Well I'm into my last month in the US. It's exactly 30 days until I land in the UK. I received my visa today! I bought my ticket and I paid my rent. I will post another entry about the practical processes of every thing shortly.
Now that all the basics are covered I'm able to spend more time and energy thinking about the day-to-day ways my life will change. The main thing I've been thinking about lately is how I'll be challenged to think differently. I read an article about the top 11 greatest things about the UK, written by a native professor. One point talked about the women. The article compared UK women to that of other regions/cultures. It said that American and German women are too ideological. That got me thinking. I'm well aware of the fact that the article was a personal opinion, but I can't help but wonder how I'll be received in this new environment. I can be pretty opinionated; however, I basically have a personal mantra of live and let live. So what did the author mean by ideological? I started thinking about every way I've been socialized into thinking... values based actions, stand for something or fall for anything,
The goal of moving abroad is not to change myself, per se. The goal is to enhance myself, to expand my world, to grow. And half the fun is to share my culture, my norms, my ideals also; cultural exchange, as a matter of term. Nonetheless, as a social creature I still want to be accepted.
I don't think I'm so bad of an American. I'm relatively open-minded and tolerant. Except for elected ignorance. I enjoy embracing other worlds. My bachelors degree is in international relations, so in multiple classes we discussed American stereotypes. I keep those (or at least the most significant ones to me) in my mind constantly. I try to break the stereotypes. I've also recently watched a documentary called The Listening Project where four Americans travel to different countries on different continents to interview strangers about their perceptions of American people. Many were congenial sentiments, though some were negative, centered around our publicized image of being rich. Of course, I would say that I am not rich. By American standards I am far from rich. My annual earnings are not enough to support myself and I buy things on credit from time to time. But compared to many I most certainly am rich. However, it's an inadequate comparison. Standards of living are vastly different, as are cultural norms. I did not choose to be born and raised in America, and standards are always going to be partial to the circumstances. However, I am aware that my life is incredibly comfortable.
I am very interested to continue this social research of cultural stereotyping, as I am just as guilty. And it should come easily, because I've been told my program is 80% international students, mostly from Asia and Africa. I've also been informed that many of these students are at the University studying on grants from their governments because they are recognized as the top people in the their respective countries, having previously run things like TB clinics. Well upon hearing that I was intimidated. The most I'm done is be a receptionist at a doctor 's office! But I've been trying not to look at it that way, instead look at it as I bring a different perspective and they'll be intrigued to hear more about the American health system. And I'll certainly have a task at hand trying to explain it to any one!
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