My First Cultural Immersion Experience

Choosing an unfamiliar place within the small town of Athens, OH was a difficult task for someone with a diverse list of interests to do. Personally, I had to think about where I wanted to spend my time ‘culture watching’. There are many places that I have spent much of my time, like coffee shops, multiple basketball and football games freshman year, and three well known dining halls across campus. I had to think to myself where have I not spent time in Athens, and then it came to me, church. For the cultural immersion project, I spent three Sundays observing the Athens First United Methodist Church, each service being one hour long focusing on different areas each time. The location of the church is extremely familiar to me being that I live

When I visited my first Jewish synagogue, I expected it to be very different. My previous experience with religious ceremonies was limited to a few visits to Baptist churches. The most surprising thing for me at this one was, oddly enough, its similarity to Christian services and rituals. I went into the religious visit expecting an enormous difference in the customs and perhaps even in the attitudes of the people attending the service. What I found instead was a religious ceremony very reminiscent of the Christian ones I’ve been to before.

Everybody looked very cheerful and benevolent. It felt like one big family gathering. We entered the synagogue and there were plush chairs and carpet embellished with nature like colors and leaf designs. The roof was high, there was a lot of light, gold accents, a stained glass window, wooden beams that were exposed, as well as a wooden bureau, which housed the Torah. There were also candles and podium/table from which the rabbi spoke.

As the only white individual entering the church on Sunday I felt extremely out of place and very uncomfortable, at first. Upon entering the church, before I could even find a place to sit, the pastor came to welcome me and showed me a place to sit for the service. The pastor was very kind and so welcoming that my nervousness and worry started to vanish. Once I was seated and more people entered the church, I was treated as if I had always been there and was part of the group. Although I was the minority at the service I did feel very comfortable with my surroundings and with the people in attendance. The whole experience was very interesting and broadened my perspective on the African American culture.

The people there were very welcoming and kind. The shook every single person hand and greeted them genially when they walked in. As I sat down, there was a countdown till when it begins. There were seats all around and in the center they had a stage, where there were people preparing to sing. They began their ceremony exactly at 8:30 with singing 3 songs. When we sang, everyone stood up for respect. Followed by that, the pastor recited a prayer with everyone to make this week better than the last. He welcomed everyone, including the people who are new, and told them more about what they do at Kennedy Road Tabernacle Church. The priest then talked about the Provision of Vision from the bible. There was a sheet that was handed out so as you listen you fill in the blanks. ( I attached the sheet I completed) I thought this was very convenient because it makes you pay attention and have something to do other than sitting down. He was reading about the Provision of the Vision and relating it to financial difficulties and how God is always there for you. After, I talked to one priest to get a better background of Christianity. I related what he said to the reading of ‘Christianity’ we did earlier in September. When he spoke to me, he said that they believe in one god, but that includes the father, son, holy spirit, He said Jesus died for us on a cross for the sins of the

Arriving at a foreign country at the age of eleven years old was and exiting and yet intimidating experience. High buildings, wide roads, newer and nicer cars on the streets were some of the first things I noticed when I arrived to the city of Los Angeles CA. Living in a country where you were not born in could be difficult some times. Although Spanish is spoken at a grand scale in CA, it was difficult to communicate with and understand the teachers from my classes at the elementary level since all they spoke was English. Los Angeles is a city of great diversity, therefore it is believed to be the perfect place for any person arriving from another country to not feel like a foreign, such believe

My first reaction when receiving this assignment was surprise. Usually, a "cultural plunge" would involve a person entering a cultural type environment that is not within the person's comfort zone, as described by Pham (2013). However, since this type of plunge is also outside of our comfort zone, I suppose that it could also qualify as a cultural plunge. I am looking forward to trying this exercise, since I believe it will teach me a lot about not only myself, but also about others.

There were two striking aspects of the service that stood out in my mind. The first was the amount of standing. I had heard that traditionally Orthodox services do not permit sitting at all. Only some of the

What struck me as beautiful was the way they called out names for those who needed special prayers. I have seen this done before, but not this way. It was breath taking because they paused and took turns speaking there was great order. Now I’m not sure who the worship leader was, if it was the young lady that started off the service, if so she did a great job setting the tone. What I did learn is that there is religious worship service that are not over takin by an individual that makes it a one man show. What I learn that I will take away from this is that it’s not about being in the spot light, it’s about letting Christ shine through

The three of us arrived at the church about 30 minutes before the service started. I noticed as I waited for everything to start that this church had a phenomenally diverse range of attendees. There was your typical grandmother with her

On the first evening of service, I was prepared, yet scared that I would say something wrong or the children there would

     Another part of the service that I did not get to witness was the actual baptizing part. In the English service they do not have a pool to baptize people in. They only baptize people in the Spanish service so I was not able to see this happen. The rest of the service was all about the preacher preaching. His sermon was not right out of the bible. He talked about real life situations that are related to what the bible talks about so I found it better to relate to what is going on in your life. It got pretty boring though when he kept on talking for around thirty to forty-five minutes. The whole service was around an hour and forty-five minutes to two hours.

The start of the meeting involved reading the steps, the traditions and the serenity prayer. Listening to these people read

(Origin) When thinking about my family and our roots I identify my family’s places or origin as Germany and Ireland. A majority of my family is of German ancestry and the one exception is my grandmother and she is Irish. I identify these too places as where my family came from due to stories that I have hear from family members and to the traits that each member of my family carries. A majority of my family are all blonde hair, with blue or brown eyes which have a lot of similarities to people from Germany. My family as very few of the traits from the Irish side but the only ones the I have been told are that some people in our family freckle a lot

One of my earliest childhood memories was in a huge playground with kids the same age as me, laughing and talking in a foreign language, except I was the only one lost in translation. The memory was of a time when my parents sent me to an all-girls boarding school in India at five years of age. Learning how to adjust to a new culture was difficult, to say the least. However, I have grown from this unique experience. I developed a new mentality to adapt to any situation, and truly believe friends can help support anyone through any circumstance. I also learned many new cultural experiences that influence my life today. It is these experiences at my boarding school that has shaped me into the person I am today.