Personal Narrative: My Cultural Experiences

As an undergraduate student, I always longed for different ways to enrich my cultural experiences, whether it was trying to learn a new language or watching documentaries and movies in foreign languages about different cultures. However, the only action that really added to me was years later when I made the decision of moving to the United States to pursue a higher degree. The shift from being a member of a high context culture such as my home country –Saudi Arabia- into a low context culture such as the United States was highly rewarding. Even though I have read about the difficulties of the transition process and how that many people could find the adjustment process really challenging, experiencing it was different on many levels. Some of the difficulties that I have went through was experiencing what it feels like to be the different, or the alien to be precise. Also, I have dealt with stereotypes about my identity; many people found it confusing to be a Saudi/Muslim woman who does not wear hijab or the head cover. Morover, I noticed how language can be an obstacle sometimes in simple situations such as asking for directions wherever I am lost. Suddenly, asking for help never seemed so arduous.

Consequently, I was motivated to focus my future studies on multiculturalism and the role of one’s own culture as an obstacle in emerging with the new culture, especially its role for trauma survivors and their attitudes towards asking for help.
The purpose of pursuing graduate degree at Purdue University is that the PhD in Counseling Psychology program values multiculturalism and offers research and internship opportunities within diverse communities. I aim towards working within communities of different cultures so I can learn about their beliefs, morals, values, and customs. Moreover, I look forward into working with Dr.Ayşe Çiftçi, for the reason that she focuses her research on exploring multicultural issues and direct her research team into addressing that in their studies. Additionally, the program will enrich my educational background by taking advanced courses in counseling and therapy. Upon graduation, I look forward into working in academia as an assistant professor. I believe that my background work in counseling along with my future work with members of multicultural communities as a therapist during my internship will enable me to observe unexplored issues regards ethnic identities. Thus, being a faculty member of a well-respected university will give me powerful tools to further study it.
I believe that having research experience whether it was during my master degree where I did my research project on exploring the correlation between Anticipatory Anxiety and Workaholism will benefit me largely during my PhD studies. Also, working as a volunteer research assistant along with Dr. Kathryn Becker Blease at the psychology department on a study about The Double Institutional Betrayal developed among Trauma Survivors was highly fulfilling. Some of my tasks were doing extensive reviews of previous studies that are related to the current study, drafting the risks/benefits ratio of the study for the purpose of getting an IRB approval, and ensuring that the survey items are cultural-sensitive and does not stimulate uncomfortableness for minorities, especially for Muslims. In addition to the research experience, Working at Almaarefa University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for around two years as a lecturer of Introduction to Psychology added to my skills greatly. My tasks included academic advising, devising the syllabus, lecturing, and administrating the grades. All in all,