Visible Differences, Lancaster, MN

I feel like all of my blog posts have been about visible differences, so here are some more!

Glasgow Museum of Modern Art

More art in Glasgow

Famous traffic cone statue in front of GOMA

         












Alright so it's no mystery that I love art. So I have spent a lot of time passing through art museums. After working in an Art Museum for 3 years, I have gained quite an appreciation for them. By far the most artistic city has been Glasgow. Glasgow has always been on the cutting edge of Modern Art. This city was a huge part of the Art Nouveau movement. Anyways, this art is thought of as a large part of Glasgow's culture and is openly embraced by it's people. Well how do you know that? - you may be wondering. Well, I went to 4 Museums in Glasgow, big and small, and not one asked for more than a small donation. Whereas, in the states you have to pay lots of money to go into Museums, especially well-known ones. Additionally, I doubt America could support its museums only on donations. I feel Europeans take a lot more pride in their art and history than Americans. Also, many Americans see art as being pretentious. On the other hand Europeans, see the arts as part of their community.

Graffiti in our hostel in York, England

Graffiti wall in Gent, Belgium

   

Street art in Liverpool, England

Graffiti on a Cathedral in Brussels, Belgium

         













                                                    However, the best show however is the one outside the museums. Street art and graffiti are common practices and forms of expression all over Europe. A lot of people do not see a difference between graffiti and vandalism. Of course, I think street art and graffiti are a way of transforming an old historic town into a modern one. Take for example the statues on the right. Some may find this a desecration of one of Brussels' history, but I thought it was great and pretty funny. I'd rather see this walking down the street, because without the graffiti I would have never have noticed it. Street art was also a big part of Liverpool's culture. Liverpool has become quite famous for being a city that welcomes street art. The infamous Banksy, one of my favorite artists, is known to put street art up in Liverpool. I have yet to visit any city that is free of the influence of graffiti or street art. This is very different from my home town of Louisville, where graffiti is not seen as a positive. Any street art in Louisville is heavily regulated and planned far in advance. Therefore, my city lacks any controversial street art that makes a statement.

           Moving on to food. You guys should know that anytime the prompt allows us to choose between talking about food and another subject, I'm going to pick food. Every time. You can bet on it.

Meat Pies in York, England

Afternoon tea in Chester, England

Razor Clams in Brussels, Belgium

Great start of the day in Newcastle, England

           








             So the most iconic and prevalent culinary trait in England is afternoon tea. I've had this several times, however the cutest was definitely in  Chester. Afternoon tea usually comes with tea of your choice, a scone with clotted cream and jam, and a selection of tea sandwiches. At fancier places you can get a section of tea cakes or chocolates as well. Afternoon tea is pretty great. Clotted cream is this strange combination between butter and cool whip. It's so good, but there is no way it's good for you. I mean, come on, it literally has the word clot in it's name. Like this cream is going to "clot" your arteries. I'll eat it anyway. Also, I was also under the impression that tea sandwiches just had cheese or cucumbers on them. It turns out, tea sandwiches can be rather hefty. The sandwich I got in Chester was a huge tuna, sweet corn, and mayonnaise sandwich. The funny thing about afternoon tea is that you can really have it at any point in the day - morning, lunch, afternoon, dinner, late night snack. Most tea rooms are open from 6:00am to 8:00pm.
            The other thing about the food here that I am just not used to is the seafood. It's. So. Good. And they have so much of it. My friends joke with me that I am predicable when I go out to eat, because I always order seafood. This is so different from home since we just don't have access to good seafood of such great variety. Some of the best seafood I had was in Brussels where we had mussels, razor clams, scampi fritters, and grilled shrimp.
            I will admit that I am a coffee addict. No shame. However, the coffee here is all so fancy. After about a week I was killing for a cup of black dark roast coffee. Not a mocha, not a latte, just black coffee Fortunately, I found a french press and I make my own now for my daily cup of joe. Although, I do enjoy the occasional fancy cup of coffee in a cute cafe. People just don't drink coffee here very often. Instead, they just drink 3 cups of tea a day. My housemates think my coffee drinking is quite foreign haha.
          Lastly, meat pies are a really big deal in Northern England. There are all sorts of little shops dedicated to making them. It was a little confusing at first, because went I see a sign for a pie store I wasn't expecting meat pies. After trying a few I have come to find them quite enjoyable. Most pubs sell a meat pie and chip meal. This cuisine is just as common as traditional fish and chips.

      The other major difference that I have found in England is their attitudes towards religion. Over my time here I have seen countless towering cathedrals and large religious monuments.

Cathedral in Chester, England

York Minister Cathedral

Garden in the center of the Cathedral in Chester, England

                         Most of these large Cathedrals were originally built by the Catholic Church, and now they are just Christian or part of the Church of England. I think that it is interesting how old and important these monuments seem, yet very few people are religious in the area. Especially young people. Even at a liberal arts school like Allegheny, I know quite a few people who go to church regularly. However, here it is unheard of for anyone at the university to go to church. Many of these huge Cathedrals do not offer services anymore because they cannot afford to cover their operation costs. Most large churches have become community centers or preschools.

Well that's all for now. Ta ta!

- Ellie Najewicz