English civil war had the US not won.

1783: Treaty of Paris

The UK acknowledges that the US is a sovereign state, officially beginning real relations between the countries. The two nations would be on the verge of war for decades, although it signals a progressive step towards the positive relations seen today. After the Treaty of Paris, the UK sent diplomats over to America and vise-versa in attempts to foster better trading. 

War of 1812: US and UK fight again

What started as numerous trade embargoes and blockades eventually turned into full blown war between the two countries. During the war, the British burned down the White House and the US Treasury. American forces attempted to invade British North America (now Canada’s Newfoundland) but were not very successful. Eventually the war ended with no territorial gains by either side. Relations would stay sour for many decades after. 

1860’s: American Civil War

This almost turned into another war between UK and US due to the UK’s support of the rebellion in the southern US. British built ships were used in naval attacks during the war, and the UK was heavily reliant on the cotton trade that the Confederacy would have controlled if it succeeded in breaking off from the US. However, the UK was diplomatically neutral during the civil war. The British didn’t want to get involved with the Union Army while the United States didn’t want to fight two wars at once. Despite a few tense moments, war between the two didn’t break out again. 

1898: The Spanish-American War

This was the turning point in relations between the US and UK. Although the British were initially supportive of the Spanish Empire (mainly for control of Cuba), they sided with the Americans after the US claimed to offer Cuban independence after the war. This is the first time that the two nations were considered allies rather than enemies and would help foster the positive diplomatic relations of the next century.

World War I

During this conflict, America vowed to remain neutral and let the war play out. However, this wasn’t the case as the US supplied the UK with weapons. After the Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted by the American Military (a proposal from Germany to Mexico asking for help in an invasion of the US) America joined the war and became allies of the UK. British and American forces would fight side-by-side in the European theatre of the war.

World War II

After Nazi Germany invaded France (US was still neutral at this point), the United States began sending increased aid to the British despite the stance of neutrality that was pledged. After the US joined the war effort, millions of American servicemen were stationed in the United Kingdom. The two countries would work together to plan out strategies against the Nazi’s. The relationship between them was so important that Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt had secret phone lines between their offices and would consult each other on numerous issues. At this point, the UK was already America’s most important ally and the relationship would strengthen after WWII.

1940s-1991: Cold War

The US would help the UK develop a nuclear weapons program following WWII and they would stay in frequent contact concerning the Soviet Union. The US and UK would fight together in the Korean War, however Britain refused to send troops to Vietnam. Relations were still very strong during this period. The UK and US had a joint defense agreement and openly shared military strategies and secrets. In the 1980’s, US President Ronald Reagan and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would get along better than any previous leaders, becoming close friends as well as close diplomatic allies. The term “Special Relationship” was coined to describe the US and UK ties. 

2000’s: War on Terror

Tony Blair and George W. Bush would work together to send forces to the Middle East in the 2000’s despite public protests. While Americans and British citizens questioned the morals of the war, the two governments were both in agreement on the military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The “Special Relationship” carried on and continues to this day. 

The US and UK have changed a lot since 13 colonies declared independence back in 1776. Today the UK is still considered our #1 ally (sorry Canada) and I am glad that I have been able to see the “Special Relationship” from both sides of the pond. It seems fitting that America remains close with our “mother nation”. 

Well, I have finally completed all questions for the 31 day challenge. I love things like this and I hope to get going on another project soon. So I need your suggestions: What other projects could this travel blog participate in? I welcome all ideas to my “ask me” button on my front page (even if you are giving suggestions and not asking anything, use the ask link). 

Considering the huge amount of knowledge I gained from traveling Europe, I will narrow this down to one simple fact: We are all human and not so different after all.

People all over the world follow similar patterns. They live their lives day-by-day with work, education, food, friendships, hobbies, etc. Their is a slight difference in how people do this depending on what part of the globe you are on, and this defines a particular culture. Exploring and understanding the differences in culture makes foreign countries seem less “foreign” as you learn about them. For example, people in England take sports seriously and watch football (soccer), rugby, and cricket. While new at first, I realized that they are doing the same thing as Americans who watch baseball, football (our version) and basketball. The details are different, but the activity is the same. 

Many aspects of British life became clear to me in this manner. While conservative Britons are worried about immigrants from the Middle East, conservative Americans are worried about immigrants from Mexico. Where there are well known shopping chains like ASDA and Tesco in UK, there is Wal-Mart and Target in the USA. The British say “mate” while Americans say “dude”. British people would like to come see America and experience life here, while nearly every American would love to go to the UK for their daily experience. 

