Experience (Culture Shock) by Genshu

I talked about three stories which surprised me here.

Firstly, that is a football game at Ole Miss. One day, my fiends invited me to go to a football game. It was the first game at Ole Miss. I heard that in the US, football is most popular sports, and very excited. I have read comic books about football, and am interested in, so I said, “Of course, I want to go!” I bought a ticket and It cost 15$. Probably, it was the day before the football game. I was looking forward to a football game because it was the first time for me. On the way to home, I dropped in the Student Union, to meet my friends. I found lots of something blue and red at Circle, and temporary restrooms all over the place. I had completely no idea at that time why there were such things there, but my friends told me they were for a football game. However, I doubted why such things needed football games, because I was stranger here yet at that time. And also, my friends asked me “What are you going to wear tomorrow?” I answered “As usual”. She got surprised, and asked again “Aren't you going to dress up?” I confused more, and I did not understand what she said. I said, “Are you serious? Why am I going to dress up?” However, I would come to notice later that she intended to say.

On the day of the football game, I woke up at 9 am because I heard that I could eat lunch for free at Circle at around 12 pm. I took a shower, and went to the Union to buy notebooks. I was very surprised that everyone I met on the way to the Union wore something formal. Especially women wore blue or red dress! Though they wear very casual same clothes every day! I asked someone in spite of myself, and understood what happened. I went back to my room in a hurry, and change my clothes to something formal. I felt good because I brought formal clothes from Japan, prepared if something. After that, I went to the Circle. I got surprised again. There were so many people that I doubt myself. There were many tents and people who dressed up. Moreover, patrol car led some buses, sounding siren. At that time, people there went toward the buses. Some people took off the buses, and I found they were players. People there took pictures of players and cheered up. I took pictures not players but people who took pictures of players. I ate lunch and talked with friends at an international students tent. When it came to the game, I went to a stadium. There were too many people, ans some were drunk and some talked about a football heatedly. We could see a good musical performance and dance, so the game was very enthusiastic. However, I thought Ole Miss students and people were very crazy! Some people go to different city to watch Ole Miss games.

Secondly, differences of food between Japan and the US. When I got here for the first time, I ate dinner at the Johnson Commons. I was very surprised and excited to know that I could eat and drink as much as I liked, and find different food from Japan like pizza, tacos and so on. I ate much that day. I also went to the JC to eat lunch and dinner the following day and the day after that.

At first it was good, but I was getting tired of the taste. We could not eat same dishes every time, everyday and every season. In Japan, we can eat any food at commons in a university, for instance of course Japanese food, noodle, curry, pasta and etc. There are some daily special dishes. There are many first food restaurant in the Union, but they serve only pizza, hamburger or sandwich. And also, I was surprised at the color of yogurt here. That was so vivid as we could find it was not natural soon. In Japan, nobody buys something like that too bad for health. In Japan, it is difficult to decide what to eat that day because there are many food. On the other hand, here I have troubles in deciding what to eat because there are few choices of food.

Finally, this is the most surprising, there are many gays in the US. I have met about ten gay people for a month. First was a my roommate. When I got here, he did not arrive yet. He was not completely stranger for me. That is, I have mailed with him a few times until I was in Japan. He takes Japanese classes at the Ole Miss and his teacher asked me to share a room with him. I thought it was a good chance to study English, and accepted the offer.

One day, maybe when three days have passed since I got here, I joined an international party. At that time, I received a message from him that I got to a dorm now. I was looking forward to seeing him. After the party, I made a friend with a Japanese student. He is a graduate student at Ole Miss, and at the same time he is an assistance teacher of Japanese classes. We talked about a difficulty in study abroad for a while. The subject was changed to my roommate and I asked him whether he knew my roommate. His face clouded over the name, and he said to me, “That's too bad, but that is good experience for you.” At first, I did not have no idea about what he said, and asked him. I was shocked of the fact, and I lost for words. He was a gay. In Japan, we were not familiar to gay people, and I had some bias about them. On the way to a dorm, I ruffled many times because I felt something weird. I arrived at a dorm, and opened the door timidly. He was in the room. We said hello to and talked a little about each other. He was a good and very kind person. I felt a little anxious yet, but I could talk with him naturally because his good character. I met some his friends, but all of them talked with him naturally. As a result, I do not feel reluctant to contact with gay people, and got more interested in them.

One day, when about three days have passed since I met with him, he confessed he was gay. I was a little surprised because it was very sudden. However, I felt happy because he told me by his words. He asked me whether I could live with him even now and said that if I mind, I could change partners. I answered, “Of course, I don't mind. Why do I need to change partners?” He is kind and earnest, and he is rather good than other students. I met another gay people after that, but I never surprised. Japan is undeveloped in terms of culture like that, and many Japanese people have a strong bias to them, and some make fun of them. I had changed ideas about gay people since I came here. I thought it was good experience for me.

