The last couple of days since I returned from Italy have caused me to ponder many things. Among these is the experience of living in England. People in England and the EU have no idea the benefits of living in a place that is surrounded by so many unique cultures.
I was able to hop on a plane for 10 pounds and fly to Italy. This in comparison to growing up in the prairies in Canada, hours away from any other civilization. Many people where I am from are completely ignorant to any other type of person than their own and their only familiarity with flying is if a plane happens to fly in the air space above their farm.
Many people who grow up this way are happy, no doubt, but the overall attitude of the place -conservative, reserved on what they share with people (yet helpful and jolly), I think speaks volumes. It's a cold, segregated place and therefore is so different from anything that people across the globe could fathom. I used the example of ignorant farmers as an extreme example, but even the urbanites: the entire city is suburbia, there is no culture, if you go for a walk you don't arrive anywhere...
There are of course positives to this. When I first went to a large city I was in complete culture shock. I was not used to the traffic, the rudeness of the masses going about their business, and the pollution -both the noise and the physical garbage and smells. To grow up in Canadian suburbia is a sheltered life.
Now that I have come across the pond, I don't know if I can return to it. The boredom was unbearable at times; the listleness hard to overcome.
People from outside my "culture" look in on it as a privelaged life, and no doubt it is. But is that necessarily a good thing? Film and media portrays the country bumpkin and the country Hicks but who can really know what that actually is from abroad? It is so hard to explain to people how different a place can be.
How does one decide where to end up in life when they have a choice?
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