I learned about an interesting concept at University of Leicester called the “imagined community”. Proposed by Benedict Anderson, the imagined communities are the borders that governments set up to define a particular country. It is “imagined” because the border isn’t physically there, it’s just accepted by people that it separates communities. Although I will never meet even 1% of the US population, we all have something in common and could relate on our nationality alone. When people distinguish others based on their accent or skin color, we are taking away the common “human” factor and associating them with a different imagined community. 

This concept is much more complex than I’m making it sound, but I think it explains the way I think about different countries now. We are the same people, but we divide each other with imagined communities and set particular trends depending on where we are. 

Everybody lives their everyday lives to the best they can. We watch sports, go shopping, hang out with friends/family, and are proud to be (insert home country here). The slight differences between people add up to create foreign lands and it is worth exploring as many as you can. 

This is a little bit strange, but I feel like I will miss being the “outsider” in British society. Being an American was what made me stand out and it was a very interesting experience to become the foreigner and learn cultural habits as I went along. Every day there would be something unfamiliar to me, and I will miss that sense of adventure and discovery. 

In regards to the UK in particular, I will miss several things from you guys but the thing I will miss most is the pub life. There’s nothing like a proper English pub, they are everything I could ask for in a local hangout spot. I have been aching to get to a good pub lately, and even if I was old enough to drink in America, I don’t believe we have many pubs that resemble what I got used to in England. 

The greatest skill I acquired in my travels would have to be my ability to travel alone through unknown lands and cultures. I took countless trains (literally couldn’t tell you how many) across Europe and made day-by-day decisions on where to go next. Although it doesn’t sound too hard, factor in the language and money differences and it starts to get more complex. Navigating the confusing streets and Metro lines of Europe has definitely made me better at problem solving and directional skills. I don’t feel like an American city will ever confuse me again after going through the historic grids of London, Paris, and Copenhagen.

Another aspect to traveling alone was making decisions quickly. I never planned more than 4 days ahead for my travels, and the time would go by quickly. There were at least 7 nights where I had no clue what I was going to in the morning. Countless hours were spent searching through maps, time tables, and Wikipedia to help me choose a new place. Money factored in as well, as certain cities were cheaper to go to than others and transportation options were wide.

Since coming home, I feel like a much smarter and quicker person for gaining this experience. My friends have noticed that my patience level has gone down a bit and I get frustrated when people don’t decide on plans or activities fast enough. Although it could be a part of reverse culture shock, I think it goes even deeper than that. All of the days of working through stress, getting lost, and finding people that speak English have trained me to be a much more efficient person when dealing with my normal life here in America.

During the 2008 road trip, we passed through a tiny town in KS called Greensburg. In May 2007 it was nearly wiped out by a tornado that gained large scale attention in the midwest. These pics were taken about a year after the storm, but the scars were clearly still visible:

A pile of rubble. Notice the sign in lower right corner: “Greensburg, the new Cancun”

This used to be a neighborhood, little remains at the time of this pic.

This hotel got lucky after only losing a part of the sign.

The metal skeleton of a garage still stands.

The Main Street of Greensburg, with one historic building left.

A view of the highway besides the massive rock formations common in the American Southwest. Taken during a road trip to Phoenix, Arizona in Spring 2008.

This was taken during a Spring Break trip about 4 years ago. Our family drove out to Phoenix to see my grandparents. We have done the drive many times and it usually takes a couple of days to get there. After discovering an album full of road trip photos, I am going to upload any more cool ones I see from past road trips. This is getting me excited for the Miami trip (which has yet to be finalized but I’m working on it).

Out of the many “serene” moments experienced abroad, few compare to sitting in Piccadilly Circus on the night before my flight home to the US. I realized that this was the last thing I was doing in the UK after being in the country for several months. While sitting and staring at London’s world famous commercial district, I thought of all of the memories I had made there and how I felt as if I was leaving home rather than coming back. I decided that I had accomplished everything I set out to do and I had no regrets or “I wish I saw this town” moments. After reflecting on the past 5 months in England, I was perfectly content and happy with the experience.

The spot where I sat for nearly 3 hours and pondered my return home.

When I first saw this, I thought it was a set-up for a movie shoot or something. It seems that all of the bad guys work for the “Money Corporation” in the animated shows I grew up watching. The name isn’t very original, but at least they’re being straight forward.

Saw this one near a tube station in the Soho area of London. Although it’s not an “official” UK sign, I still like adding graffiti and urban artwork to the collection.

Saw this trippy van on the drive from the Prague airport to the city. It’s definitely an eye-catching design.

The “Capital of Europe” is full of modern office buildings that soar above the historic city. Here are some pics of the urban jungle that is Brussels: