Final Blog Entry

The new information that was the most meaningful to me was the knowledge about how to navigate train stations and airports while traveling as well as how to properly plan out future trips. I also have found the information about how to blend in with locals in other cultures fairly helpful. I think this information could have helped me with past experiences involving things from a different culture. This knowledge could have encouraged me to look at travel more earlier on in my college career and also could have changed the way I handled cultural differences in the past. It would have allowed me to handle cultural differences in the past with a more understanding and open perspective. This knowledge could have also given me the courage to try to understand the other cultures better in the past rather than just ignore them. In the future I hope to use this information to change how I interpret/react to cultural differences by having more of a curiousity and open mind. I also hope to use the new found knowledge to gain more of an understanding of the cultural norms in America.

Experiential blog 8: New perspctive

Studying abroad is a different experience compared to normal studying at your home college. The course that I decided to take is Gothic literature. The focus of the course is on the reason why the genre was so popular during it's time and also what it meant to the people reading it. While studying abroad I have learned about Gothic literature in the sense of it's rebellious nature. I took a literature course but have looked at the topic with a psychological perspective. I have learned that people will resist things that cause them displeasure in very subtle was such as through metaphorical writing. I have also learned that oppression is something can come from many different sources such as society, mental awareness and bureaucracy. Lastly I have learned that signs of oppression can be seen even through small details such as wording and tone. My method of learning these things while abroad has been alot more hands on than at home. The lessons are taught less through a book and more with real life examples. At home one would read a book about Gothic architecture but here one just goes see Notre Dame. Also here abroad material is presented alongside with a group discussion while at home I would just work to learn it individually without much discussion.

Experiential Blog:7

While in Europe I have noticed tha people expect a different level of quietness and privacy while eating in a restaurant. If someone is quite loud while in a restaurant then people around them will shoot quick glances their way and get irritated. This behavior leads into one of the main attitudes in Europe which is that people should have a high level of respectability while in public. Another attitude involves personal space in which it is ok to be more accessable into anothers personal space than compared to the US. In the US we have a wide range of personal space that we do not like having to compromise but in Europe it is different. Also in Europe the attitude towards the elderly and women that are pregnant is that they should be given special considerations while on public transportation. This attitude is not really present in the US because we do not have a large focus on systems of public transportation. If someone does not coincide with these attitudes they are not loudly criticized but more so shamed and looked down upon by others around them. Before coming to Europe I assumed that there was some differences in expectations while in public but did not foresee just how large the difference would be. I also did not foresee that people in Europe would be more quiet and respectable in their criticisms. This critique has led me to realize just what the presence of public transportation can do for the mannerisms in a culture. By having a large emphasis on public transportation people start to focus more on their appearance while in public and what they can do to accomidate to others. In general it makes a society that is overall more sensitive and aware of others.