Many people define culture as something that many people in a group can all belong to. This definition of culture refers to ideals, practices, traditions, and customs of a particular group of people. The culture you belong to influences so many aspects of your behavior, like how you handle conflict or confrontation, how you express love, and also how you process and express emotions.
[more]Growing up in a privileged, homogenous town, I rarely thought critically about my cultural biases or practices. This entirely shifted over the past year when I lived in a small village of Achuar Indigenous people in Ecuador. I often hear the term “culture shock”, what I displayed upon arrival would be better described as “cultural ineptitude.” I quickly learned that my individualism, materialism, and communication style were not natural in any way, but rather a product of my culture.
[more]“The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,” I wish I could be credited with this quote by Marcel Proust--nonetheless, I believe he captures more-or-less the same sentiment I wish to convey here.
[more]I felt that my cultural and personal growth was cut short due to COVID-19, as I only had two formative terms on campus as a freshman. This past year has been ridden with social isolation; going from the liveliness and openness of Dartmouth to my small community in Pennsylvania felt suffocating in a sense. I wanted to challenge the stagnancy that accompanied COVID-19 and re-engage not only with the Dartmouth community, but the global community. Within RGLP, I experienced a plethora of cultural experiences via Zoom that challenged my comfort level.
[more]In one of the first RGLP sessions, we were asked to share a cultural experience that had taken us out of our comfort zone. After given some time to think and reflect, we were tasked to share these stories with our peers. I, anxiously recalling an experience, went first. My experience was one with a past coworker from eastern Europe who initially I had thought was being very passive aggressive and unnecessarily blunt with me.
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