Subway

As I was munching on my Subway sandwich at lunch today (six-inch turkey on honey oat, all veggies but onions and jalapenos, thankyou), it got me thinking about England (will explain later), which in turn got me thinking about my blog. The original purpose of my blogging aspirations was to talk about a year spent in the enchanted little city of Oxford, England. Well I’ve been and I’ve returned, and I’ve learned much but there is still much to tell. My English Lessons have not ceased upon returning to my homeland. In fact, hindsight has surfaced many lessons I was not even aware I had been learning whilst immersed in this fascinating culture.

“Fascinating?” you may be wondering. How different can these UK people be? They speak the speak the same language we do, we listen to a lot of their music (Coldplay, Damien Rice, Paolo Nutini, David Gray to name a few), British literature was forced down our throats from middle to high school. We have already as Americans been immersed in British culture; what is there left to learn?

And so begins a series of posts for me. I don’t know yet how many, and I am sure they will be interrupted with a more timely post every once in a while, but I am going to explore this theme for a time, drawing out many types of lessons–funny, mind-boggling, heartbreaking–that I have since realized from my time overseas among these people called the English. And I would love for you to tune into the journey now and again.

One of these life takeaway lessons came from the unsuspecting place of Subway. You thought I wasn’t going to circle back to my six-inch turkey on honey oat, didn’t you? In my first few weeks in Oxford, I learned this restaurant was taboo. While there were two conveniently located to me, I didn’t feel comfortable going inside based on what I had been told about them. My dear Subway that I frequent here in the States would become something I looked upon with longing and a craving never satisfied.

There is so much to explain regarding my Subway lesson, and the word count of this post is getting dangerously high, so I’ll stop for now with promises to expound next time.

Until then, I highly recommend Kate Hawk’s Watching the English. Given to me by my friend, Zi-Su, it has been an excellent source of explaining British, and specifically English, behavior. I’d suggest reading it after your trip to the Island. That’s what I did. It’s more interesting that way.