Linh Hoang

The world is a diverse place, and it is important to have the ability to become aware of your own cultural differences and the different cultures around you. There will be people that you encounter who have experiences that are vastly different from your own. That does not necessarily mean that it is bad but just different. Thus, it is increasingly important to not only be aware of your own culture, but also the cultures around you. If not, it is easy to fall down the slippery slope of personal biases and allow those to control your interactions with different people.

 

I started to seek out experiences that would expose me to different cultures. Through the Language Partners program, I was able to interact with two international students in a casual setting. This helped me compare and contrast our different cultures through our meetings every week, as I had little to no exposure to their cultures prior to our meeting. I learned different things about their culture, like what school was like for Gradi, who is one of my partners, back in his home country.  Our weekly activities were centered around discussions regarding our cultures, and they allowed me to ask questions about their culture and recognize any biases I had. Along with that, it gave them a chance to ask questions about American culture, which helped me become aware of the different cultural rules I followed without even thinking about. These interactions taught me and helped me become more aware of my own personal cultural rules and how those played into my experiences.

 

 I also attended the I am Somali exhibit, which exposed me to a completely new culture with which had no experience. We went to a panel where the different artists of the exhibit spoke about their pieces, but also about their Somali identity. Even though they are one of the largest minority populations in Minnesota, I was unfamiliar with the nuances of their culture, which was something that never even crossed my mind until I was at the panel. For example, I never realized art is such a taboo thing in Somali culture and is something that is not encouraged. The panel reminded me that I should continually go out and try to learn more about different cultures. Each culture has its own complexities that I would not be aware of without seeking out opportunities to learn more about other cultures and asking deeper questions.

 

Studying abroad allowed me to further seek out knowledge and understanding of different cultures. By living in a new country for four months, it allowed me to experience a completely new culture where I was the “other.” I was faced with my own personal biases regarding the UK. The UK was something that I was exposed to through media but being in the country for an extended period time reminded me that there are many complexities to the culture, many which broke a lot of my prior ideas about what life in the UK would be like. My study abroad trip also allowed to learn about Malaysian and Chinese cultures as well thanks to my flatmates. This experience took the skills I had developed from being a Language partner and deepened them. Instead of meeting once a week, I interacted with my flatmates every day. My flatmates and I built a friendship during my time there, and this allowed us to be comfortable with each other and ask questions about our different cultures. Alongside that, when you live with each other, you start to notice how you do things a certain way or view things differently from one another. Having the space to ask questions allowed me to learn about those differences instead of being judgmental. These experiences showed me how little I still know and that I must continue to be open minded.

 

Being exposed to different cultures helped me stop and reflect on how my own personal identity has played a role in my life. In an essay where I talked about growing up Vietnamese-American , I discussed the duality of my identity and the balance I experienced growing up within the two cultures.  In my household, I was taught Vietnamese at a young age, and the ability to speak my parent’s primary language exposed me to the Vietnamese community and helped me understand more about that side of my culture. My exploration of my Vietnamese identity was also enhanced when I studied abroad through my participation in Vietnamese society. I was surrounded by people who were like me in the fact that we were all Vietnamese, yet at the same time, we were also so vastly different from each other. The experience taught me more about how much my second language ties me to culture, but also how much language plays a role in culture. It made me more aware of my dual identity as well.

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Each of my experiences helped me gain an understanding not only of my own culture but of the different cultures around me. The world is huge, and with that comes an endless amount of different cultures. The ability to be open-minded to different cultures and seek meaningful experiences is an important skill to have, not only in a professional sense but also in a personal sense. As I enter my professional career, I will be exposed to many people who carry vastly different experiences from mine. The global citizenship skills I’ve developed during my time in this program makes me confident that I will not enter those interactions with ignorance, but rather with open-mindedness.