Expectations

Eric Rolex Joseph 19 September 2010

Cross Cultural Class

Living in America is the dream of every Haitian student. When I was in Haiti, before coming here in the US, I thought that this place was a paradise. I usually saw the US in movie like a place where everything is beautiful, the landscape; people, houses and almost every thing are cleaned. I did not expect that the country is so big. When I first arrived in US, my conception about everything has changed.

The culture that I used to think about in my dream was not the same when I arrived in The US. All I see is a county with a culture completely different. It’s a kind of mystery, a kindness mix with some unbelievable accent. The way that people in US treat others is very polite; I think that the first thing I understand in Mississippi is the help that people around here offer to strangers and to each other. The every day life is an expression of love and respect to others. A place where smiling to each other is the rule. You can enjoy it in every face that you encounter in the street or around the campus. I don’t know if it’s the same thing everywhere in the countrybut I really appreciate this way of life, this hospitality spirit. Human relations are very important in the building of personality and it’s widespread here.

The second thing that very impressed me is the way that American works. It’s very important to see how they work very hard and they are also self-confidant. They believe in work to succeed and they are doing their best in order to make a difference.

The landscape is a perfect example of the importance that The American people attach to the nature. From Memphis to Oxford, green plants and herbs mark the road. On campus the design of buildings expresses wealth and power. Every building is a brick-made. The red color of buildings mixes with the green side of plants and herbs give us a peaceful environment. I was very surprised by the design. I did not expect it like it is. I expected something more urban.

Living in America is not as easy as Haitian people believe it. You can have a lot of difficulties because of the distance among the Haitian culture and the American culture. The every day life is a struggle. I try to avoid doing things that can hurt people here in

America; I do my best to live like American people do. It’s hard to have an accurate behavior, when you don’t really know the norms and some values of people with who you are interacting. Life is the perfect school and living abroad is one of the perfect classes.

Expectations versus experiences

By ISSABRE Hamadoun

When you come in an unknown country, it is human to have some expectations but sometimes there is a confrontation between these expectations and the reality, sometime it is not that different, sometimes they are completely opposite, and it is called a culture shock. If I got to classify the three main one I encountered here, the first one will be the language barrier:

language barer

--DULLES international Airport, June the 27th, if my memory serves me well, it was the Sunday of my arrival. The weather was… different, neither cold nor hot but just different, different from the weather in the A380 and its noisy aces, different from Paris Charles De Gaulle and it’s cloudy ceiling, and above all, different from the Malian infernal tar macadam from witch I took off 20 hours ago. It was a strange sensation of heaviness .The kind of feeling that makes the breathing difficult. I was dressed with a black suit, a bright white shirt under it, black suede chooses and above all, a big dark blue coat which made me looks 10 years older and made this heavy sensation more strong.”I told you…” I could hear, deep in my head, the little voice of my elder cousin remembering me that, once again, he was right. What a wonderful way to learn. So, even if it wasn’t my first time, as a good African getting out of his hometown, I was well dressed and had my perfect prejudices well organized in my brain, ready for “the” confrontation but, How could I knew that it will be that close? I was walking, following the crowed until the police station, where they check international travelers. Just before me in the queue was standing an old woman with two heavy packs. She was white with flesh chicks, I remember her from the flight from Bamako to Paris. She was wearing huge glasses and transparent hearing devices. An odor of apple, I don’t even know why, but her fragrance made me think at my grandmother gardens with all kind of fruits. It was her turn and the policemen asked her something but she didn’t get it. She was taking very loud. I came closer to try to help her and to come up smelling like a rose. I bowed to the policemen, he bowed back to me, and then he said the thing. I thought it was because of the noisy hall so I asked him to repeat it and he did it but I still didn’t get it. For me it was just a mumbling. I was here, petrified, as if I have seen the invisible, as if I heard what I ‘m not supposed to. I was just here, wordless. That was definitely not the way I learnt and spoke English. I could hear again the little voice.—

on the bill there is my mother 's signature

It don't have any importance in this project finally

(neither expectation nor experience) but I love my mum =)

--One week over here and of course I had my second culture choc: the image of El Dorado almost every foreigner had of the United States versus the reality. As a matter of fact, in our mind, everything should be perfect in the richest country of the world. Each single place must be clean; each single person must be well dressed and wealthy and so on and when I arrived at Washington DC the fact that I hadn’t seen any beggar strengthen this thought until the day I arrived in my university dorm. There were some workers outside trying to fix a defective light. Cherry was waiting for me out side of the building so when I showed up, we went together in and in this precise instant, I thought we had switched country. We weren’t any more in the United States but in a kind of mixture between a prison environment and a ghetto one. Cherry was talking but I didn’t get anything of what she was saying. I was trying to find the reason why that many slurs were written on walls and what can motivate people to write these unpronounceable words. I was trying to find the reason why tissues were through in the hallway. I was wondering why all these things were different from my thoughts. “Any Question” said Cherry. “Hum no” I answered. Then she lived the building. I didn’t felt comfortable over there so I took my IPod and went to take a walk. Thirty minute later, I didn’t really know where I was and, of course nobody could help me cause I didn’t even know the name of the building.—

Criminality

--CSI Miami, S.H.I.E.L.D, Criminal minds and all that American criminal series occupy animportant place in the insecurity vision that gives the United States. Of course these are just fictions and I got to wait to be here to understand that …It was more serious than only series. Every single day there are gun shots in Memphis and most of the time people get killed. As my mentor say “Our stupid cousin are killing each other again”. Yes, most of the time these gun shots are between black people or Mexicans one, and from this point of view, we cannot complain after that we are stereotyped and each time I heard that one black man killed another I fell disappointed. After all that people fight and die for our emancipation and for us to get the same rights as anyone else, these make people who think that we are not human being fell verdict.

