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As Mahatma Gandhi said, “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive” (Mahatma). Our culture identifies who we are and how we behave in social environments and provides us with a foundation in which to live our lives and raise our families. Each individual culture has certain customs and courtesies that are important. Exposure to the cultures of others can be intimidating and can leave a person feeling confused and unsure about how they fit in (Schaefer 60). Culture shock can leave a person feeling out of place in an unfamiliar culture (Schaefer 60). Our diverse societies demand understanding and acceptance of other cultures. Learning and understanding these cultures before being

Being born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, I was exposed to many different cultures. A few of which were Hispanics and German. They both had different languages and customs. My mom would take us to a festival in San Antonio yearly that was called the “Texas Folklife Festival”. There, our family would experience many different cultures with singing, dancing, food, art, and language. Our family enjoyed learning about the different places others came from and how they celebrated their heritage. Learning to appreciate where others came from and their back ground, gave me a better appreciation for differences.

Coming from a family of 7 teachers, education was crucial to us growing up. Private schools were far more superior over the public schools especially in the languages and social studies fields. Attending such school, has educated me on the Arabic, French, and English languages and culture. Learning three different languages and cultures has educated me heavily on the importance of diversity, open mindedness and adjusting to new things. All of which became very important to me when I learned I’m moving to Canada at the age of nine. Knowing three languages helped me enormously while transitioning from Lebanon to Canada since I could communicate with my new classmates. Also knowing different languages and cultures makes it very hard to be closed minded. Knowing so much about many different societies at a young age develops a habit of accepting others. Also learning Arabic since preschool, French since kindergarten and English since grade four prepared me to quickly and constantly learn different things without much

My mother’s side is English, German and Irish while my father’s side is Filipino and Korean. My fascination with cultures started when I entered my intermediate years. Being able to learn how morals and traditions differ between cultures greatly interest me because it is like learning a totally different world. When I encounter a different culture from one that I was raised around I am able to broaden my spectrum and see the world through many perspectives. I am able to realize how privileged my life is. Not everyone in the world is able to possess the same freedom as I, and I begun to notice that no matter how many obstacles I may face it is never the worse circumstance out there. How selfish it must seem of me to complain about not being able to go out with my peers when there is others out there who is facing morally suffocating situations, discrimination and

I am the spouse of a military service member. Living in a foreign land forced me to be open to other cultures. I recently lived on the island of Guam. At first, I was hesitant, because they had their own language and it was unfamiliar to me. However, they were willing to teach me their language and culture and I was willing to learn.

Every person that I have met has something different to offer the world. They all have unique backgrounds that made them become what they have become. Living in a country with a different culture than yours can definitely be something a bit more difficult than it seems. I am a Mexican student who lives in America where I have been introduced to another culture. My background has allowed me to show others a little more about the Mexican culture, but it has also made me a victim of racism. My life has had a couple differences compared to my friends’. It was not until I grew older that I realized how I would struggle more than any person born here. The DACA program that was introduced by President Obama gave me, and thousands of other students, a new sense of

Traveling half the globe does not seem to be that big of a deal anymore. This opens up many opportunities, especially for students, to go to a different country and learn their culture. I am an international student and from my experience, cultural differences are the most difficult challenge for two people to become friends. Most of the situation that I had faced are very similar to the story in “Laughing Without an Accent” by Firoozeh Dumas.

It is extremely important to be familiar with the cultures and traditions of different countries because it not only develops your intellect but also opens more opportunities to interact with and respect people of other cultures. An example Ms. Nejen gave was when a British Nationalist needed help asking a woman he fell in love with hand in marriage. The woman was from Jordan, and Jordanian tradition for asking for marriage was to and the to meet the family and interact with the elders of her tribe in a specific way to gain acceptance and approval.

