Response to Feggi Giovani's Post

"The authors also talked about culture and diversity in chapter 8. Culture is a compex thing for us to learn. Every country has different culture, and even a single country can consist of different. Since I am an international student, I can relate to different culture difference very easily. The culture's differences from Indonesia and United States are a lot. There were so many things that I had to learn and understand when I first came to Seattle. The way people talk, greet, eat, ask questions were different from my culture. One example that stuck to me is interaction in the classroom. In Indonesia, if a teacher does not ask question, we cannot talk in class. But here participation is important. Therefore, it was kind of hard for me to adapt to this new situation. Have you ever been in a situation, where it is different from your culture? And how did you adapt or handle the situation? Please explain"

Being an international student myself, I had to adapt to many things when I first came here in America a little more than 4 years ago. It wasn't only in school but also the way of living in general. I came up with two examples that I have learned from and adapted to over the years.

-Back in Cyprus where I was born and raised, there was no age limit (or at least wasn't enforced) on purchasing alcohol or cigarettes. Teenagers as young as 15 could enter clubs and bars. So when I came here at 17 years old, alcohol and cigarettes suddenly became these "forbidden" things-- It felt weird and scary being near them compared to when I was living in Cyprus. (But now that I'm of age-- it's a different story, of course. Ha-ha!) I adapted to the idea in the sense of "interacting" with those things in an American way. When I turned 21, I was excited because I could finally order a glass of Cosmopolitan in a restaurant. However, it was a novelty that wore off pretty quickly-- it wasn't as exciting as I thought initially. Being a teenager when I first came here, it was natural to feel that to abide the law was lame (especially having been raised in a culture where it wasn't enforced) but as I grew older, I valued it because it taught me about control and that there's an age to be able to do certain things.

-Before coming here, I didn't think of language as being a barrier. Back in Cyprus, I spoke Greek, Tagalog (at home) and English. One time in high school, there was an exchange student from Russia who didn't speak English so well. My friends and I would make snide comments on how he spoke behind his back-- disregarding his struggles. When I came here, English was the only language to explain myself at school, unlike in Cyprus where I could resort to Greek as well. The first time I got stuck and blanked out when asked a simple question, I realized how hard it was for that exchange student to communicate and convey his simple message because of language. Tying culture to one of Woodward and Denton's general principles to cultural sensivity, it says "Address people of other cultures with the same respect you would like to receive". Personally, I found it very interesting that it takes experiencing another culture in order to be sensitive to others. I suddenly possessed awareness of cultural differences which to me is an advantage to have in order to prevent disrespecting and offending people from cultures different to mine.