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Crossing Cultures
Adjustments
Studying abroad is an invaluable experience – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in a foreign country, to learn its customs and culture, and to adapt to new surroundings. The success of your experience depends upon your own efforts to acclimate yourself to living and studying in a foreign culture. You will have moments of exhilaration and moments of real frustration. Gradually, as you come to terms with the culture, the frustrations will become fewer and fewer.
One of the greatest benefits of living in a foreign country is an added depth of appreciation and understanding of U.S. culture. The insights you will gain into yourself and your native culture will be of immeasurable value.
In adjusting to your study abroad environment, you will have to deal with real as well as perceived cultural differences. Keep in mind that people of other cultures are just as adept at stereotyping the U.S. American as we are at stereotyping them - and the results are not always complimentary.
The following, for example, are a few of the qualities (some positive, some negative) that others frequently associate with the “typical” U.S. American:
| outgoing and friendly | sure to have all answers | wealthy |
| informal | lacking in class consciousness | generous |
| loud, rude, boastful, immature | disrespectful of authority | always in a hurry |
| hardworking | racially prejudiced | promiscuous |
| extravagant and wasteful | ignorant of other countries | politically naïve |
While a stereotype might have some grain of truth, it is obvious when we consider individual differences that not every U.S. American fits this description. Keep in mind that this same thing is true about your hosts vis-à-vis your own preconceptions. Remember that you are an ambassador from MSU and the United States. Avoid falling into any of the “ugly American” categories.
