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Being Different Than Everyone Else

Being Different Than Everyone Else

(Insert Name here)

Snow College

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Being Different Than Everyone Else

Being Different Than Everyone Else

I had the opportunity to live in Pennsylvania Delaware, and Maryland over the course of

a year and a half. Despite still living in the United States, I was able to observe and experience

several different cultures by interacting with people and eating foods from different places

around the country and world. I learned to love and embrace the cultures that I came across

because they were different from my own culture and it helped me expand my perception on how

to live and treat others. It’s not always easy learning how to act around certain people, but I

learned to love and adapted to various cultures from all over the world.

I came to love so many people and cultures while living on the eastern side of the states. I

had the opportunity to live in places with a high Latino population. I had dinner in their homes

and interacted with them at church services and events. I was often greeted with a hug and kiss

on the cheek. At first, I was taken aback at such a greeting since I had never greeted anyone like

that before. I learned to love being greeted this way and I often miss it since it’s not in the culture

I am currently in. When I do come across people that use this way of greeting it reminds me of

the amazing Latinos that I met in Pennsylvania. This greeting is a bit more intimate and helped

me feel closer to the people that greeted me this way.

Not only did I experience a hug and kiss on the cheek as a greeting, I also was exposed to

the “How ya’ll doin’?” with a chin-up head nod. I experienced this greeting in lower income

areas where the racial majority were African American people. Rarely did I hear, “Hello, how are

you today?”. Pretty soon I was also saying, “How ya’ll doin’? and it hasn’t been easy to revert

back to how I used to greet people. I like it because it’s different than how people in Utah greet

each other. Another thing that I experienced in the African American culture is the food. I was

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Being Different Than Everyone Else

able to eat some incredible soul food; some of which consisted of fried chicken, macaroni and

cheese, and corn bread.

Food was one thing that I did experience a lot of from different cultures. I had from

Africa, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, Samoa, Columbia, Dominican Republic, and many

others. I experienced eating a meal while the host, who was from Columbia, washed the dishes

and cleaned the kitchen. I had that experience from several people from different countries. I am

used to eating with everyone at the table so that was a little different. I also experienced eating a

meal without using utensils; to this day this is sometimes my preferred way of eating.

Food was a great way to experience different cultures but the biggest cultural difference

that I experienced was the “East Coast Hospitality”. People from the East Coast are stereotyped

as rude or mean but I came to find out that they are just very honest. One of my friends from

Maryland said, “This is how I explain the difference between Utahns and east coasters. Say your

house burns down. People from Utah would say, “Oh no! If you need somewhere to stay just let

me know” but with the hope that you don’t ask them to stay at their house. And east coasters

would say, “Oh wow. That sucks. Good luck!” if they weren’t able to house you. East coasters

don’t offer to do something they don’t want or intend to do.” (Personal Communication,

December 2019) This is 100% true. East coasters won’t offer to do something if they don’t want

to do so when they do say, “Let me know if you need anything” they mean it. I learned that I

could really rely on people on most people there because they were good at keeping their word

and being sincere on wanting to help.

All of these cultural differences were incredible to experience. The main reason for all of

these differences were where people lived. Many were from a different country. But geographical

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Being Different Than Everyone Else

location isn’t the only thing that determines cultures. “Culture is created symbolically, not

through positioning in a physical location” (Duck, McMahan 116). Another reason was

socioeconomic circumstances. There are many reasons why we have cultural differences and it’s

important to come to understand and celebrate those differences. I’ve incorporated many

different foods and habits into my culture because I loved how different it was from my own.

I’ve learned how to be a better, more loving, and sincere person. I believe wanting to understand

and embrace differences make us more unites with each other.

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Being Different Than Everyone Else

Works Cited

Duck, S., & McMahan, D. T. (2018). Communication in Everyday Life: A survey of

Communication (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.