For the past eight years, I have lived in Miramar, FL, which is one city in the suburban conglomerate of the greater Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area. There has been a long history of immigration from South and Central America, and thus South Florida has a large population of Latinx people. Since I moved to South Florida, I have grown up with Latinx friends and in a largely Spanish speaking community.
[more]One of the most important tools necessary for successfully handling cross-cultural dialogue is respect. You might not understand every element of another culture or even go into a situation being aware of some of the cultural differences that exist. But respecting someone else as an individual, and respecting their cultural and cultural differences, even though you may not understand or expect them, will allow for dialogue.
[more]On our first day in Argentina, our group rode a city bus after our 14+ hour flights to Buenos Aires: we were hot, tired, and somehow it was morning when we should have been fast asleep. Mist, one of my classmates, wiped sweat from her face as many strangers pushed past us or leaned up against us on the journey. Afterwards, many students complained about the heat, the crowded streets, the Spanish that sounded nothing like what we had studied in classrooms. I was the only student willing to speak in Spanish that first week, and my professor was so confused.
[more]Cross-cultural experiences broaden our view of what ‘normal’ is. By being too closed off into one’s own culture, ethnocentrism takes over. Having cross-cultural experiences, especially at a young age, teaches people about different customs, languages, foods, ideas, religions, etc. The list of understandings that a person gains through having a simple conversation with someone outside their culture is endless. It’s an awesome and easy way to learn about the world without actually traveling the world. This is why programs like study abroad are so important.
[more]I grew up in a multicultural household of cultures that should supposedly have been drastically different yet with parents who carried these supposed dissimilarities in remarkably similar ways. They were both immigrants and consequently their drive and ambition for a good life for their families constantly shined through. However, I always felt that the rich mesh of culture and experience was always diluted by my setting. I grew up in a very white Boulder, CO where I began to understand my half-Chineseness as one of my defining characteristics.
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