Cultural Strategies

According to the guides that I have filled out, I've come to realize that I have a very specific way of going about things. My curiosity helps me in learning about new things all the time, but my inflexibility could get me in trouble when it comes to learning more about British culture. If something is not the way that I expect it to be by a certain time, I will be very annoyed and most likely let it color my judgement of the person who was running it for some time to come. While I have started to realize that this is not the only way that people run, in fact some go in the opposite, it will be still be a challenge for me if I encounter people who do not work like I expect.

For this particular issue, I think it will be good for me to meet a variety of people in order to get a richer understanding of how people view time and interactions with each other. While British culture seems to run similarly to US culture in terms of being fairly low content communicators, there will still need to be room for error in how this time is actually used. I believe that I will need to leave my perceptions of UK culture that I have picked up from popular media at the door so that I can fully integrate myself into the actual culture and not what I see on tv.

Joining clubs on campus will definitely be something that I will do since this strategy is what helped me make friends on campus whenever I first came to Maryville. My friendly personality is also something that has helped me a great deal and hopefully will help me as I go abroad as well.

In terms of being an American, specifically one from the South, I will need to recognize that there are certain stereotypes that I will need to circumvent with anyone that I meet whose only exposure would be from popular media like my exposure is for the UK. Educating someone on how living in the South does not mean I wear cowboy boots and watch NASCAR without sounding condescending will definitely be something that I will need to keep in mind when and if it comes up. I hope with this I will be able to bring a better understanding of the vast changes in the US culture across state lines just like it will be different in Plymouth than it would be in the London area.