Exchange Student Program Essay Example

Living during a period of great technological advancements, our society has been able to learn so much about other countries and their cultures with a simple tap of a finger. Cultures little quirks can be can be classified as common knowledge these days. Some of them even appear in movies and in turn watched nationally, and globally. Also, since so many people are moving to the Americas, we think all people of that culture live the same way when we see them on the street, or in the store. Cultural knowledge has been prodded so much that we think we know how people live all around the world. It has gone to the extent that when we meet someone from other countries it is no longer a shock to us. Except for an accent, we think they are the same

However, once I got to high school I pushed that thought out of my head because of the exchange student program. The program allows students from all over the world to spend a year in America and experience our culture. Meeting these students year after year, I never really thought other cultures were extremely different. Most of the students played the same sports we did, wore the same brand of clothes and had the same phones as us. The only major difference I found after speaking to these students was that our school system was different. They put a lot more time into their schooling whereas Americans just go through the motions. However, after all these years there was one factor I never considered that might skew my whole cultural perspective, money. These students knew English well and had all the top quality items because they were usually the considered the rich of their country. So therefore, I have never really submerged myself in different cultures, and I didn 't realize that until this

I remember thinking "This will be easy. It 's just going to be like the exchange students at school." As I got dipped into the cultural shock the next day, those feelings were impugned. These girls, who were mostly from China, could barely speak English, let alone understand what I was articulating. Most days, they would speak only Chinese around the kitchen and I would be left there like a foreigner in my own country. The more acquainted we became, I found out how they contrasted the exchange students I have met at school. These young ladies, who were mostly aged at 20, had never worked a job in their life, in turn giving them a scanty work ethic. They only strived at the menial duties given to them but yet they were still considered the middle class of their country. I was so used to the exchange students at school who worked hard in class and were always giving it their best, not the total opposite. They were utterly shocked, when they found out that I, who is three or four years younger than them had two jobs. As I saw them around when they were off duty, they would be wearing lowly clothing, not the same ensemble as I was, and as we worked side by side, you could tell we were from totally different