An American Abroad

As an American abroad, my biggest goal is to not reinforce the ignorant American stereotype. I hope to set an example to others about how Americans truly act, and that we are not as crazy as Hollywood makes us seem. However, in order to do that, I must first further my own knowledge about Japan.

The cultural context survey results surprised me: I scored only 7 points higher in Low Context than High Context. As I have only ever extensively spoken English, I expected the Low Context score to be higher. This is slightly encouraging to me as Japanese is a High Context language. It will help me to communicate more like a local than a foreigner. In the self-audit survey, I scored fairly high in the openness category: this will help me to understand others and determine what I need to do in order to fit in. Finally, I found that I scored very highly in independence: this will especially be helpful as I will be entering an experience unlike any other that I have previously had.