Page 2 - link magazine

Living (working and studying) in America
Lucy Westcott from Westlea, who studied at The Ridgeway School and New College, before graduating in American Studies at Sussex University, is
currently studying at the University of Maryland, just outside Washington DC. Here she reflects on life as a Brit reporting the US

You wouldn’t think that getting a glass of have told me that I could send a tirade of verbal
water would be difficult in America, but more abuse their way and they’d simply think it was
often than not, many people misunderstand cute.
my words. I’ve found that many Americans know
The worst offender - by far - is ‘water.’ Although Swindon. At first, I offered ‘near Oxford’ as the
I am a Swindon native, my west country tinge response when asked where I came from. Thanks
disappears when overseas, and I have to repeat the to the British (and arguably better) version of The
word over and over before adopting my American Office, some Americans have at least heard of our
twang: WAH-DER? Finally, they understand. town, even if they don’t have the cultural context
A ‘tall’ in Starbucks still translates to ‘two’ in to understand what it means to compete against
American, and I have given up trying to order Slough. American video gamers have also come
anything strawberry flavoured. to know Swindon through FIFA, virtually pitting
Since May 2012, I have been living, interning, the Robins unsuccessfully against premiership
and studying in Washington DC. I attended and international teams.
Georgetown University for a summer pro- Lucy in front of the Capitol building in Washington DC I intern with several newspapers, and got to
gramme, and have just started my second term at the University of Maryland, cover election day for the Arlington Mercury in Virginia, just over the Po-
where I’m studying for a Master’s of Journalism. Maryland, now on the tomac River from Washington. Standing behind the designated 40 foot line,
outskirts of the city, is a former agricultural college, so there is a working I spoke to the campaign volunteers who had been at the polls since dawn, and
farm and dairy on campus. who would stay there until after dark. I also spoke to voters, many of whom
As you can imagine, it’s quite different from Swindon. In many ways, didn’t want to give their names or say who they voted for, but were happy to
Washington is a small town. Nearly everything revolves around the govern- speak about why they voted.
ment and politics, so it’s important to be clued up. Even pub quizzes have Although our countries are similar in many ways, our politics are not. An
rounds dedicated to little-known members of congress, or statistics about election would not hinge on women’s rights and social issues like gay mar-
elections. At least I always get the British questions right. riage in the UK like it did here.
Every day is amusing when you have a British accent in America. I say Between the enormous food portions and daily questions about Downtown
British, because that’s what the Americans say; they tend not to differenti- Abbey, I am having the time of my life in America. And it’s not often that
ate between nuances of English accents, preferring to go with the B-word. being from England makes you feel like you have special powers.
Usually, they ask me to say British swear words they’ve learnt from watching • Lucy marks the fortieth anniversary of Swindon Viewpoint, one of Britain’s
The Inbetweeners or This Is England. On more than one occasion, Americans first community TV stations on page 27

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2 swindonlink.com • February 2013

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