Final Reflection - Morgann

I have dreamed about going to London for so long. I have listened to my family members talk about what their life was like when they lived there. Mainly they talked about walking everywhere, patting down dresses for bombs, dreary weather, smoking, pubs, and being near other relatives. However, I never got to know what the city was actually like. I was shocked by how everything was so close together and how efficient the public transportation system was. When I got home I probably talked about the tube for a solid 30 minutes. I never really mastered the tube map but I did enjoy trying to learn it. Using the public transport was great because it allowed us to see the everyday commute. In the afternoons all the busses and tubes get very stuffed with people, imagine a sardine can, but double the amount of sardines in the can. We also walked a tone, members with fitbits told use that we often walked six to seven miles on average. I have never felt healthier than during the trip due to more physically active daily travel, the tube counts we stood a lot.

Aside from my transport rant, the history we learned was incredible. I was never exposed to British history during school so all of this information was new to me. Most of they history we learned about pertained to the royals, government, and a little Shakespeare. The royal line is so complicated and fascinating! It all seemed to start with William the Conqueror from Normandy. This started the Tudor Line, which ended with Henry VIII. However, a couple of his daughters reigned after his death which continued the line in time, but they had no children so it passed on to the Stuarts. The transfer was complicated because many people get married off to the King or Queen of another country and have kids and the whole thing becomes a mess. However, the history is rich and is worthy or being learned about. Before the trip I had no idea what the Tudor or Stuart line was and I thought Henry VIII was only famous for having so many wives. Turns out he actually did a lot of other things too. He created a new church, mainly so he could divorce his wives, and he boosted the military and naval power of the country. He also built several castles/ palaces, and improved the defencices of many others.

I was also fascinated by the traditions of the country, mainly those found in Parliament. In the United States we try to trim out any thing that causes inefficiency and thus do not have many traditions. However, there are many traditions in Parliament. I feel that it is important to say that these tradicions do not cause inefficiency and not bad, but they do take a couple minutes to do. One tradition that is still done is that the Queen is not allowed to the House of Commons. She must send a messenger to the House of Commons to speak for her. This messenger goes over to the camber and then the door is slammed in her face, then she has to knock three times to gain entry. Another is that the Lord Speaker, an important member of the House of Lords, still must sit on a wool sack. Lastly, another tradition was created after the gunpowder plot in 1605. A gard must go down below parlement to check for gunpowder with an open flame lantern! So dangerous is there is any. Then they go back up and hold the lantern high for the Queen to see during her walk into the House of Lords. That was not even all of the traditions we learned that day.

Also during the trip we witnessed the Brexit protest! We knew we were walking into it because of the signs and because of an old lady with an air horn. She barely came up to my shoulder. The couple of minutes we spent walking through the city while trying not to become a part of the march is unforettable. There were people of all ages and backgrounds. There were so many signs each with their own reasons behind them. Some stated what they wanted to happen, what was wrong with Brexit, and others just read “I am confused”. My favorite is still “Ikea has better cabinets”. It was amazing to see the passion that filled the streets. I have been reading about Brexit a lot leading up to the trip and seeing this protest the day we went to Parliament was incredible. I do not have an opinion on Brexit because I, like so many others, and not sure whether it is a good or bad thing.

This trip to London has been incredibly valuable. I learned so much about history and politics. I also learned some life skills while I was there, like how to cook meat. I really enjoyed seeing all of these historical sites. I have never appreciated history and only learned it well enough to pass a test. However, now I am genuinely interested in what I learned and I am researching parts of history that my previous educational experiences have lacked. I would absolutely recommend doing this trip again because you just learn so much!