Immersing myself in a new culture won’t be an entirely new experience for me which makes it a lot less daunting. Over the years, I’ve learned that the best way for me to “survive and thrive” as a child of immigrants in the United States was to adapt and go with the flow. By this, I do not mean mindless assimilation but I mean finding the balance between the maintenance of my own identity as I discover more parts of it.
In regards to my internship abroad (coming up soon!!!!), I think that the experience of learning how to be myself in this country is something of interest that I can use as a conversational point about culture to local Kiwis and the Maori people if I get a chance to visit Rotorua. With New Zealand culture, I think it will be something that I can easily immerse myself in because the Asian influence on their culture is longstanding and almost nonchalant whereas it is not nearly as pronounced stateside, or at least not in East Tennessee. Here at home, that’s only something I can see at my house or in a very specific setting. Though I’m not sure what excursions my program has beyond the Bridging Cultures on-site orientation in Auckland, I have already been considering what activities I can do in Wellington on my own (for a reasonable price, of course) since my internship advisors have been generous enough to give me time to explore for eight long weekends.
While I’m entirely sure what the New Zealanders will be expecting about me, but I will need to prepare myself for the inevitable that they will probably be somewhat wrong but also somewhat correct. However, that’s a theme that has followed me my entire life since people aren’t quite sure how to feel about a Filipino woman that was born and raised in East Tennessee, so it feels as though as my life has been building up to this test for a while now. I think that my role there will not be to educate them about my very specific demographic, but just to show New Zealanders what being American means by showing that there is more than one type of American.
In conclusion, the best way for me to truly enjoy my time in New Zealand will be to use my approach of not having concrete expectations. This itself is a tricky task because it hasn’t quite sunken in that I am going to be across the world by myself for almost two months. Here’s to hoping that fake it til you make it will keep me calm until after my plane lands in Auckland.
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