Allegheny College Study Abroad Spring 2009

Cultural Fact #1: Germans have lots of laws that would seem pretty strange to most Americans. For example, in Germany you aren't allowed to name your newborn anything deemed too weird, like "Blümchen" (flower) or Mstislav without applying for the ability to name this child something along the lines of the aforementioned. Of course, typically German names like Jan, Katarina, Jochen, Janina, or Wolfgang are totally kosher. But if you want to name your German-born baby Trinh or Moonshine, you better make sure the authorities are okay with it too. On the other hand, some laws are pretty lax. Apparently, if you're carrying less than 2 grams of marijuana, you probably won't be arrested or even fined, but your marijuana will be confiscated. You can drink alcohol in your car and on the street. Certain arbitrary freedoms are regulated by laws, while people caught with marijuana may receive a slap on the wrist. There is no capital punishment in Germany. It seems that to compensate for this lack of severe punishments, lawmakers have preferred the regulation of such minor issues. I guess I should watch my step while in Germany - who knows what laws I will unwittingly break?

Cultural Fact #2: Germans tend to really like bread. While Americans seem to scoff at the consumption of carbs, Germans embrace it - potatoes and bread, potatoes and bread - and they tend to be the skinny ones. Maybe a diet of ham salad and eggs isn't the best way to avoid heart disease? On another note, it's okay to be skinny in Germany. It seemed like there were a lot skinny young men in my school while I was there, and I fit in a bit more, at least in terms of my physique. There was one overweight Turkish student in my grade, and his big butt tended to be the butt of a number of jokes. In Germany, it's okay to make fun of fat people. In the US, it's okay to make fun of skinny people, but not fat ones. I think I will expect to not worry so much about my physique while I'm in Germany.

I learned these things from what I discussed with Germans and observed while I was in Germany.

As December has rolled around and my 5th semester at Allegheny has more or less come to a close, I have become both excited and worried about the adventure that awaits me in Europe during the coming months. My spanish classes, I feel, have prepared me well for my experience in Sevilla during the coming spring, but I still experience that nagging self-doubt on my abilities. Of course I can study up on the grammar and the culture some more before I board the plane on January 28th, but will I really be ready for full language immersion, far from home, and without any time-tested friends. Despite all of this mounting pressure to blend in and be Spanish when arrive, and to not be that American tourist that all of Europe hates, I feel consoled by one aspect of spanish life: the importance of family. During my stay in Spain, I will reside in the home of hopefully a wonderful family that will aid me in my adaptation to a new culture, way of life, and home. Family in Spain is valued more than we of recent in the US seem to view it as and hopefully my new "family" will adopt me as one of their own. Another important aspect of daily life in Spain that is alien to us in the Western Hemisphere is the idea of a lunch siesta where all activity nationwide stops from 2-5PM and everyone returns home to eat the largest meal of the day with their respective families. This will be hard to adjust to at first since I am the kind of person who always likes to be moving; maybe this time each day will be a good opportunity for me to bond with my host family and their friends or to get some work done so I can hang out with friends and immerse myself in the Spanish culture outside of the classroom in the cities during the evening hours post-siesta. Either way, I am really looking forward to the changes and the challenges that await me.

Information from conversations with Maria DelCastro (student from Madrid here at Allegheny) and from my study abroad booklet from the Center for Cross Cultural Study

