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By Jess Yacovelle

I'm closing in on my last month studying abroad, so I have a pretty good grasp on both London and King's College. Therefore, I thought I'd share the five weirdest things that I've seen in Europe, as told from the point of view of an American.

1) There are plaques everywhere. And I do mean everywhere: on the side of buildings, on benches, even in the middle of the sidewalk. These plaques proclaim certain areas to have historical significance. King's College, for example, has a few located around campus in honor of Virgina Woolf. Various plaques exist in the Green Park area in regards to past monarchs. Where this gets a little weird, however, is when these plaques start to get really, really specific. I understand, for example having a plaque at the home of where the queen used to live, but do we really need one at the hotel in Canterbury where she used to put up her guests for the night? Yes, plaques honoring famous writers are great (especially for me, the English major), but must we put up plaques telling us where these writers used to eat breakfast? London is an incredibly historical city, but sometimes it can be a little too historical.

2) Elevators. Elevators are so weird in the United Kingdom. In the US, you hit either the up or the down bottom, and an elevator going in that direction stops at your floor and picks you up. Simple, right? In London, there is one button for you to press, and the elevator comes to get you in the order that people have called for it. Which means, that if someone in the basement pushes the button before someone on the ground floor, the elevator will bypass the ground floor, go down to the basement, and then come back up to the ground floor. Now, this is simply irritating and only a little strange... Until class lets out and everyone hits the button at the exact same time. I've literally stood on the ground floor for five straight minutes, watching as the elevator passes me down to the basement, up to the third floor, down to the second basement, back up to the fifth floor... How much more inconvenient can you be?

3) Trains. I'm not going to lie, I've lived in London for over two months now, and I still can't figure out the train ticketing system. For trains in London, you can pay with your Oyster card (aka the underground card)... sometimes. It's supposedly cheaper to do so than to buy a physical ticket, but it's never very clear when you're allowed to and when you're not. Obviously, if you're leaving London you can't pay with a London underground card, but what if you're taking a train to the London Gatwick airport? Nope, you need a ticket. But why? No one knows.

4) Cheerleaders at a hockey game. No, I'm not making this up; how could I? It's so bizarre and unheard of from an American standpoint. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I went to a hockey game whilst on a long-weekend in Prague, and I was absolutely stunned to find a platform in the corner of the stands where home-team cheerleaders performed. What were they doing there? Cheerleaders don't belong at a hockey game! Hockey is a sport characterized by speed, skill, and intensity, not pom-poms and frowny faces when the opposing team scores. And oh yes, I didn't make that up; the cheerleaders literally crossed their arms over their chest and frowned when the away team scored. I can think of literally nothing less characteristic of ice hockey as a sport than that display.

5) Abandoned underground stations. I know these exist in the United States too, but it's even stranger to pass by them in London because of the aforementioned history of the city. These stations haven't all been demolished or bricked over. For example, the Strand underground station - which is right next to King's College - is abandoned, but the building that leads down into the station still exists. A sign proclaiming the existence of the Strand Station hangs above the entrance, and only a metal gate separates the brick interior from the rest of the world. These stations don't appear on any maps, but they are everywhere. It almost makes you wonder how many abandoned tunnels are beneath London's surface.

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I recently had the opportunity to travel from São Paulo up north to the state of Bahia, to the city of Salvador. The state of Bahia is in one of the poorer regions of Brazil, the Northeast, whereas São Paulo is firmly situated in the wealthier and more developed Southeast, and in fact is the economic center of the country as a whole. This made for a very interesting comparison between the two areas.

My time here in Brazil has been amazing, but São Paulo has not been at all what I expected out of Brazil, for a number of reasons. Salvador, on the other hand, fulfills what I had held as my mental image of Brazil. Without a doubt, I have experienced the openness of the Brazilian people and of Brazilian society here in São Paulo, but the people of Salvador and of Praia do Forte, the beach town I visited, took it to a whole other level. Strangers on the street, complete and total strangers, are called "friend." Anyone else, people you've spoken to even once before, are called "brother," "sister," "tia," "tio," even me.

It was interesting, first of all, to compare the populations of Salvador and of São Paulo. São Paulo is an unusual case in terms of Brazilian cities in that that the favelas ring the periphery of the city, making the downtown areas--the only places that I go with any regularity--solidly middle- and upper-class. I've volunteered in the center of the city, which is significantly poorer than the neighborhoods in which I live, go to school, and hang out, but the poor or homeless live either on the street or as squatters in abandoned buildings, or in one of the two very small favelas that are located in the city center. What this means, more or less, is that it is easy, in São Paulo, to forget the levels of poverty and need that exist in the rest of the country. In Salvador, for me, that was not the case. The "normal," so to speak, people are poor, in particular compared to those in São Paulo. However, from what I saw, they are also happy and beautiful. Early one morning, I saw a line of perfectly coiffed women, in brightly colored dresses, stranding in line to pick up their free bread with their state vouchers. I can say with absolute certainty that I have never and probably will never see something like that in São Paulo.

The cultural differences between the two cities were also striking. My general sense is that São Paulo is an international, cosmopolitan city located in Brazil, whereas Salvador, had I gone there for my time abroad--which I seriously considered--would have been a truly Brazilian city. The culture, which is a specific mix of Afro-European-indigenous influences creating a wholly Brazilian culture. The religion, a syncretic mix of Catholicism and African religions, the love of music, the food, the beaches, the colors all contribute to a culture that fills the city to the brim. São Paulo is, of course, full of so many elements of Brazilian culture, but they don't necessarily manifest themselves on the surface in the same way, and certain elements, like the religion and the music, are in fact confined to the Northeast.

In any case, I am so, so glad I got to see and experience Salvador, to enhance my understanding of Brazil as a whole, and to understand São Paulo better within the Brazilian context.

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