It was a big step to come to the United States because it is not easy to be far away from friends and family. Moving was the most radical change happened to me because I moved from an Arabic-speaking country to an English-speaking country. When I came to the U.S, it was so difficult for me to understand others, and if someone talked to me, I won’t understand what he/she are talking about. One day I was walking around and a woman came to me, she was asking me something, but I could not understand her because I did not know English so I could not communicate with her. By then, I realized how important to know the language so you could talk and communicate with others. Especially when I am in a country that they only speak English and there are little people who know my language. When I was enrolled in school, I was put in a special program for the non-speaking English called ESL. ESL was a program that helps the students their English is the second language how to read and write English. Mrs. Senick, my ESL teacher helped me so much to learn the language. She was an amazing teacher because she loves her job and she was willing to help me and the other students who are in the same situation as mine. In the beginning, it was difficult because I do not know any English, but after a while,

I am hoping that understanding other cultures around my family and being able to relate to their culture will help me increase my life chances. The reason that this is a thought, is because I want to move my children and I to another state or country in the future. My ability to acculturate can be used to change my sense of occupation mobility, by putting myself in a new surrounding that may have a higher demand for my future career field and other interests. I also want my children to see that every culture has different gender expectations, so that my children are not forced to accept the social norms of the U.S only. With wanting to move to another country or state I have to be able to recognize behaviors that come with my children trying

Some methods of learning are more socially accepted in their culture. It took me as a person to decide which ones were a complement to my own methods. For example, the attention to detail and the efforts to perfect whatever tasks they were performing was conclusive when I watched them. I could choose to perform tasks incompletely and carelessly but now I pay greater attention to everyday tasks and ritually complete them. The time that I spent in Japan has proven to be advantageous because everything that I do takes a combined course from their culture as well as my own. During my stay in Japan I found myself adapting to this new environment with out a great deal of difficulty. If for any reason I might not have been interested in the culture it might have been more strenuous for me as a person to understand, appreciate, and learn about the culture. I find myself using the language ( although not fluently) even today when I come across Japanese people whether they are tourists or they live here. I am confident that the knowledge I gained while in Japan will aid my future career in the importing and exporting business.

This is part of my identity what demands me to think about an even more important subject which is intercultural communication. I really enjoy reading poems and books in my native language which reminds me of my grandfather’s lessons and advice that have formed my identity.

In the summer of 2017, I worked at a place called, Canadian Linen & Uniform Service. This job gave me the biggest experience I’ve ever had with people of other races/ethnicities, religion, and socioeconomic class. During my short employment at Canadian Linen I got to work alongside some amazing women from all around the globe. Many of the women were from India, Kenya, Mexico and Iran. I learned so many things about different cultures. One lady named Simran explained to me the difference in marriage between Indian culture and Canadian culture. She described that her and her husband were together through an arranged marriages. This meant that her parents chose the man she would marry. I asked her if she was happy with the man her parents chose and she said yes. However, she told me that she will not chose who her children marry. Instead she will allow her children to chose and then herself and her husband will make the final decision if her child can marry that person. This cultural difference allowed me to understand how much the Indian cultural places importance on family. They respect their families decision so much that they will live the rest of their life with someone based on what their parents want rather then what they themselves want. Another difference I experience at Canadian Linen, was how there’s, not only a big language barrier when communicating with people from different countries, but there’s also a difference in the way they communicate. When I was

At the age of 9 my parents and I migrated from East Africa, Tanzania to Canada. My parents uprooted our family from our country in search for a better and profound life. Before my family decided to move to Canada we lived in Kigoma while we live in Kigoma the education system focused on French and Swahili. Although those were the institutional languages there was plenty more languages being spoke in the country. Being that they were so many languages being spoken where I came from it made difficult for me and my family due to the fact that we spoke 4 languages and coming to Canada meant we would have to add one more languages. This transition had a bigger impact on my mom, also on the rest of us because in a way we lost a part of us because we had put certain languages way in order to learn the language and to also communicate with the family with languages that everyone can understand. Many families that are newcomer to Canada can relate to the struggles that one goes through when trying to learn a new languages while still trying to maintain their old one, this puts strains on the kids to learn the new languages fast so that they can translate for their parents. Being able to speak more than one languages is a blessing and a curse.

Since before the beginning of this creative writing course, I have always struggled to find a point to writing. By this, I mean that I always felt that having great skill and talent was what was required to be a writer, let alone a great one. From this point, I felt there was no need to continue my writing as I felt that in a sense it just wasn't good enough. However, reading the article "A Way of Writing", I found new hope. Here was a writer who says things such as "I must be willing to fail. If I am to keep on writing, I cannot bother to insist on high standards. I must get into action and not let anything stop me, or even slow me much"(Stafford) and quotes that writers don't necessarily have any special talent. The article "Why I Write" instilled further optimism through the authors view on just being a writer, not focusing on being good or bad. I found her words in which she writes "entirely to find out what I'm