Something I learned about myself from one of the surveys we took is that I am a very "low context" person when it comes to culture. I see things for how they are - I am a very black and white person. I believe that 100%. I am a blunt, straightforward person. I am not afraid to say how I feel to the people that I am comfortable around. What I did not realize, however, is that this might hinder me from adjusting to a new culture. I will have to adjust that attitude when I am in Argentina. I will have to suppress my straightforwardness in order to get along with people that I meet; not because I am incapable of getting along but because my honesty and sarcasm will most likely be taken wrong. This boils down to the differences in culture.
The nice thing about going abroad is that I will be around students that know I am not accustomed to their culture. I will ask the students I meet and befriend about their culture—this will be the best way to acknowledge the differences—and I will change my behavior to fit theirs in a way that will not completely suppress my personality. I realize that I will not be able, most likely, to make a sarcastic comment to someone I've just met like I do here. I've accepted that and I will not go around making sarcastic jokes. But that is only one aspect of the culture that I will have to grow accustomed to.
Something I have never truly thought about before is the realization that the United States overall is a very individualistic culture. From the surveys we have done for this class, I learned that I will have to be very open-minded about cultural differences in talking, first meeting, and friendship customs. I am really excited to see the differences between United States friendship and Argentine friendship as well as the differences between family cultures. Overall I am very excited to learn the cultural differences between Argentina and the southern United States.
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