It may seem odd that just six hours South of Meadville there are cultural differences. Washington, D.C. is filled with people of all nationalities. Cultural rules that seem common to Americans can make a world of difference to foreigner such as walking, driving, and riding the escalator on the right side, staying quiet in an elevator, or leaving a tip. I imagined Washington, D.C. as a foreign country, a place that I have never visited, to focus in on difference from my own “country” of Pennsylvania.
The first thing I realized was D.C. is not a state or a commonwealth. Washington is a district, a tiny sixty-one square mile metropolis in the middle of the East Coast. A large portion of that area does not even belong to the United States but to other countries; what is left of the city is our Nation’s Capital. The government of the people is also open to the people. The United States’ Government is very different from most other countries especially in the fact that citizens can watch Congress’ daily work free of charge or reason. A simple phone call to your Congress member will grant you tickets to the White House, Capitol complex, Supreme Court, and numerous other government agencies. (This came from Phil English’s Website http://www.house.gov/english/visitdc.shtml.) While this will not have a huge impact on my expectations because I have already used this service, but I may be giving the tours depending on my internship. It will come in handy when I am planning my weekends or spring break!
Pennsylvania is a commonwealth, not a state. All of my life, I have paid a 6% sales tax on everything except food and clothing. In Washington, D.C. everything including food and clothing has a 5.75% sales tax except when D.C. has a tax holiday during Christmas time and the being of school. (This came from D.C.’s government website http://www.dc.gov/.) This cultural fact impacts the amount of money I need to bring and the amount I can spend. Even the Pentagon City Mall located in Virginia has a sales tax of 5% on clothes. (This came from the State of Virginia’s website http://www.virginia.gov/cmsportal3/.) Shopping for fun is now going to be only a once in a while treat.
The District of Columbia also has no state government or state judicial. Congress is D.C. legislature and the Washingtonians do not even have actual representation. Their Representative and Senator can make bills and participate in the floor debates but they have no voting power. This says something for no taxation without representation that our country was founded on. (This came from D.C.’s government website http://about.dc.gov/statehood.asp.) Washington’s judiciary is the U.S. District court for the District of Columbia. The Judges who sit on the bench must be nominated by the President and approved by the US Senate. This is right below the Supreme Court and most of their rulings become the laws of the land. (This came from D.C.’s government website http://www.dc.gov/.) Hopefully, I do not get into any trouble because verdicts are going to be much more harmful than it would be if I received it from a Crawford County judge.
I am excited to open my eyes to the world of America’s Culture that I do not realize I even do. Even learning how different states or districts run will expand my knowledge of why it is so difficult to have states work together. I found another interesting website http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/.

The Journey is a little over a month away and I can’t help feeling both nervous and excited. Excited because I finally get to experience another culture and nervous because I will be an ocean away from my family. I have never been so far from the safety and comfort of, if not my family, people I know and now I will be immersing myself in a whole new world.

Cultural Fact 1:
Holidays in England do not necessarily correspond to the holidays we see here in the United States. They are called “National Days” and are actually days that are dedicated to certain saints, and each part of the United Kingdom has its own Saint’s Day. England’s Saint’s Day is St. Georges day and it falls on April 23. St. George is their patron Saint and is called upon, especially when the country is in need of protection. We would think that such an important day would be seen as a national holiday, but in actuality all Nation Days, except for St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and St. Andrews Day in Scotland, are just regular working days for them. A lot of the time their National Day is even looked over and sometimes forgotten. They are not celebrated like we would do here in the United States for something like the Fourth of July.

Cultural Fact 2:
‘English’ and ‘British’ are not the same! People who are English are from England, while people who are British are people who live in Great Britain and the UK. England is only one of three countries in Britain, which include Wales and Scotland and there are distinct differences between the countries and their peoples. Many people will get upset if you call them ‘English’ because they are, in fact, not. Most people in England will actually say that they are British, because they can claim both terms but the majority claim British over the other term. It is safe to call those you meet ‘British’ because this term is actually accurate- they all live in Great Britain. It is easier than insulting someone by accident! (And boy am I glad I found this out!)

I mainly got my information from internet sources dedicated to offering British culture to the world for a better understanding of their people. I’m glad I read up on it actually, it is very informative. Especially that last one! I really want to try and avoid hurting anyone’s feelings or upsetting them because I didn’t know something that is so easily accessible. I was quite surprised to find out about the holidays though- and while Britain has a lot of days dedicated to events, I thought it was interesting learning about the National Days.

A cultural fact that I learned in researching my host culture (England) was not to eat black pudding. While I did consult a few reference sources in order to research the English lifestyle, I also decided to go directly to the source: I e-mailed an Allegheny student who is currently studying at Lancaster, asking her for a few tips drawn from her own experiences. While she did offer several tips concerning study life and living arrangements, this was the tip that stood out to me. Don't eat the black pudding--it's congealed pig's blood. This fact both disgusted me and forced me to realize that in all likelihood, my diet is going to significantly change when I am in England. Their cuisine stereotypically consists of heavy meats and starches, which may become an issue for me because I am a vegetarian. This knowledge has influenced my expectations of my new home in that I have begun to anticipate my dietary restrictions and do more research concerning the food options at Lancaster.

