Research Blog Post #3

I believe culture adaptation is noticed by many universities because of the increasing of international students. Our university holds many activities every semester for international students to get accustomed to new environment, such as "On Iowa," "culture ball," "speeding friends," "Tippie Buddies," etc. I attended some of them and they were very interesting. Most of them paired students in groups or pairs with mixing of students from America and other countries. I made several American friends in these activities and we had a good time. During the events, we talked a lot about our own culture and shared our hobbies. Then we had each other's contacting information and planned to hangout after the events. We went out several times for lunch and dinner, and also sent our best wishes on festivals. But after a while, we rarely texted each other about our live, and I have heard nothing from them for a long time. Maybe we all had a busy time and our own things to do, but this is not an excuse among good friends. So, I assumed, unfortunately, we were still not "good" friends. Sometimes I would think of them, but didn't know how to start a new talk. And I hesitate when I tried to type something, such as "Will that be weird?" or "Will he be interested in what I talk?" I am not sure if he feels the same way, but I guess this could be a reason. 

All of these events were great, but the problem was few of students would keep in touch after the events ended. After all, among my Chinese friends, only one or two can keep good relationships with their American buddies. I believe people paired were willing to keep a long-term friendship but they just don't know how to do that. What matters most is the knowledge and interest of other's culture. I believe a good friendship should be based on a constant interest and enough knowledge about each other's culture. Because people won't get bored or feel embarrassed when they ask questions and learn new things. For some topics, such as democracy, speech freedom, LGBTQ, I almost had no idea at the beginning and I didn't know what Americans usually thought about them. And because of some reasons (political), there were a big difference between what I knew and what my American friends knew. I couldn't access lots of information through the internet from the US before I came here. I read news from different source. I watched movies with Chinese sub-tittles and deleting clips. I played none-official (pirate version) games because game selling used to be illegal in China. I only knew a little about popular American TV series and popular singer. And for music, although I listen a lot, my knowledge about singers and the stories behind were poor. These could make communication hard. Thus, I suggest an event talking about hot topics in different fields around the country. They can include fashion, politics, history, art, sport, entertainment but not limit to these. American students can be divided into groups by different topics which they would like to introduce, and international students can go to any one they are interested in. And for some "making friends" events we already had so far, there should be some specific surveys for students to take before they attend. For instance, there can be questions including what they want to get from the events, if they are willing to be long-term friends, and how interested they are in other cultures. These questions can help them make sure about what they want to do in the events and encourage them to keep on going even after the events ends. 

Moreover, language is also a major fact. As international students, we have learned English a lot. However, we still meet "language barrier" sometimes. For example, when I first arrived here, I didn't know how to reply when people said "thanks" or "sorry" in a casual way. Because what I learned in China was very formal and people wouldn't use them in their daily life. I noticed there were many simplified expressions used in Americans daily life. They are simple, fast, and easy to use. But I only knew a few of them. Sometimes I felt I talked a lot but I didn't give a clear idea about what I want to say. Therefore, it's necessary to have some events to teach international students some simple and frequently used expressions to help them learning fast in daily communications. Also, there can be a short seminar talking about American popular culture and how American teenagers deal with their friends. Students can be asked to create a skit showing the situations of discussing different topics with their American friends, and check what they would say in real talk. This can be a little intentional, but I think it can be a good way to learn at beginning. After they have a clearer concept, they can learn more and faster in their daily life. 

Our university's international program is really good now and I hope it can become better. Every years' events are very helpful and interesting. Next semester I will try to participate more events and make new friends. And I will try to contact my old friends to see if they still remember me. 

Research Blog Post #2

Nowadays, internationalization and globalization are a common knowledge to people all over the world. No matter they agree or not, the process cannot be stopped. It plays an important role in many fields, such as trading, economy, politics, scientific studies, arts, and etc. We can read a lot of articles from the internet or books talking about internationalization and accepting different cultures. Culture became a more and more popular topic around the world. People in China know Hollywood while people in the US know the Great Wall. But people usually have different opinions and reactions when they are in different situations. Generally, it's easier for younger generation to accept a different culture than older people. And there are other reasons like religions, values, and even personal habits affecting people's choice. As an international student in the US, I'm facing different situations every day and I'm really curious about people's views on this topic. With the process of globalization, how can we do better to understanding other cultures? Furthermore, how can we live in a culture which is different from our mother culture? Is that easy or hard?

When talking about the problems related to culture, the first thing people would thought about is culture shock. According to Wikipedia, culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or simply transition to another type of life. From the first day here, I did feel many difference and difficulties, even I used to travel abroad for a while. The shock I felt most didn't come from what I didn't know, but came from something I already knew. Before I came to UI, I read many articles online describing how was the living like in the US, and talking about some tips for living and studying abroad. But when I arrived in the US, many things were not the same as what I read. Not everyone was friendly. When I happened to look into someone, I tried to smile and be kind, but some seemed to be uncomfortable by being stared. Not everywhere was clean. Gums were hidden under seats or tables. Not everyone was quiet in public places. Some people talked loud in library or played music loud late at night. When I faced a real world which was different in many aspects from what I used to know, I got shock more than knowing things I didn't know. But this is a short-term feeling. It's not hard to accept. After a few days, I refreshed all impression I had before I came here and actually started to learn new things. I started to use Facebook, Instagram, Tweeter besides social medias I used, and watching videos on YouTube and Netflix. Everything looked interesting to me. Walmart is bigger and has different products. McDonald's is cheaper and has different food. And I could know many new stuff from American friends. Our university has an awesome gym with climbing walls and large swimming pools. Life looked great here. Everyone in school can have one or more laptops and they are usually much cheaper than in China. Our campus is very large and full with great equipment. At that time, I thought I almost went through the culture shock and would be accustomed to life here in the future. 

