I always thought that growing up in the lesser-known country of Singapore automatically made me culturally aware. I measured the amount I learned from a country in relation to how exotic and unique that country was. A well-known and developed country like the United States would surely have nothing to offer in terms of broadening my understanding of the world.
I did not expect to gain insight into the world by moving here. However, I have developed a more accurate and extensive perspective on the world in the past month than I had living in Singapore, a small, mysterious country 10,000 miles away. It is living outside your comfort zone that makes you realize the diversity and complexity of our world. So I propose a solution to the ignorance that exists in our world. I urge everyone, at some point in your lives, to put yourselves in an environment that is unfamiliar to what you have grown up with.
Attending Dartmouth in the small town of Hanover is alien to many of us. I credit the maturation and growth we undergo (or will undergo) in college to the fact that a year, two years, three years and one month ago, many of us immersed ourselves in a world dissimilar to the one we were used to. To further that growth, though, one should go to the extreme and experience a life that contradicts the one he or she is familiar with.
I came to New Hampshire under the impression that I, as an international kid, was going to be more culturally aware than many. I had lived overseas my entire life and was used to the quirky facts about various countries that always seemed to shock people.
My friends and I would often share stories of the reactions we got when we told people that we were from Singapore. We were asked things such as, "Do you live in huts?" and "What is China like?" We would laugh about these questions, amused by such ignorance.
But living in the United States has exposed me to my own naivete. I began to ask my own ignorant questions: "You're from the South -- do you live on a farm? Is Wisconsin near Washington?" Despite attending American schools since fifth grade, I did not know much about American history, geography and culture.
To me, America was known best for its celebrity gossip. The country did not seem to offer any life-changing or eye-opening experiences. But in the past month, I have been exposed to issues in our world that previously I had been protected from. For nine years I lived in Singapore, a country that censors its newspapers and would shake its head in disapproval at the freedoms that America allows. The Jena 6 incident was one that revealed just how naive I was. I had never encountered racism to such an extent, and thought that for the most part, racism was a thing of the past. I had been living in a bubble my entire life, one that had sheltered me from issues such as racism and government corruption -- subjects very much prevalent and exposed in America.
New surroundings force people to adapt and, in turn, to create or uncover new traits. They reveal aspects of the world that change your outlook on life. Living an entirely different life in entirely different surroundings makes you see the world in a different light. The exact lesson that one would learn from this experience would not be a standard one. Each person leaves learning something unique to his or her own experiences.
With regard to broadening your experiences and growing as a human being, there is great importance in experiencing life in a foreign environment. You become detached from the expectations of your country, your family, your friends: You become freed.
The person you find may be the same person you always were. But often people discover emotions, thoughts and opinions in themselves that they never knew existed.
Experiencing cultural shock is difficult, but it is something that I recommend to everyone. I cannot tell you what exactly you will get out of it, the exact lesson or revelation you will encounter. But I do promise that you will walk away from the experience with an overall better understanding of yourself, your life and your world.
