.. L i F e - i S - G o o D ..

Culture is what people need to be concerned when they have foreign friends. All people are raised in particular areas with social norms of those societies. That’s why people are different. According to different background, people automatically act like they always do with friends in another culture; as a result, it can cause difficulties getting together. It’s nothing wrong about anybody but misunderstanding

Eastern people are always indirect: the way of talking, acting, or even expressing their feeling. In contrast, western people usually behave directly as what they feel. So, how possible for them to understand exactly what the other is thinking.

Last night, six of us (the mixture of eastern and western people) were going to go join the cruise with all classmates. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we missed it. Then, we were going to somewhere else. Three western people dicided to go to a bar. The thing was three eastern people weren’t alcohol drinkers, and didn’t know how to let the others know that they didn’t enjoy any bar that much. Moreover, they didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings because they all realized that it was kind of misunderstood. Therefore, three eastern people did express their feelings indirectly as the way they’re used to do so by telling the other three to get into the bar while they found something to eat at another place. That sounded fine, but it was not. The three people in the bar were waiting while the other three tried to find something to do outside in order to let them have fun the way they like. Then, when we met again before going back home, it could be assume that the three people in the bar were angry because the other three didn’t join them and they didn’t understand. So, three eastern people gave them the reasons, which was a secondary reason.

We all were wrong in this situation, and no one meant to hurt each other . However, I’m pretty sure that we all hurt since we weren’t aware of the differences of cultures. I have no idea what to do back then really. All I want to say is “sorry.”

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Today is my first day in School of Law. The orientation and reception were nice and enjoyable. In the LL.M. program, there are 17 students who’re from different countries. We have a lot of information to share, so the 8 hours we had weren’t enough.

However, it’s not easy for us, international students, to get involved into American students community, I guess. Even if the professors convince us to do so, I still think that it might be an awkward situation. Culture, sometimes, is a difficulty. While international people don’t know about usual ways to do things in another country or even society, they could be considered as a joker. Anyway, I’ve never confronted this kind of situation in the university so far. And, I hope not to face it.

After living here for a while, I have not only good but bad experiences as well. Thank you very much for people’s kindness and some people’s cruelty. I’ve learned a lot from those experiences.

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