My expectations and my experiences Ole Miss by Elea Ortega

Everything started on May 29th,2010, it was a saturday. Early in the morning, it was 4:15am. I was at the Tocumen Airport, that's the name of the international airport in Panama city. Full of nervousness and sadness, I was about to leave my country for a year, and not only my country, I was about to leave my heart, my family, my friend, my home. Saying bye it's always hard, but sometimes we have to do it, to make our dreams or goals come true.

I have always loved the United States or let's say the pop culture. I have always had this perception of "the perfect world" or life in here. I have always loved the music, pop or rock from the U.S. When I found out that I was elected to study in the United States for a year, I was really happy and thrilled. I didn't know where I was going to be sent but, all that matters was that I was going to the United States of America "the perfect world", at the same time I just got sad, because I was going to leave my mother and all my family for a year. That it's a lot for me, because I have been always so closed with my mom and we do everything together. I have had vacations away from her, but only for a month, so this was going to be a big deal, as you can call it like that, but I didn't cry, I was just thinking, thinking and thinking. What I was thinking? "Oh my Gosh, I'm going to the United States for a year, not for vacations, I'm going to have the privilege to be in a University of the U.S. am I going to meet a lot of people? Dear Lord, of course! It's going to be insane! How would it be? the studying part? how will teacher be? strict? mean? good people? I mean nice, friendly?." And the most important thing the "people" is it true what they put in the movies? groups such as popular? nerds or losers? hot guys only with hot girls and people behaving crazy all the time partying, if I want to socialize with people, am I going to have the time to study hard? Because I want to meet people, a lot of people, that's what I love the most, but, I'm going to the U.S. to study and be a great ambassador of my country Panamá.

When I found out that I was going to the University of Mississippi,

I had no idea of how it was going to be, it was going to be my first time at the south.

I left Panama in the morning around 8:30 or 9:00 and landed in Atlanta at 12:45pm, my next flight was at 5:15pm to Memphis, Tennessee. I had to wait hours and hours at the Atlanta airport. Time passed, 5:15pm arrived and I was in my second and last flight of the day. When I arrived to Memphis, Tennessee, there was a guy waiting for me with a sign that said "University of Mississippi" I introduced myself and started talking about How was been my day flying, we waited for my suitcase and then when we got my suitcase, we were ready to go to the place that it was going to be my second home. It was around one hour and a half to get to the University of Mississippi. Talking about my country, culture, food, language; I didn't felt the hour; I was excited, I had no idea of how was going to be my place.

Finally we arrived to Stewart Hall;

looking good the building, I was excited. Sherrie Jenkins, the girl that is en-charged of the international students, was waiting for me outside of Stewart Hall, next to her car. Then the driver give me my suitcase and then left, I have never seen him again. We entered to stewart hall and I got my keys, then we walked through a short hall and then we got to the "elevator".

The elevator was totally

what I didn't expected. It was creepy and terrifying, the white doors of the elevator opened slowly and creepy then I got in with Sherrie and "Oh my God" the elevator was even creepier inside, brown walls and the numbers that show in what floor you were, it was one still, the second floor the light didn't work and the third floor the light was flashing, the four was okay, and then the fifth that was my floor was normal. The elevator moved so much, and when it stops, it was like jumping. With that first impression of the elevator, I was terrifying of using that thing again, so I was already thinking that I was going to lose weight there, with the stairs. For some part, that was going to be a good thing.

Then we walked through the hall of the fifth floor to the last bedroom to the left #532.

We got into the bedroom and well, it was an empty space, two 3/4 beds and 2 desks four walls with oil paint. Then Sherrie asked me If I had brought bedroom sheets or soap? I told her " No I didn't bring anything". I didn't bring anything, because the people in Panama from the U.S. embassy told me that they were going to give all that stuff, I immediately thought. Then she told me that she was going to take me to wall mart to buy some things. We went, and then when we got back to stewart hall she told me if you need anything just call me okay, and then she left. I was totally alone in that room, it was so empty that I could even hear every single footstep that I did around the room. I made my bed and went to sleep.

Days passed and at the beginning I always find the campus so big but then 2 weeks early I found out that the campus was really little. I met new people everyday, I really liked that.

Anyway my classes were great, my professors too, they were so nice and friendly, I get used to the creepy elevator. Every single human get used to things and I can adapt myself to new things very easy, June, July then vacations to Chicago, three weeks.