The second thing that stood out to me in my research concerning England was that they have a public health care system. I found this out when I was talking to one of my good friends who was born in England and lived there for 7 years. After doing more research online, I began to discover what this would mean for my own stay in England. Because I am not a permanent resident, it is likely that I will receive lesser quality in health care than I would receive here in the US. My friend also informed me that it usually takes several weeks or months in order to receive a doctor's appointment. However, I also did research on Lancaster's website and discovered that the university has its own services with GP practice and nurse unit, as well as dental care. This discovery reassured me, as I was concerned that it would be much more difficult for me to receive than it is here at Allegheny.

As I have been preparing for my exciting departure I have been researching the Mexican culture and have come across two interesting cultural facts.
The first fact has to do with meal times in Mexico. The biggest meal of the day in Mexico is at lunchtime. This meal is not the same as the "lunch" we know in America. It is the biggest meal of the day and lasts from 2-4. The meal around dinnertime is much later, around 8 pm and is lighter than lunch. People actually leave work and in small towns businesses will close from 2-4. People then return to work and work until 7-8.
I first learned about this fact from a travel website after discovering that all of Latin America has a similar tradition. After learning about this fact I am actually more excited about taking part in this tradition. I think it will be more relaxing to take a break during the day to forget about work and enjoy quality time with friends. I think it will make me less exhausted at the end of the day. The only problem is I will have to learn to eat around that time as I usually do not eat a big lunch.
Another interesting part of the culture is the holiday "Carnaval." It takes place from February 3rd till February 8th. It is a five-day celebration before the Catholic Lent takes place. I learned about this while researching Mexican holidays online. This fact makes me think that Mexico is a more religious country than USA since this holiday is huge and involves the entire country and not just the Catholics. Even though I am not Catholic I look forward to discovering how religion plays a role in the lives of Mexicans. I am not nervous about these religious traditions and look forward to taking part as many as possible (when appropriate of course).

Recently I have invested in a book called "Kenya" published by the Lonely Planet series which gives a nice insight into cultural perspectives. Two elements that I found to be relevant, engaging and influential on my trip are education and appropriate dress wear.

I wanted to learn about the education system of my host country and what that could essentially mean for me. Literacy rates in Kenya are around 79% which the authors explain is remarkably high considering that everyone has to pay for school education. Fees at secondary schools are expensive and competitive places for most Kenyans. The desire to get an education isn't compulsory but the motivation to get an education is huge - even impoverished students dress in uniforms. I'm particularly interested in interacting with my host family and other students to exchange perspective on education. I feel like I value my education as an American student but that it was never really a burden or a struggle to attend school. Also, sometimes students let down their appearance for class which leads into my next topic.

The Lonely Planet series also addresses clothing trends / beliefs about appearance. Kenyans dress far more conservatively than Americans. This is especially true in rural areas where women would not be caught wearing pants. The climate is obviously different than Meadville so I will find myself investing in a few good skirts. I find my clothes to be appropriate for American standards but I'm now beginning to realize that tank tops and shorts above the knees will not work in my new host country. As mentioned, students take it upon themselves to always dress presentable or in a more tasteful manner than American students. I'm glad I have done some prior research as I don't want to put any unnecessary attention on myself or in any way disrespect my host family.

Getting everything sorted out for my trip to Kenya in conjunction with school has been an interesting challenge, but it will all be worth it once I finally reach my destination. It has been difficult trying to imagine the way things will be once I get there, since Kenyan culture will be different than anything that I have ever experienced. Having gone to Ecuador in the past makes me feel slightly better prepared for the journey, but there is still so much to learn.

The first thing I have found out to keep in mind when I get there is that Swahili is the national language. While this sounds obvious, this will be the first place I have ever visited where I was 100 percent unfamiliar with the language. Even my Latin background won't help me there like it has in the past. Fortunately, English is another official language of Kenya so hopefully I won't have to much of a problem getting around. Plus, learning Swahili for an entire semester will help.

Secondly, I need to remember to dress appropriately for the climate and the culture in Kenya. While Nairobi is located almost directly on the equator and warm weather clothes might seem appropriate, I need to keep in mind the stigmas that could go along with clothing that is too revealing. T-shirts, long pants, and skirts are going to need to replace most tank tops and shorts due to the conservative nature of dress in Kenya.