Mirror Mirror

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

I think this quote accurately sums up what we’ve learned so far in this class – knowing who you are is vital to success as a human. Being at peace with that person is also important, but ownership of who you are and what you do, is crucial to survival. Knowing what we’ll call ”life skills”, the ones you’re good at and bad at is basically step number one into going abroad. It’s also very hard to analyze self. I’m being asked to look at myself - into myself and pick at the good and bad. I’m being asked to own up to the young lady that is Arieal Burton.

That’s terrifying.

What if I find something I don’t like? What if I am like the stereotypical American I think exists? Do I believe in stereotypes? Am I a good or bad example? Thankfully the Self Audit Culture Strategies, and Cultural Context assignments helped me understand the type of person I am portrayed through my everyday actions. Like time, for example. I am extremely concerned with time, windows of time, time frames, and schedules. I have come to learn within my college career, that some people view time very differently. Some people simple are not concerned with time. This baffles me. I used to wonder why. ‘Didn’t everyone grow up with the concept of time and its impertinence? Don’t just randomly plan things!’ I also get upset when people do not do what has been outlined for them. If you have one task, you need to do that one task.

Another piece of me that is rigid is my want to work with other. I am very personable and a good listener, so I find it easy to be with people, in a work situation or out, but I struggle with a want. I don’t like to work with people. I’d rather do a job by myself, if it’s within my power. However, cultures like South Korea and Japan are big on the idea of working together. I am also very good at listening and trying most things, such as food, music, dress or greeting mannerisms. I like to learn lots of things, and I think this is going to be a tremendous help, and off set my sort of time-rigid self. I know that I can come off as a very happy and relaxed person, but a very icily focused sort of student, and I wonder if studying abroad will change something within me.

For me, the biggest piece of being American that I will take with me will probably be my “Southern hospitality.” Everyone is a dear friend, and I have to help anyone if I can. I must always be a perfect host, and have to keep myself in the community loop by volunteering, attending church, etc. I have yet to decide if this is a good or bad thing, and am excited, yet slightly apprehensive to see how this melds/clashes with East Asian high context culture.

All of these thoughts are daunting, terrifying but worthwhile. I think that by being forced to examine our values and preferences, we gather a better understanding for ourselves. We will discover things we dislike about ourselves, and things we are proud of. But they all meld together to become quite the lovely little lad or lady - in most cases. We're curious about each other. Who will I become? Who will you? I think, for that reason -the final fruition of our true selves- we try our hardest to live well.