My name is Jasmine Torres and I’m a Junior. I’m a Linguistics major with minors in English and Spanish. The only previous experience I’ve had with Victorian London is reading Sherlock. I did know that there was a huge smog problem and that the buildings looked black, but not that it was caused from all the soot as Professor Swafford explained.

I thought it was interesting that Railways allowed people to move out into the suburbs. Especially since lower middle class professionals where between pinching pennies to afford a place in Central London or living in the crime filled cheaper areas. Another thing I learned was the specifics of the expansion of London. Looking at a map of London now, I never would have thought about the fact that London didn’t always have all that land. The quote that the article mentions from the reporter showed me that there is always someone who has an issue with progress. “‘the London of our youth… is becoming obliterated by another city which seems rising up through it.'”. Although the quote sounds like the reporter has a sense of lost nostalgia, it still sounds like the naysayers of today, mourning of the lost simplicity of their childhood because of the advancements in technology. I also learned from the article that in order for London to progress, they almost had to go through the poverty and dirty city they had. As the article says, London got clean water after health scares and a cholera outbreak.

Robinson, Bruce. “London: ‘A Modern Babylon’” BBC News. BBC, 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Aug. 2015.