UK vs. US

"Across the pond"

Is it really that different?

So recently blog readers I've been thinking a lot about other countries, especially America and I was mainly thinking what the differences are for two people, the same age, living in either country. So I came up with 10 questions and asked my friend Rachael who lives in Utah to answer them for me! I then answered the same questions and this is what happened:

1: Who’s who in your family? So who do you live with? Who are you closet to?

R - "Well, I have four sisters and no brothers. I'm really close to all of them. My oldest sister went off to college and we still talk almost everyday. "

H - "I live with my mum, my dad and my younger brother. I'm close to each of them in different ways, I'll always be "daddys girl" but I also rely on my mum a lot. Hugo and I don't get on very well though."

 
2: What is your typical holiday destination? How many times have you been abroad?
R - "Living in Utah, I like to go to warm places because Utah is cold half of the year. So I mostly go to California and head off to Disneyland. Also, during the summer I love to head to my hometown in Oregon to go and visit my grandparents. I've been Abroad about 4 or 5 times. (Bahamas, and Mexico)"

H - "Usually every year I go to my house in the middle of the world because it's only a short journey and doesn't cost much to go. The only time I ever go anywhere else is with school and I've never been out of Europe"

3- What kind of meals do you have? 

 R - "To tell you the truth, I don't eat breakfast unless I'm on vacation. I'm not sure why. Probably because I'm not too fond of breakfast foods. And for lunch I usually make some sort of sandwich. Mostly ham and cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. All that jazz. And for dinner I eat whatever my mom usually makes for us. If not, My parents love going out on Saturday nights to certain restaurants and stuff. So I stay home with my family and usually order a pizza."

 H -"for breakfast I usually have a huge cup of tea and porridge or muesli in the summer. It being so cold in the winter I have to have a big warm breakfast to make sure my stomach doesn't rumble in lessons! For lunch I usually have pasta either hot from school or cold from the night before and for dinner it's usually loads of veg and on Sundays mac and cheese. My family are also a huge fan of beans on toast although everything we eat has to be organic or free range and we rarely go out for dinner, if we do it's either for Chinese or a curry" 

4. On a trip out with your friends what do you usually do? Where do you go?

 R - "I used to love going to the mall constantly. I would go almost every week and just chill with everyone. Now a days I don't like doing anything too special. (I guess you can say I'm boring xD.) But friends usually come over here, or I go over there and we watch a movie, or play board games or something like that. Whatever we have, We do. :)"

 H - "I live far away from all my friends so I mostly meet them in town and we go sit in the park with some music and junk food, because we mostly all have jobs or have no money we don't meet up on the weekends but I have a friend down the road who I walk the dogs with every weekend and then we usually end back at his on the Wii! Also silly games with his little sister like Cluedo are always fun."

5. What subjects do you take at school?

R - "Well, our school here in Utah, is different from schools everywhere else in America. We have something called A days and B days, A days one day and the next day we have B days. 4 classes each day.
A1- I go to Algebra 1. So just math for an hour.
A2- I go to Seminary. Which is a class for my religion.
A3- I go to Peer Tutor. It's where I tutor math to kids with disabilities. It's super fun.
A4- I go to Spanish 1. Pretty self explanatory. Learning Spanish.
B1- English 11. Which is how we learn writing skill and what not. It's required to take every year.
B2- I go to World History. Where I learn about the history of the world. We just got past the WWII unit.
B3- I go to Drama 3. Which is a theater history class. And we learn about how Acting came to be.
B4- I go to Aerobics. Where I do Killer work outs that leave me sore forever." 

 H - "For me I take only four subjects which I chose: English Language, English Literature, Theatre Studies and Art and a language which is compulsory. My weeks work on a two week rota (like most of England) so we have week A and week B however my days are usually pretty samish:

Mondays: Two free periods then English Lit and Theatre and Art 

Tuesdays: One Free then English Lit, English Lang, Theatre and Art

Wednesdays: One free then either Theatre or Russian, English Lit and English Lang

Thursdays: Two free periods then either Art or Russian, English Lit and English Lang

Friday: Two free periods then Art, English Lang and Theatre"

6- Do you like having a Presidency/ Monarchy? What are your views on the President/ Royal Family?

R - "I love having a Presidency. And even though I probably should, I haven't really paid much attention to the Royal Family. I think it's really neat though to hear about it though. (Especially when I was little, when I found out Princesses existed. Talk about excited.) :)"

 H - "I love the Royal Family and I can't wait for the wedding this Friday I'm planning on having a party to celebrate it! However I think it would be nice if the Queen had more of a say about how the country was run than the Prime Minister! I think just having one person in charge is a little odd plus there isn't the cultural background behind the President but I do think it's great that the American people get such a strong voice that they pick exactly who runs the country."

7- If you could compare your life to a film, a song, and a book, which would they be? 

R - "That's a tough one.. For the Movie, probably Cheaper By the Dozen. The little red headed boy who owns the toad would probably be me. The song, being the hopeless Romantic that I am. "Gotta be somebody" By Nickleback. Or "Friday" By Rebecca Black. (As terrible as that song is, it describes ALOT of people. haha) And a book. I wish I did, But I don't read much. So I wouldn't know what books related to me."

 

 H - " Hmm, for the movie I would say Mean Girls! The cliques we have at school and the girls who think they're better than everyone is crazy! For my song, I'm not sure right now it would probably be "Just around the river bend" from Pocahontas because I can't wait for tomorrow, I live for the day when I leave home and go out into the big wide world however stuff like school is holding me back at the moment! For my book I would have to say Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging! Only my nose is small not big! I have exactly the same problems Georgia has, especially the whole eyebrow plucking incident, I've done that before!!" 

 

8- How big is your school prom? 

R - "Oh gosh, People go WAY far to get it to be a night to remember. I'm not kidding, it's just like in the movies for some people. I've never been personally, so I'm not really too worried about it. I would just like an excuse to wear one of those huge dresses that some of the girls wear."

 

 H - "We only had a school prom because some girls in our year organised it, so not very big but it was perfect for our year. The school had nothing to do with it what so ever but it was so much fun and I can't wait for another at the end of next year when we leave."

 

9- What's your favorite Thing about America/England?

R - "I love how we can vote for a president, and can have our own opinions on a lot of things. I don't like how people don't care though and always take advantage of it, or don't even vote. But, I'm excited to move out of here. I'm doing a study abroad program once I graduate. I'm not sure where I'm going to go, but I'm going to Europe for sure."

 

 H - "As I said before I love the fact we have a Queen and also the idea that we have so much history, more than countries like America which are relatively new compared to England! I also like how as a country we have been through so much with the wars and royalty fighting but we still kept hold of what it's like to be British - Also Harry Potter came from England ;) "

 

 10- Have you ever Visited England/America?

R - "No, sadly I haven't. I would certainly love too though. Mostly for the reasons why every tourist goes there. :)" 

 

H - "No, but I really want to go, just to see the sights and experience the culture which is so different to ours! I also really want to walk down Hollywood and see my name on one of those starts in the ground!"

 

So there you have it blog readers, 10 different questions and answers from two people on opposite sides of "The Pond" of course there are many differences but as you can see there are some similarities too, what I find amazing is that America was a place of hope for many people (including those in England) and from being a new country it has become one of the biggest and most influential powers in the world! How crazy is that? 

Anyways I had better go do some work! Thank you Rachael for helping me with this! 

xox

HarrietCorey