My story - How is it like to study in America as a South Korean(Culture Shock, Struggles)

 

        I still remember the day I came to America; it was April 24, 2006. When I landed at the SeaTac airport, I promised myself again to manage my life successfully. 

      As I expected, nothing was easy. I studied hard so as not to fall behind in the school, but my grades were still below my level because of the language barrier. Moreover, while I made many American friends, they already had more intimate friends than me, who could not command English fluently. So, I started to associate with other Korean students who could easily communicate with me, which decreased the frequency of my English use and certainly did not make me learn English better. 

     As I feared, the first day of school seemed like a disaster to me, for I couldn’t communicate with my homeroom teacher at all. Every word she spoke sounded like confused babble to me, and he continued in trying to help me with this incessant babble. Even after knowing that I was new to this place with a different background, he wasn’t able to assist me at all due to the communication problem.  I remember sitting all day long in class without understanding anything, but just constantly smiling and nodding my head striving to somehow fit in with the new group. It seemed like people were looking at me as if I had came from a different planet. 

       The first day of school passed by, and I was learning English, I struggled a great deal because of the new language. After about 3 months, I picked up English very quickly in terms of understanding. As I was getting used to the language, another issue knocked on my doorstep. The cultural difference confused me in many aspects. 

      During my life in Korea, my teachers taught me to respect the elders addressing them with a formal language. This meant that even if someone is older than me in few years, I had to treat that person with respect. An incident occurred because of this cultural difference. My first America friend was Tom. Because he was two years younger than me, I couldn’t understand or perhaps tolerate his, what I thought of as an ‘impudent behavior.’ Thus, I told him to behave himself and be more polite. 

       We argued over the issue and because of the cultural difference, we found no common ground in finding a solution.     This argument did not happened because I am Korean, and he is American, but because we had different priorities and views of the situation. For him, age was nothing; however, for me, age was so important. I realized that disputes occur among people, and even countries are separated, because of cultural difference like this. 

      Based on my experiences, I have become a person who actively tries to learn and understand others’ cultures from the small things they do and say, and use that understanding to bridge the gap between separated peoples. Since the beginning of my senior year, I have helped other international students shift into the mainstream because I empathize with them and best understand their situations. Through my practice, I can be the person who forges bonds between people from different cultures both in college and society.