I got back from Chicago, the 22nd August, classes start the 23rd. so I was okay. I found out that they moved me to another place called "campus walk" . When I got there "it was a dreamed place" it was amazing. I really loved to be here, everything is perfect now, and my experiences are more and more every single day that passed, I'm so thankful to God for this amazing life that he had give me.

My Experiences of Study Abroad

My Expectation of American Culture

Before I came to the States, I thought it to be a place where convenience was everything. However, over time I realized that not everything was convenient. What was worse, inconvenience in some situations sometimes made me frustrated, because I expected to live comfortably and conveniently in the Stated. But it turned out to make me, sometimes, want to go back home. The following are some of the situations that make me feel bad.



My God!

There is nothing more frustrating than getting through to the customer service in the US. I was calling through my cell phone to get to customer service to change minute plan. On the other side of the phone, “Thanks for calling AT&T. For English, press 1. For Spanish, press 2.…

However, this automatical system just kept going on. Besides, I was new here in this land, and the speaker on the other side of the phone spoke so fast that I could hardly understand. Being helpless, I turned to Velsie at the front desk. I asked her if she could help me change my minute plan. She said yes. And she took my cell phone and dialed the number that I got from the clerk at AT&T who told me to make contact with the clerk if necessary. Again, it was the automatical system that answered our call, "...To add minute, press 2. To check bill, press 1. To terminate your contract, press 3." There were many options keeping us waiting. But she still followed the instructions, step by step, from the automatical system. A few minutes later, she didn’t get the answer that we both wanted. So, she made antoher call. Again, the phone answered, "To check bill, press 1. To terminate your contract, press 3." It took us so long to talk to the automatical system, but we still didn't talk to the customer service. All we got was another number which might get us through to the customer service. But it didn't work.





When East meets West

I thought it would be very convenient to eat in the Stated, because in Taiwan I could always get food when I went out in the streets. So, I thought it would be “that convenient” to eat in the States. But when I first got here, which were a few days from the new semester, the only place that served food was Johnson Commons (JC) on this campus. They served Taco, which was a wrap with a variety of vegetables and with cheddar cheese if you liked, and bacons which to me they might have cooked too long and were a little greasy. They also served pasta, which they might put it in the boiling water and poured it out and blended it with ketchup. So, it tasted bland, or even tasteless to me. I thought I would get used to the food here, so the next day I went to JC again, but it was also the day that I told myself that I should cook for myself or I was going to die. The food itself was great, but the taste made me draw back.



After that day, I went to the Union to get my food. There was a burger machine which any customer could use to order his "special" burgur. I was standing in front of it and watched people getting their order, because I was afraid the food (the burger) might be the same as in JC. I didn’t feel like getting my order at all. Then I looked around the Union. All I saw was fast food, fried chicken, nuggets, and pizzas, all that I wouldn’t want to eat. Frustrated by the food, I decided to buy groceries at Walmar and to cook for myself. The thought of eating in the Stated proves to be unexpectedly inconvenient.



Talking in the Library

I always have this in my mind: be quiet when in a library. That’s because in Taiwan whoever wants to enter a library will see outside a library a sign which would say: “No talking and be quiet.” When I first got here, I didn’t know I could talk in the library. So, I always kept myself quiet when passing through it. When I saw students talking to each other, I was so surprised. What was even more shocking, they took food and beverages (Cock and juice or lemonade) into the library. Also, there’s a Java City just down the hall on the second floor by the back door.



According ot one of the local students, she didn’t want to study in the library, because a lot students were talking or passing by, and that was waht she found disturbing. A few weeks later, I began to study in the library and realized what was disturbing to me. I remember there was a time when I studied in the library. There were two girls sitting behind me. They were studying very hard, but they talked too much. “Do you know how to this?” one of them said, and the other said, “You could….” I didn't want to listen to them, but their voices made me hear them, and they also moved around and talked a little loud, though they tried to keep their voices down. This could be an advantage and disadvantage, and sometimes disappointing.



Conculsion

The things I said above are from the perspectives of my own culture. There’s one thing I want my blog readers to know: there’s nothing wrong between these two cultures, American culture and Taiwanese culture. What makes us different is our way of life and the way we perceive many things in this world. As long as we keep learning from each other, we will be able to overcome many of so-called cultural shocks between us. The more we learn from each other, the more we appreciate each other.

Experiment the Experience: Chronicles of an Exchange Student (By Nelson Salgado)

I’m going to study in Ole Miss!!! But… Where is Ole Miss???

Once I knew that I had been accepted for the exchange scholarship, I was eager to know which city in the United States would be my home for the next nine months. Seven days later, the waiting had been over: The University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi; was the institution that approved my application. I started to read about Mississippi, Ole Miss and the Southern U.S.A. culture; my mind started to fill out with preconceived ideas. “They speak with an accent that is difficult to understand”, my friends in Honduras agreed; “A very conservative culture” or “southern hospitality” were some phrases that constantly appeared on the web sites that I consulted. I tried to step outside those ideas and be more open minded to this new experience.

