The Beginners Guide to Identity.

Upon doing a oddly interesting lecture and seminar on adolescent identity, I decided that Identity would be a great blog idea.

So this is what I came up with:
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Identity, like so many other concepts (Intelligence, Personality) is rather vague. What makes up a persons identity?
There's the official definition, and my definition. I'll tell you mine, its far more interesting.

Identity is anything that you think about yourself: Whether you're a student, mother, Hindu, albino, goth, posh person, yearly income less than £5000. You name it, that's what its about.

But the main things are Politics, Religion, Social Status, Orientation, Gender, Occupation and Nationality. Anything in which you can group yourself in.

To give a bit more of a clue, I'll tell you I'm British, Young Adult, Organ Donor, Criminologist, Loves Books, Clothes and Marzipan, Agnostic, Female, Tattooed, Student, Light Drinker, Dislikes Cats and Cities. Lives in a City.
... But to tell you the truth that just sounds like something you'd find on a dating site.

So yes. Identity is pretty important. It makes you, well, you.
And during adolescence is when you branch out and try out what identity suits you best.

I tried goth, bright coloured, christian, atheist, geologist, teacher and experimented in what I thought about marriage, drinking, the meaning of life, stem cell research. Everything.

It's always good to have a clear idea of what kinds of things you have to offer, what you want to do with your life and what your own thoughts are on hot topics. It's just human nature I guess.

So yes. This was your short guide to identity. Hope you enjoyed reading about what you already basically knew. :)

The Evolution of Men.

Upon watching football at a pub swamped in testosterone (not my idea, my boyfriends, but I did have a lovely pudding there) I decided that men are a very interesting subject.

Especially those watching football.
It's really odd.
I would compare it to watching a woman who loves shopping go into a shoe shop. When there's an amazing pair of shoes, her whole face glows. And this, I swear, is exactly what happens with men who enjoy football.

There is one difference however, when women find a shoe that they completely adore, and buy it, they don't yell out and raise their fists in the air in triumph.
I'd like to think it's far more sophisticated. We do that kind of thing later when nobody is watching.
(In fact a friend did comment these exact words : 'you don't see a woman cheering at a shoe'. He's a guy who likes football.)
Also, If women don't get what they want, just like men, they complain about it to their other halves. That or are sulky. (You know who you are.)
The weird thing is, another person pointed out, that both clothes and football include seasons.
And colours. And on occasion balls too.

So yes.
I also noticed that when doing something a man (or a woman, sometimes) enjoys, we begin to revert back to the stone age. Leaping around gibbering nonsense and such.

So if that's what I thought going to the pub to watch football, I can't imagine the chaos at an actual game.

The American Revelation.

I may have said this before, but I adore the USA.
So when I had the chance to go to Washington DC I absolutely had to go. (Not only for the amazing Criminology experience, but because I wanted to see if at least just one small part of America lived up to my expectations. Let me tell you, it completely exceeded it.)


Ted Bundys car. Creepy.



Of course, I went to all of my crime things; Institute of Justice, George Mason University, The Pentagon (I know! That was very very exciting :D.. And nerve-wracking), the National Crime and Punishment Museum. Which were awesome.. and the Crime and Punishment museum had Ted Bundy's car in it. (He's a favourite serial killer- I think it's OK to have a favourite only because I do Criminology and because he was very interesting.)

Then did all the tourist areas - The Washington monument (Which is astonishingly huge. Seriously.. why does everything have to be so huge in the US.. not that I'm complaining at all, it was amazing, but in England things aren't nearly so high.

A few of the Smithsonian buildings: Air and Space, American History and Indian American. Which was amazing. Except for that I was just waiting for things to come to life a la 'Night at the Museum 2'.
The Lincoln Memorial (Also ginormous) The Reflecting pool, the White House (where we chatted to some very friendly policemen who told us how many rooms there were in it. It's something completely crazy, I can't remember the number), The World War Two Memorial, The Viet Nam Memorial.


Washington Monument with Sun

We did so much in the space of a week, but I wish we had stayed for far longer. And the weather was beautiful, which was very strange seeing as it was November.

But the thing I was most impressed with, and what touched me the most, was the obvious pride in their country, the friendliness, the compassion and the expression of freedom and joyfulness. The blatant patriotism was astounding. It was also beautiful.

In America the flag flies proudly at every street corner, whereas in England you'd probably be told to take our flag down because it was offending someone who wasn't British.

NBA match

I think something that I most enjoyed was going to an NBA Basketball game in the Verizon Center.  It was amazing. So much entertainment and good spirited competition. Singing the national anthem at the beginning is something that I've never experienced. I've seen some football games and other games, but none of the English matches I've seen have ever been so.. friendly I guess.

I think friendly is definitely the right word to describe the USA. It was lovely. People asked if you looked a little lost, chatted to you on the metro, said good morning in the hotel. In England that would never happen. On the tube nobody talks to anyone. It's like an unsaid rule. And usually you'd have to ask if you didn't know where to go. Of course there are some people out there who do say 'hi', have chats with you and ask if you're OK, but it's just not the same.

Chinese in a box! (Exciting, oddly)

Also I got to sample some of the cuisine. Went to a diner (of which there were surprisingly, and upsettingly few) and had a burger. Had a Hot dog at the NBA game. Some mini corn dogs at the bowling alley (which were strange, nice, but a little sickly after a while) and had a snow cone (which was lovely in the middle of an oddly hot day.) And had Chinese in a box. Yay!

The only thing that I'd say was bad was the tax. As it's added on as you buy it, rather than already added on. So I'd already got out the right amount of money most times, when I then realised I would have to get out more because I'd forgotten about the tax. So that was a little annoying.

The White House

And the streets were confusing too. We'd walk down the end of one block only to find that we'd gone the wrong way down the street, so had to turn around and walk the other way. Of course it was fine after a week. By then we'd gotten used to it. But It's much easier when all the roads look completely different.
The worst thing was going back. Knowing that work had to be in, and that the holiday was over.
And although it feels nice to be in a place that I know, I can't wait to go back and explore more of America.