But I was wrong. After one or two months, I felt to have new difficulties. When I tried to introduced something more about my hometown and my culture, I found sometimes I'm still lack of grammars and phrases. And I couldn't express accurately. Also, when I attended a lecture and professor said a joke, everyone laughed out but I couldn't get the point. That was very embarrassed. I studied English for years, but I felt there was still a language barrier lying between me and my American friends when I tried to talk more. Or when I chatted with American friends, I didn't know about or wasn't interested in things they were interested in, such as football games. That made me seem to be boring, but I didn't mean to be. I tried to learn more about American history, literature, and popular culture. But I found I just dig into a very thin layer after a large effort. I have some American friends, but we are not friends who can talk everything with each other. To be more specific, I want to tell or ask them something but I'm not sure if they would be interested in, and I guess they may have same feeling. According to an article from UCI website, Culture Adjustment has six phases, preliminary stage, initial euphoria, irritability, gradual adjustment, adaptation and biculturalism, and re-entry phase. I felt I struggle in adaptation and never over come it. 

Sometimes I would talk with my Chinese friends about this. I surprisingly found many of them had the same feeling as I did. It's easy to make friends with Americans but it's not easy to keep the relationship. Maybe living in a different culture shares this characteristic. If we want to live in the US for a longer time, we still have a lot to do. But good news is the young can usually accept new thing more easily. 

As a result, it's not easy to actually live into a different culture, but easier to understanding or accept another culture. And maybe this topic is more personal, I didn't find many academic research about it. So situations may differ depending on different people with different ability to adapt new environment. 

Research Blog Post #1

As a senior living in Iowa City for years, I have been curious about this question for a long time--the adaptation in a totally different culture. Before I came to America, what my parents concerned most, besides personal safety, was whether I can adapt to American college life. I also thought about it a lot and was a little worried for a while. I was afraid of being unable to live or study abroad alone, or make friends with American students. So I searched a lot on the internet and found many articles talking about others' successful life in other countries. I assumed that should not be very difficult, or at least I could do that with my best effort.

College Life

In those articles I found online, the main ideas usually went to two extreme directions. One kind of them focused on how an excellent Chinese student obtained the offer from famous university which was ranked top 3 or top 10 in the US, and how well was he dealing with professors and students. The other kind of them was that many Chinese totally couldn't adapt to college life or make friends with Americans. They stayed with Chinese friends all day long and their speaking English became worse and worse. Years later, they got nothing and went back home sadly. After read these articles, I had no idea about what my college life would be. My parents became more worried than me and always asked me to try to be the person in the first kind of articles. After I came here, I found most international students were just like general students. We were trying hard to learn knowledge, to make friends with Americans, to understand what we didn't know before. And usually there was no legend or tragedy as what we read from those articles. That kind of stories happened sometimes, but not always. A lot of people in China judged international students based on a very simple ideas from those articles which were not reliable.  

Behavior in Public

Besides the articles talking about college life, there were also many articles or reviews focused on the comparison between Chinese culture and American culture. There were many examples such as Chinese usually talk loud in public space but Americans “never” talk loudly to disturb others, or Chinese people always walk across roads even there’s no crossing but Americans don't. We often felt hurt after reading these but also doubted that if it’s real. After I arrived here and lived for a while, I found all of those words were irresponsible. Maybe most Americans behave better in public places, but not all. And not all Chinese behave rude. In Iowa City, I saw more Americans crossing the road illegally especially on Friday night when people went crazy for parties. Many people talked loudly when eating at dining hall in the resident hall (Burge and Hillcrest), or in general fast food restaurants. “Never being loud” never happened unless in some high-end restaurants. But giving tags to a group of people is very attractive when writing articles, I assume those authors didn't do enough researches or have real experience. Here is another difference: Chinese are not very sensitive with academia dishonesty. So there were many people “making up” stories about living abroad experience, and misleading a lot of readers who had never been to the country.

Personal interests

Another problem is it’s embarrassed sometimes when talking with Americans and don't understand their jokes. I got lost when people made a joke using an animal, or words from a movie, or a book, or a certain person. Because I was not familiar with them or I’m not certain about the meaning. The same thing can have different meaning in Chinese culture. And many Chinese are not interested in things which Americans like, such as football, baseball, and talk show. When I talked with my American friends about the  plans for weekends, we couldn't understand each other's fun. And not everyone is interested in other cultures. People may just be curious with something and they suddenly lose interest after they get what they want to know. It seems hard to learn and enjoy another culture constantly for most people. 

From my personal experience, I possess the question if it's easy to accept and adapt to a totally different culture, or even it's possible to do that. If it's possible for a person to live the rest of his life in the culture that he didn't grow up with and belong to. 

Research Question for Research Blog Post

Is it easy or hard for an individual to be involved into another new or different culture?