With an 8-hour flight, we have finally arrived at the United Kingdom! There are so many things that I could write about already, but I will focus on a few things for now. You can recognize the difference between the UK and US in so many ways.

Unlike the US, the UK keeps defibrators accessible to those out in public. The US only keeps them in buildings, and mostly only in medical facilities, or schools. Having defibrators accessible to people in public is very important. Sometimes individuals need medical help while in public, so it is good that the UK has it available to others on the street.

Initially, you assume foreign individuals do not like Americans. After today, I have met many individuals from the UK that gave a warm welcoming. Not everyone was nice, and some people had biases against Americans, but overall, it is a diverse community that is very sweet. This shows how the culture in the UK is different from America. Americans discriminate against each other a lot, creating “ideal society standards” for certain genders and ethnicities. As of now, I do not see the UK discriminating one another because of the color of their skin, but more of judging others because of where they are from. Overall, most were very welcoming and directed us based off of what Americans may like the best.

I look forward to many more things now that I am here. The culture and diversity are a great example of how different the UK is from the US, as well as their medical plans and government. Although there are many differences between the UK and US medical field, there is still discrimination faced. This is surprising because the UK offers universal healthcare, where everyone should access the same medical assistance, but minority groups still report having poorer experiences than their white counterparts.

The UK is a beautiful place, but there is a lot of littering. It is a lot of trash on the ground, which is very concerning but also surprising. You would assume the UK is a clean place because the citizens look very put together. Having that assumption, I realized we all have biases against different countries and ethnicities because of what we grew up around. Usually, individuals speak heavily on how much garbage and homeless individuals stay in Pittsburgh, but there seem like a lot more here in just one city. It is important to check these biases and recognize the differences between cultures and ethnicities. What is normal to one person may not be normal to the next.

For the next few weeks, I hope to learn a lot about the culture of the UK and how the US can learn from it, and vice versa. If individuals take the time to educate themselves about these differences, then the world can progressively become a better place. The US can also learn from the UK’s food choices, because they have healthier choices, whereas we have dietary choices that can lead to a lot of health complications. I can say that the food here is actually pretty tasty and not made from chemicals and artificial.