Me, Myself, and the Weird UK
Imagine, if you will, getting invited to a party at one of the top universities in the world that you don’t go to, in a city you don’t live in, in a country you are only visiting. Sounds like it would be a fun adventure, right? At least mildly interesting? I would agree… until you get dressed and finally get to the party held in an Oxford college’s common room, and the most bizarre experience unfolds before your eyes. About 30 people who look like they should be in high school are standing in an empty room, dressed in costumes, seemingly random and without a common theme. Pop music is playing, songs you remember from middle school dances chaperoned by parents. A song you don’t know comes on, and everyone links arms in a big circle (you join, because what else is there to do) and all at once, they run into the middle to form the weakest mosh pit of all time. They step back and do it all over again at the next chorus. There is no explanation. There is no escape. You can only double over in laughter at the sight, which must be confusing everyone else around you. Who the hell is this random person? Why are they laughing? She doesn’t even go here!
Though I seriously considered some schools in London, I ended up coming to Amsterdam. Before I moved, Western Europe felt like the perfect escape from the United States, which somehow exponentially surpassed my yearly expectations on how much of a capitalist dystopia it could become. Moving to a country in the big ol’ EU became a dream driven by my parents’ stories of living in Germany, and memories of the several trips my family had gone on: Rotterdam, Paris, Barcelona, and London. While I eventually settled on the lovely rainy Netherlands, for a couple years, the United Kingdom sounded like the PERFECT fit… I mean, world-renowned education in a country that has good healthcare, history, cool cities, AND predominantly speaks English? Sign me up, right?
Well… maybe not.
In these past couple years of living in continental Europe, I’ve come to realise that a) every country obviously has its fair share of disadvantages, and b) the UK is not as perfect as I imagined. And I’m saying this as someone who grew up enjoying British television, was absolutely obsessed with Harry Potter, and dreamed of one day visiting iconic places in London, which so many clothing brands loved co-opting for their own cliché designs. It seems to be getting worse and worse, as Brexit came suspiciously right before major shortages and a predicted recession, and the energy crisis post-Russian invasion sent energy prices skyrocketing. Suddenly, the average person in the UK is faced with the reality that they may not be able to afford or even find some of the most basic necessities they have come to expect.
I am very glad I did not end up studying in the UK. I am not sure what to make of the situation there, but it feels increasingly similar to how I felt while living in the US, and no matter how much I like visiting I cannot reconcile the fact that something is very wrong. Yet, I keep going back: I have friends to visit who live in Manchester, London, Oxford and… somewhere in Wales (sorry Jake, I’m not doxxing you today). My partner grew up in the north of England and goes back and forth between NL and the UK, so I love going whenever I get the chance. I have no idea how I suddenly got caught up in this country and its comings and goings, but I find myself listening to videos and podcasts about the happenings in Ol’ Britannia: its grand and fucked-up history, what’s wrong with it, where we go from here. Being briefly thrust into the student life of Oxford University is also one of the strangest experiences I’ve had so far, though simultaneously awesome. I don’t think I’d change it for anything, especially the weird experiences I have no business attending… sorry Oxford’s young conservative whose hat I, um, drunkenly stole at Port and Policy (in a roundabout way I am like Robin Hood, taking from the wealthy and giving to the middle-class).
I am not sure what to make of the UK and its place in my life. On the one hand, maybe I want to live there one day. On the other hand, that is not going to happen unless things improve. But everywhere is fucked up right now, and that’s not changing anytime soon. I guess the best I can do is carve my own safe space in the world, and if that means ending up in places I should never have ended up in, I will continue to do so proudly. Being young means doing weird things, and at least some of my Weird can be found in the UK.