The Southern Hospitality

I arrived on a warm Sunday night. I had less than three hours in American territory and I was able to ascertain one of my expectations: With gentleness and kindness, the people who received me showed me that this famous quality of hospitality was true. My shuttle driver, a guy called Caldwell (who I’ve never seen him again) and Sherrie Jenkins, student service coordinator of the Intensive English Program (IEP) were the responsible of this good impression.

A personal advice: If you’re going to the bank, you’d better eat faster…

The first week, I lived in one of the campus dorms called “Miller Hall” and the only person that I knew at that moment was another student from Thailand whose scholarship is sponsored for the same organization. The day after our arrival, we had an “exclusive” pre-orientation which started with a lunch in the JC Cafeteria with one of the instructors and the student services coordinator of the IEP. More nervous than excited, we were there, surrounded by the smell of peppers, onion and cheese impregnating the air in a delicious combination the Thai student and the Honduran student, trying to digest both our quesadillas and the anxiety that new situations in life usually provoke.

Everything was okay, until my first shock with the American culture: This same day, in the afternoon, we went to the bank to set up a bank account. I thought: It’s just setting up a bank account, easy! It was everything but easy. We were required to sign about ten forms, each form with its respective long and boring eleven minutes of explanation about how important those pieces of paper are. In addition, we were going to be moved to Campus Walk, an apartment complex almost off campus, and we didn’t know our new address, we had to make a phone call to know our own address, which made me feel a little embarrassed, specially seeing the expression in the bank employee’s face getting irked and trying unsuccessfully to maintain a “five hundred teeth” smile on her face.

Say it slower please… Konnichi wa

Since, I arrived; I was impatiently waiting for the orientation day, I wanted to know other international students. I was surprised when I saw the other international students; most of them, from Asian countries, were speaking in their native languages and until that moment, I hadn’t heard anyone speaking Spanish; I walking with them led by Minji, an IEP intern and Dinorah, an IEP teacher onto the Ole Miss streets showing us the campus. A guy from Japan asked me: “Where are you from?” “Honduras” I replied, and he immediately got his I-phone out of his pocket and searched in Google Earth where Honduras was located. “You live here”... told me. “Yes, Honduras” I told him. Later, despites our English language deficiencies, the conversation between me and some boys and girls from Japan flowed well. I never expected that the fact of knowing people from other parts of the globe would be so interesting and made me recognize that I hadn’t considered that priceless aspect in this experience.

Sharing Apartment but Not Ways of Thinking

I was very glad that I was able to understand what people said and I could tell my friends: Nobody talk with that strange accent that you told me. Losers!!! But this satisfaction feeling disappeared the day that I moved to Campus Walk; the only person that I had known with a very strong and confusing southern accent was my roommate. Damn!... Even if I listen to him carefully as much as I can, sometimes, I just don’t know what he is talking about, which is completely frustrating. I still don’t know if luckily or unluckily, someday, during a casual conversation among roommates, I perfectly could understand his words. I was telling them that my scholarship sponsor is an organization financed by the U.S. state department. He said: “Yeah, I know, the government is now spending a lot of money on foreign people, like the Mexican immigrants that are deported in luxurious flights. Hilarious! I didn’t say anything and I changed the topic of the conversation. I controlled myself, maybe too much and I couldn’t translate the words that I had in my mind from Spanish into English to reply this comment; but I was more than upset. Mexico is part of Latin America, and as a Latino I felt insulted. The prophecy was coming reality; the sarcasm implicit in his sense of humor made me consider that I had found a sample of conservative thinking in this twenty eight years old man.

♪ ♪ ♪ Nobody said it was easy♪ ♪ ♪

An important percentage of my expectations had matched up with some of my experiences in the United States. Just the destiny knows if this trend will continue… Place your bets!!!

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(make click on the last and underlined title and you can listen "The Scientist" by Coldplay)

I am Martino. I was born in Kaohsiung, which is the second large city of Taiwan. I went to unversity in 2007 and became an English major. This year, I come to the University of Mississippi as an exchange student. But shortly when I came here, I had some cultural shock, and it is good to be shocked by different cultural rules.

Casual Culture


Before I came to the States, some American students at my home university told me American culture was casual. So, there always comes a question to me: how casual is American culture? The question is answered in the picture. I was on my way to the Union. But my friend was waiting for her friend outside the library. Then anthoer friend of us came. At last, the boy in orange T-shirt showed up. One of them suddenly said, “Let’s dance.” So, we danced to the music from the boy’s cell phone, just outside the library. Shortly after a while, another student passed by, and the girl in sleeveless dress said, “You’are walking into a party.” And that’s really “casual”.

Study as a Student and Teacher

When I was in Taiwan, I was hardly called to be a teacher, giving representations and answering all the students’ questions in the class. But in America, I am expected by my teachers to give comments or to “make contributions to the class”, meaning that I should bring up something worthy of discussion in the class. In this picture, my classmate is giving her representations. When it is finished, she will be asked questions. To me, it is like I am fighting with my study.



Who Cares?

