Interestingly
enough, my participants have expressed almost no cultural frustrations. Instead, they seem very interested in getting
to know what the differences are between their own culture and the cultures of
others in the group. This is a sentiment
that I also echo. We are fortunate to
have participants from Turkey/Germany as well as from China, and that combined
with my American perspectives allows us to look at a given topic with varied
perspectives. One such instance came
around when we were discussing the topic of amount of children allowed in a
household. The German participant
mentioned that in many European countries, families are paid by the government
to have extra children. When she said
that, the Chinese participants eyes widened, and they said that, in China,
there are laws in place to prevent the amount of children born to each family. While the Chinese students did not
necessarily seem frustrated, they seemed confused by the differing cultures
rules.
Through my groups conversations, I have learned about how
difficult it is to travel to other parts of the US, or even to Canada. The students have mentioned time and time
again how difficult the visa obtenation process is, and how difficult it may be
to travel around because of the lack of train transportation, as well as the
fact that none of them have cars. Their
struggles really make me appreciate how convenient it is for me to get from
place to place, or travel to Canada without any difficulties.
I don’t think it is within Sweetland’s means to find
solutions for the international students.
Their area of expertise is more in acclimation to student life at the
university, and I think my students are doing a great job at that so far.
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