Three thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three miles away from Albion, Michigan, lives a sixteen year old British teen, whom I became friends with through the internet. Many people here in the USA, don’t realize how different things are in the UK, which is why I’m introducing Beth, one of my best friends. Beth is from Taunton, Somerset, England. It’s in the southern part of the United Kingdom, a bit southwest of the middle of the county Somerset. Beth lives in a three story house with her mom and her cat named Bella.
Beth is in year eleven, which is equivalent to a sophomore in the United States. She explains “It’s all different across Britain.” In her schooling, everyone starts from “reception,” which is like kindergarten, and continues …show more content…
Beth has said that she could ask her mom to bring her somewhere, but it was unlikely that it would actually happen. Trains seem to be the easiest form of mobility for them.
Stereotypes are everywhere. In the US, Americans might be stereotyped to be surfer dudes or girls, maybe overweight, and what not. But, Americans stereotype the British, saying they are obsessed with tea, always posh, and eat scones. Beth highly disagrees with this statement, explaining,
“In reality, we’re all chavs that smoke weed and do mdma and get wasted in fields but do love a good cuppa.”
After telling me this, she explained that just like Americans, they smoke marijuana a lot more than cigarettes, or as the Brits call them, fags. Though, it isn’t legal in the UK to smoke marijuana, like some of the states, they still do it. Beth says she doesn’t think people have medical marijuana there, either. Beth says that the people there can drink at 18 and drive at 17. She finds it odd that it’s illegal to have sex before one is 16, but says that everyone does it …show more content…
Most of her answers were normal for teens everywhere, even though two of her choices were very British like,
“Pizza, fish and chips, nuggets, Chinese food, tea.” Seeing this from her, I thought, well, most teens everywhere like all of those foods. So, I came to conclusion that all teens seem to have similar taste buds.
I asked Beth so many different questions about her life, and what it’s like, I decided to end on an easier question,
“Do you wish you could live here in the United States?”
Her response surprised me. I thought a lot of British people would want to live in the United States because of all the stuff we have, the celebrities, and just basically everything. But, she surprised me when she said,
“Sometimes, yeah, it just seems so great there.”
It surprised me because so many Brits want to live in the United States, but to have Beth say “sometimes” was something I wasn’t expecting.
Though she does like where she lives, she hates the weather. She claims it’s ‘shit.’ But she loves Taunton, even though things seem different, but she’s also lived there most of her life, so everything seems normal to
Beth is in year eleven, which is equivalent to a sophomore in the United States. She explains “It’s all different across Britain.” In her schooling, everyone starts from “reception,” which is like kindergarten, and continues …show more content…
Beth has said that she could ask her mom to bring her somewhere, but it was unlikely that it would actually happen. Trains seem to be the easiest form of mobility for them.
Stereotypes are everywhere. In the US, Americans might be stereotyped to be surfer dudes or girls, maybe overweight, and what not. But, Americans stereotype the British, saying they are obsessed with tea, always posh, and eat scones. Beth highly disagrees with this statement, explaining,
“In reality, we’re all chavs that smoke weed and do mdma and get wasted in fields but do love a good cuppa.”
After telling me this, she explained that just like Americans, they smoke marijuana a lot more than cigarettes, or as the Brits call them, fags. Though, it isn’t legal in the UK to smoke marijuana, like some of the states, they still do it. Beth says she doesn’t think people have medical marijuana there, either. Beth says that the people there can drink at 18 and drive at 17. She finds it odd that it’s illegal to have sex before one is 16, but says that everyone does it …show more content…
Most of her answers were normal for teens everywhere, even though two of her choices were very British like,
“Pizza, fish and chips, nuggets, Chinese food, tea.” Seeing this from her, I thought, well, most teens everywhere like all of those foods. So, I came to conclusion that all teens seem to have similar taste buds.
I asked Beth so many different questions about her life, and what it’s like, I decided to end on an easier question,
“Do you wish you could live here in the United States?”
Her response surprised me. I thought a lot of British people would want to live in the United States because of all the stuff we have, the celebrities, and just basically everything. But, she surprised me when she said,
“Sometimes, yeah, it just seems so great there.”
It surprised me because so many Brits want to live in the United States, but to have Beth say “sometimes” was something I wasn’t expecting.
Though she does like where she lives, she hates the weather. She claims it’s ‘shit.’ But she loves Taunton, even though things seem different, but she’s also lived there most of her life, so everything seems normal to