In Taiwan, when girls are sitting on a bench, they are supposed to act like a lady. But in the States, it is not the case. I wasn’t saying that girls in the State didn’t behave well. Besides, the picture is not a representative of all girls in the States. Rather, I was saying that the way the girl acted in the picture was very “casual”. She put her feet on the bench, talked on the phone, and didn’t mind my taking a picture of her. It is really interesting to see that cultural rules vary from culture to culture, and from society to society.

Genshu Ota Autobiography

About two weeks passed until I arrived here, the University of Mississippi. At first, I felt nervous in US for the first time, but now I get used to be living here little by little. Even just for two weeks, I met and talked with many people completely different from me. Through the experience, I sometimes want to ask myself what I have done, and often think about my future

.
I was born in a Buddhist temple, as the first-born son. My father was not only a Buddhist but also a worker in apparel. However, he failed to establish a business and ran into debt when I was a young child. He decided to get divorced, not to cause my mother debt. As a result, I did not need to take over the family business – a Buddhist. I do not know about in US, but in Japan some children – for example, first-born sons of doctors, musicians and Buddhist – must take over our father’s job, whatever you desire to do. However, I was released from the pain, and I felt free somehow while I was a young child. From this time, maybe I have come to dream of my future.


When I was a junior high school student, my sister had studied abroad in US for a year. She told me many things about studying abroad. So I became interested in the world, and wanted to go to the department of International Relations. I have respected my sister, and I always wanted to be like her. Maybe I would not want to study abroad like now if she had not been to foreign countries. In my university, I found a student NGO club, named TFSR-Kyoto by chance there. They have done international cooperation in Sri Lanka and Cambodia for more than 10 years. My friends joined it, and I was interested in foreign countries, so I also joined it just to want to know about foreign countries at that time.


Last summer I visited Sri Lanka as a club activity for two weeks and I went to a tea plantation village in an area with no electricity. We set micro hydro electric pumps with people there together to produce electricity. People there lived with less than 2 or 3 dollars in a day, and had not watched TV. I had ever spent everyday in Japan, where I could get almost everything. I, for the first time, met people living under bad conditions and knew the reality in the world. Through the activity my ideas about foreign countries have changed, and I have wanted to do something for them and help them - not from a pity. Probably, I had a somehow responsibility to help people in developing countries and compensated them because we Japanese people had made big mistakes in W.W Ⅱ.


That is why I want to work for the fields of an International Cooperation in the future. So first, I thought it was necessary to speak English. Therefore, I decided to study abroad in the US and now I have been studying English here. And also, in next semester I plan to take regular courses about International Relations. This is because it is not enough just to speak English in order to work in the world. I need to learn an expert knowledge about the fields, and think about things from many views. Especially I am interested in international cooperations and assistance for developing countries. Each country has its own ways of assistance and relief. So I want to study about the US. I thought my study abroad was going well, but I was wrong. Now I made friends with students here and sometimes eat lunch together, but I feel shy to use wrong English and I am apt to talk with Japanese friends in Japanese although I am studying English. I think it is my fault, but probably it is somewhat because of Japanese culture. That is because Japan is an island and surrounded by the sea. And also, we had closed our country from other countries long time ago – it is called “Sakoku”. We somewhat prevent new and different culture from coming to our culture.



However, Japan today has accepted new things more and more, and moreover Japanese people are industrious.
Like her, I will do my best!!

Elea's Cultural Autobiography

I am Elea Ortega and I was born on 1990 in the Republic of Panama in Panama city, but I was just born in the city. I was raised in Santiago, the capital of Veraguas, a Panamenian's province. My father is a cardiologist, Karate Sempai and is captain of the kiwani club of santiago de Veraguas. My beautiful mother is a sales executive. I am the only child and sometimes I wish I could have had a sister or an older brother, because it is beautiful to share things with your siblings, well I can imagine, or even fight with them, it is a beautiful thing.

I love my culture because the families are very close and is always like that, even when you are eighteen or nineteen like I am, or who knows also thirty-five, people still living with their parents. I really love that family is all, family includes uncles, aunts, cousins, grandmother, grandfather, not only the mother, the father and the siblings, family is everybody, and that is something that I really love about my culture, because if one has a problem everybody is involved in it and everybody tries to figure it out to help.

I saw this statue when I was in Chicago on vacations,
and it remind me my grandma


My grandmother is really important in my life, I love her so much, and when I was in Panama I would always go to her house every afternoon with my mother, and all my cousins go too, and some uncles and every aunt, I used to sit with my grandmother and watch soup opera, and we would laugh so much about the situations in it. Now that I'm here in the United States, I miss her a lot, I miss talk with her and laugh.

Since I was a little girl I always I always love the music, music is my life and soul, and my inclination since really little, I remembered myself listening Britney Spears songs and singing her songs and also the boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and Nsync too. I was always watching movies and programs in English and I have to say that all of those programs and music helped me a lot with the process of learning English, all that I know is thanks to the music and my passion for it, if it wasn't because of my love to music and all those programs in English, i would have not been here. Because in my high school we do have English, but it is basic.

