a real unreal place
Sep. 19th, 2018 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howsmyenglishI've been to England only once. I was probably 17 then, very young, pretty stupid, mostly interested in alcohol and boys... or - in boys being interested in me and in alcohol as something that somehow helped matters. Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is that my visiting England back then doesn't really count. I didn't know, where I was, I did not appreciate the Buckingham palace, the National Gallery or even being in Oxford. I hardly noticed that I was in Oxford back then.
Since then, I have grown up, grown interested in many things, England among them. I've read so many books written by British authors, seen so many films and TV shows... I love England never having been there. I know the names of the streets of Oxford. If you read authors like Colin Dexter, Roald Dahl and Philip Pullman (there were others, whose names escape my memory now) you can't help but learn their names. Same goes for hotels, museums, colleges.
As a result, for me, England is like Hogwarts (this is also a world that has conquered* my heard). With the difference that it actually is real. It is a place where you actually can go. Imagine being able to actually visit Hogwarts. Enter the wood, see Hagrid's cabin. Find a way into the Gryffindoor common room. Wander the corridors. This is how I feel when I think about visiting England. And this is probably the reason, why I am reluctant to go. I'm afraid it could destroy the fairy tale.
I wonder whether other people, who have read about countries they never really visited, feel the same about them.
*conquer, capture, win - which sounds better? are all of them possible?
Since then, I have grown up, grown interested in many things, England among them. I've read so many books written by British authors, seen so many films and TV shows... I love England never having been there. I know the names of the streets of Oxford. If you read authors like Colin Dexter, Roald Dahl and Philip Pullman (there were others, whose names escape my memory now) you can't help but learn their names. Same goes for hotels, museums, colleges.
As a result, for me, England is like Hogwarts (this is also a world that has conquered* my heard). With the difference that it actually is real. It is a place where you actually can go. Imagine being able to actually visit Hogwarts. Enter the wood, see Hagrid's cabin. Find a way into the Gryffindoor common room. Wander the corridors. This is how I feel when I think about visiting England. And this is probably the reason, why I am reluctant to go. I'm afraid it could destroy the fairy tale.
I wonder whether other people, who have read about countries they never really visited, feel the same about them.
*conquer, capture, win - which sounds better? are all of them possible?
no subject
Date: 2018-09-19 07:50 pm (UTC)So far, when I've heard about another city in Europe and it's sounded interesting I've been very happy to have visited. Hopefully this will continue when we go to Vienna next month.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-19 08:19 pm (UTC)Do you mostly read books that were originally written in English or translations as well?
no subject
Date: 2018-09-19 08:40 pm (UTC)