Schwarting - Blog #2

Imagine living in a place that does not feel like home.  I had a hard enough time just leaving my parents house let alone leaving my whole entire family, friends and way of life to live in another country.  This is what two individuals that I interviewed experienced when coming to the United States. 

I interviewed these individuals over the concept of culture shock.  Culture shock is described as, “A state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment” (“Culture shock,” 2012).  Culture shock is a normal part of the human process. Just like any other transition experience (Martin & Nakayma, 2012, p.332).  

The two individuals I interviewed came from Vietnam for education.  Anh Ha came to the United States from Hanoi back in 2008.  His mother always dreamed for him to study abroad.  He first went to Indiana to finish his last year of high school. He mentioned how it was hard making friends and people weren’t very friendly to him.  He felt like he didn’t belong and didn’t have anyone to talk to except for the teachers.  In Vietnam he was very passionate and loved playing soccer.  He said, “My high school in Indiana didn’t have a soccer program.  That was really hard for me.  It was like a huge piece of me missing.” (Ha, 2012).  When he came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln people were a lot more accepting.  He made a lot of friends living in the dorm and being involved in activities. He works at the coffee shop in CBA and is a referee for soccer games.

Anh Le and Anh Ha

Anh Ha’s girlfriend, Anh Le, mentioned that something that shocked her when she arrived to the United States this year to study at UNL was the food.  She makes a lot of her own food since she is not used to the food the United States serves.  She had somewhat of an idea of what the United States was like since Anh Ha has been here for four years and they would skype to keep in contact while he was at UNL and she was back in Vietnam.  She said, “It isn’t like the Hollywood movies.  There are no skyscrapers and a lot less people then I thought.” (Le, 2012). 

You may be confused by why both of their names are Anh.  I was at first also! Vietnamese have very few family names for a population of 56 million people (Nguyen, 1985).  Their names are always written in the following order: family, middle and first name (Nguyen, 1985).  Even though they are not related, they share the same family name, Anh.  Since Americans believe the first name written is their first name, then that’s what they call them.  So in the United States, they are both known as Anh.

Anh Ha and Anh Le have had a fairly easy time adjusting to their new lifestyle in America.  According to the social science theory, younger people have a less hard time then older people because they are less fixed in their ideas and beliefs (Martin & Nakayma, 2012, p.333).  This may cause more trouble though when they go home.  Even though they have an easier time, it still isn’t home to them.  When asked if they both would make the same decision again, Anh Ha said, “Of course.  In a blink.” (Ha, 2012).

Foreign exchange student getting a hard time from

 his host family on his cultural differences.

   

 References:

Culture shock. (2012). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture shock

Nguyen, M. D. N. (1985). Culture shock-a review of vietnamese culture and its concepts of health and disease. Cross-cultural medicine, 142(3), 409-412. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1306060/?page=1

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural communication in contexts (5th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

Ha, A. H. (2012, October 15). Interview by M.S. Schwarting [Personal Interview]. Culture shock.

Le, A. L. (2012, October 15). Interview by M.S. Schwarting [Personal Interview]. Culture shock.