The English that I learned help me to get selected into the program called UGRAD, and have the opportunity of being studying in a North American University. Which is going to change my life with so many wonderful experiences and get fluency in the language.

Talking about the tipical music of my beautiful Panama, I started to learn how to dance it when I was at the age of eighteen, because I have always love the pop punk rock music, but then I realized that our music is really amazing but really hard to dance. I think all the people should try to learn how to dance it, because when you dance Panamenian music, the tipical, you feel you are on the clouds, so its good.

Another thing that I really love and miss a lot from my country is the food, on Sundays, my mother always used to make me breakfast, Panamenian Tortillas with cheese inside and a omelet with cheese and ham, so delicious, and there is a lot of Panamenian plates, such as tamales, bollos, hojaldras with cheese and many more.

I love my culture and my lovely country, but I bet that all the countries have that something that makes them unique and special, so far I love sharing my cultural thoughts with my classmates, they all are from different countries, and I love to get to know about their cultures, because to me they all are special and unique.

ps: It was kinda hard writing about me, but I really enjoy it, I hope you all like my cultural autobiography.

ERIC ROLEX JOSEPH
Cross Cultural Awareness
IEP 052
I come from a Caribbean country called Haiti. My hometown is Cap Haitian, the second largest city of the country. In my country we have a culture, which is very different from other countries in the Caribbean and in America.
Our personality is determined by our culture, our past and our belief in the future. The environment in which we live can also shape the way we see others and the way we interact with them. I remember when I first enter University; I was the laureate in the admittance exams. I was really happy but I did not realize that I just came to do something that is going to design my future.
People around me in the university believe in me, they see me different from other students because I saw things differently and I wanted to make a difference. I was not afraid to stand out of the crowd. My view of the reality was not the same as my classmates. In the Haitian culture people usually believe in God to solve their problems. They don’t really try to get things done. I have to act differently because I have a responsibility. It’s not easy to keep on this way because sometimes you just can’t do it. However you don’t have to give up. It’s a difficult path to follow but it may be rewarding. When all people around you don’t doubt on you, they think that you are a successful person, and all you have to do is succeed. I understand that and I work hard day after day to keep my promise.

This struggle for excellence drives me in USA with a scholarship on behalf of the State Department. I have been dreaming about becoming of good leader, someone who understands other cultures. I have wanted to interact with people from around the world, to learn about their culture and by the sake of God I find all I ever wanted here at Ole Miss. It’s nice and helpful to work with people from around the world, from all continents. This is the path, which can drive us to a peaceful world. This is the way to know that the beauty of this life is in its diversity. I learn to appreciate others. I understand now why people around the world can’t see the same thing in the same angle. I know also culture shaped our every day life as nothing else does.
We all act differently not just because we are different because our cultures are different. After such experience, it will be very difficult to think as I did before. This experience is about to change my personality and the way I interact with people forever.

Issabre Hamadoun's autobiography

Born in a Malian upper middle class family, I spent all my childhood in Bamako, the Malian capital. Sometime for other people it’s hard to understand that a Malian upper middle class family is not a rich family because those people refer to their own country to analyze it.

Even if we were not that rich, thanks to my family, I never lacked anything. I and my two brothers grew up in different areas ,and I believe that this little difference has an influence on the way we are. I was born and I grew up in an area called Bks, at the boundary of the city. The area was almost empty and I was at home all the time.So it was hard to create social interaction by this manner. That can explain why I’m reserved.

As a typical Malian family from our social class, my parents divorced, and as I’m always trying to find the positives in everything, this event made me grow up both in my character and my state of mind, as my parents no longer live together, we moved a lot so I learned to adapt myself to every kind of environment.

My religion, which is Islam, permited me to acquired self confidence and independence. To not judge people and accept them as they are, to be forgiving with people, to want for others what I want for myself and to avoid violence as much often as possible even if people try to burn our holy book.***



Nowadays Malian youth are easily influenced, that’s why most of them fall in drug addiction, alcohol addiction and so on. Thanks to my strict education, I stand far from it. But something I couldn’t avoid and which is as a religion in my country was the soccer. Some people noticed that, when there is important soccer matches, mosques get empty. If you do a survey, more than 70% of Malian children want to be soccer players and almost the 30% want to be singers. It sounds strange but, in my country, people who had a ''successful life'' are not people who had success in school.

One of my faults according to people is my inability to separate my achievement from my dreams, but I think that dreaming without trying to make it became real is only a waste of time. So, since the age of 13 years, I decide to be a professional soccer player. (Some people did it, so why not me?).
I have always loved soccer but I was not good at all, and people made fun of me except my brothers, who always trusted in me. I worked the best I could and am still working. People noticed that I improved and see how well I’m determined. I know that we cannot achieve everything, but we can at least try. Today, I'm as determined as five years ago but as we don't know how things are going, I continue my studies so I could do somethimg else if the soccer doesn't works.



I'm usually very busy and don't really take the time to look back because I'm young and haven't really achieved anything yet, but this writing experience acts as a "pause "button and permits to have a overview.

