It can be said that my journey to London, England was extremely chaotic. After two flights with a combined ten hour wait time, I finally arrived in an international country on a warm Monday afternoon. With no means to find my way to the Lancaster Gate Hotel except by word of mouth, I managed to receive the aid of a lovely British woman with a GPS-enabled IPhone. Furthermore, I had never experienced such a level of exhaustion; the day upon arriving in London, I moved about sluggishly but persistently. In the coming days, I visited the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms, the HMS Belfast, Bletchley Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Camden Market. Beyond the various historical sites and museums of Great Britain, I experienced new foods, cultures, accents, and traffic patterns. Particularly at Trafalgar Square, I really enjoyed observing the various statues of famous figures in British history such as Horatio Nelson and Lord Halifax. It was one thing to learn about such peoples in high school textbooks but observing their legacies in Great Britain added a new dimension to learning experiences. However, the Imperial War Museum definitely left a lasting impression.
Particularly, my visit to the Imperial War Museum on May 12 had the biggest personal impact. Seeing World War II-related weapons and aircraft helped to cement the past semester at Ohio State. It was one thing to read about V-2 flying rockets and T-34 tanks, but it was far more significant to see such models in person. Furthermore, the British perspective of World War II was evident within the exhibits. For example, the emphasis on the Battle of Britain and the British participation on D-Day pointed to a somewhat skewed representation of the war. Through the museum, Great Britain depicted her hard-fought victory over the evil Nazi Germany. However, the Imperial War Museum did not successfully portray either the American or Soviet involvements in World War II; there was almost no mention of the attack on Pearl Harbor or fighting during Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union. In this way, it overplayed the relative military strength of the British Empire after the Battle of Britain. Nonetheless, the museum beautifully displayed wartime propaganda posters throughout the floor exhibits; this gave visitors an inside look into the national need for food rationing, enlistment, and financial donations. I am very excited to travel to France and Germany and gain their perspectives on World War II. I look forward to having the ability to compare and contrast the various outlooks on the war between three cultures.