My Life as Nelson (By Nelson Salgado)

Where It All Started…

“Water flowing over a sand bed”…. Interesting phrase! It could be the beginning of a fairytale or at least the advertisement spot for a tourist center, but it isn’t; it is the meaning of my home-city’s name: “Danlí”. I know it would seem like a word pronounced in French, but it comes from an indigenous language very similar to the Nahuatl.

Danlí is a small city located in eastern Honduras, and it’s there, in that very little and almost unknown geographic point where my story started.

Right after the victory of the Nationalistic Party in the December 1989 elections and before a terrible era for Honduras (in aspects such economy and security) was the moment when I was born.

My father is agriculturist and my mother is an elementary school teacher; they both raised five children: my two brothers, two sisters and me. Thank the lord, food was never lacking in my home.

Being the youngest in my family, I enjoyed a lot of privileges; for example I could choose the lunch box that I liked the most and my brothers had to use things from the older ones. I was the last child and my parents had already decided that they didn’t want more children, it meant more for Nelson. Lucky me!

Since I was three years old, my father loved to buy notebooks, pencils, markers and stuff like that for me because I really liked coloring and drawing. I think that is one of the reasons why I learned to write and read before my fourth birthday.

Honduran Food, Qué Rico!

For every culture, food is quite important because it’s a way which you can spend time with family and preserve traditions.

My mom and Francisca, my mom’s sister and my favorite aunt, cooked for Christmas the famous “nacatamales” (similar to the Mexican tamale and made with corn, pork, onion, tomato, pepper, peas, etc.). It was the most important Honduran tradition in my family.

Our forbears in Honduras, the Mayan Culture had a “corn god” and that expresses how important the corn is for my culture. My home city is known for its corn festival celebrated from middle of August through August 31^st every year. Those weeks everything what you eat is made with corn.

Broken Leg + Asthma = :(

“Health” is not the best word to describe my childhood. I broke my left leg twice; once at the age of six and the next time was when I was in second grade. In addition, the fact of being asthmatic since birth made visits to the hospitals and doctors something very common and daily for me.

Say It in English!

Once I overcame my “sick era”, by the time I was nine, my interest in learning another language appeared. One of my first contacts with the English language was the glorious 90’s classic “Baby one more time” by Britney Spears; I didn’t understand what she said but I did not care, I just tried to follow the lyrics.

I studied in a public elementary school with the name of the Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral. In Honduras the English teaching doesn’t start until junior school; thus my parents decided that I had receive English classes with a particular teacher and take a course during the Christmas vacations at the only bilingual elementary school in Danlí called “The Children’s World School”.

My teacher was Miriam Diaz who studied English in Houston, Texas. I received these courses every winter break until I was in junior school.

My Aunt’s Death

My aunt Francisca died on January 1^st 2003 (What a bad day to die!) leaving my ten years old cousin orphaned and my mom undone. I had lost my only aunt (I have more aunts and uncles but they’re not really close to me). By that time my older brothers and my older sister were already married and my other sister was going to go to Tegucigalpa in order to study microbiology in the National University of Honduras. My mother suffered a deep depression and to live with it, was tough for her and indirectly tougher for me.

Civil Engineering in a Catholic College

I’ve always loved mathematics, and I knew that I wanted to study a major related to it. I wanted to study computer science engineering but I chose civil engineering. Why? Well, in Honduras (like many other countries) getting a job is so complicated. Civil engineering has several minors and they are all very different from each other, thus there is a higher probability that in Honduras you see an unemployed computer science engineer than an unemployed civil engineer.

Although my sister studied in Tegucigalpa, the actual situation is quite different. Now, the Honduran economy is terrible, especially if you don’t have a permanent job like my father does. It makes studying in Tegucigalpa incredibly expensive, that’s why I decided to study in a private (but cheap) college located in Danlí: Honduras Catholic University.

UGRAD/World Learning/Ole Miss

“You’ve been accepted for a nine months exchange in the United States sponsored for World Learning and the State Department of the U.S., congratulations!” I’ll never forget those words that my advisor (in college in Honduras) told me through a phone call.

It naturally left me speechless; the whole stress, the hard interviews, the tough exams had given result.

UGRAD (Global Undergraduate Exchange Program) is a program that provides exchange scholarships to hundreds of students in Latin America, The Caribbean and East Asia organized for World Learning and financed for the State Department of the United States of America. I couldn’t believe that I had been chosen; the University of Mississippi, a very important American public college had accepted this nervous boy from a small Honduran city.

With my heavy luggage, my dreams, my Latino culture and my nervous personality I arrived in the United States on Sunday August 15^th 2010.

Who Am I Now?

Now that I’m living and studying in Ole Miss (although I just arrived a few days ago), I realize how different the southern culture is in comparison with my own one and how hard is get used to it.

I’ve met people from many different countries and that is really exciting because now I’m an ambassador from my culture, and I also can learn about their culture and their traditions.

Maybe in this moment I don’t know exactly who I am, but I do know that after this experience I’ll never be the same.