Dealing with different cultures (fit in, home, college)

[Repubocrat]

I am Brazilian-American, I live in Minnesota and I had a very interesting experience staying at a hostel in Toronto about 3 weeks ago. I am usually a very friendly person and I love to talk to people and BS around but It is always a culture shock when you deal with people from other countries. I met a Canadian guy there and we clicked right away because I guess, culturally we are similar, we share the same sense of humor and love to joke around(Is this an American thing?)

There were a few guys from the UK and although I tried to be myself and just act natural, there is a huge cultural difference there, almost everything they do revolves around drinking and I do not drink. The Canadian dude started joking around with a French girl that was sitting there, and her response was so weird, no sense of humor and she even got mad at him for joking around, the other French people were similar, no sense of humor whatsoever.

I met a couple of Germans and they are always nice but you never know if they really enjoyed your company or if they just did it because it was the polite thing to do. Anyways, the Australians were nice but so obnoxious, the girls were kind of vulgar and classless, kind of a turn off. I have stayed at many hostels all over the world and although I hate to stereotype people, I see some of the same patterns over and over. I really try to make the effort to understand people from their cultural perspective but sometimes it is very hard.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by Repubocrat

I am Brazilian-American, I live in Minnesota and I had a very interesting experience staying at a hostel in Toronto about 3 weeks ago. I am usually a very friendly person and I love to talk to people and BS around but It is always a culture shock when you deal with people from other countries. I met a Canadian guy there and we clicked right away because I guess, culturally we are similar, we share the same sense of humor and love to joke around(Is this an American thing?)

There were a few guys from the UK and although I tried to be myself and just act natural, there is a huge cultural difference there, almost everything they do revolves around drinking and I do not drink. The Canadian dude started joking around with a French girl that was sitting there, and her response was so weird, no sense of humor and she even got mad at him for joking around, the other French people were similar, no sense of humor whatsoever.

I met a couple of Germans and they are always nice but you never know if they really enjoyed your company or if they just did it because it was the polite thing to do. Anyways, the Australians were nice but so obnoxious, the girls were kind of vulgar and classless, kind of a turn off. I have stayed at many hostels all over the world and although I hate to stereotype people, I see some of the same patterns over and over. I really try to make the effort to understand people from their cultural perspective but sometimes it is very hard.

It's hard to understand and accept people when they are very, very different than you are. You just have to shrug your shoulders and smile! If you think these folks are "different" just wait until you meet some from third-world countries and Eastern Europe - it's pretty shocking.

20yrsinBranson

[irman]

There is NOTHING you can do to change that.
Sometimes I wish I could read minds ...
Would be interesting to know what people think about YOU, no ?
Be yourself, and do the best you can.
Been there, done that.

[DontH8Me]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

It's hard to understand and accept people when they are very, very different than you are. You just have to shrug your shoulders and smile! If you think these folks are "different" just wait until you meet some from third-world countries and Eastern Europe - it's pretty shocking.

20yrsinBranson

Can you elobarate on that?

[Scotslass]

Originally Posted by Repubocrat

There were a few guys from the UK and although I tried to be myself and just act natural, there is a huge cultural difference there, almost everything they do revolves around drinking and I do not drink.er. I really try to make the effort to understand people from their cultural perspective but sometimes it is very hard.

I think your being judgemental i mean i know pleanty of Americans that drink alot so its not just here. May i ask where they were from?

I tend to just take people as a find them. I do not find America to be that different from where im from, its all relative. If my fiance can fit in being American and find it like his home then its not that culturally different compared to China, Russia etc.

So to say theres a big cultural difference because you met some guys from here its just wrong to tar all of us with the same brush.

[leaana]

Originally Posted by Repubocrat

I am Brazilian-American, I live in Minnesota and I had a very interesting experience staying at a hostel in Toronto about 3 weeks ago. I am usually a very friendly person and I love to talk to people and BS around but It is always a culture shock when you deal with people from other countries. I met a Canadian guy there and we clicked right away because I guess, culturally we are similar, we share the same sense of humor and love to joke around(Is this an American thing?)

There were a few guys from the UK and although I tried to be myself and just act natural, there is a huge cultural difference there, almost everything they do revolves around drinking and I do not drink. The Canadian dude started joking around with a French girl that was sitting there, and her response was so weird, no sense of humor and she even got mad at him for joking around, the other French people were similar, no sense of humor whatsoever.

I met a couple of Germans and they are always nice but you never know if they really enjoyed your company or if they just did it because it was the polite thing to do. Anyways, the Australians were nice but so obnoxious, the girls were kind of vulgar and classless, kind of a turn off. I have stayed at many hostels all over the world and although I hate to stereotype people, I see some of the same patterns over and over. I really try to make the effort to understand people from their cultural perspective but sometimes it is very hard.

I just have to say one thing: your thread is ridiculous in how it's presented. you seem to think only americans are squeaky clean and should be shocked which is not only arrogant but actually very ignorant considering how many american tourists have developeda bad reputation.

so i find your thread as some 'tit for tat' bull to stroke some american ego. when i was traveling and staying at hostels i first assumed i would naturally be more comfortable with americans (mostly because of language) i would meet but that is not what happened. there were all types of people from all over the world and most spoke some english and most were all interesting and nice but since i wasn't in a western country (they traveled far away from western home) that might have had something to do with it since the people were extremely open-minded, global-minded, not provincial and adventurous. and all the negative things you describe i've witnessed with americans as most are extremely narrow-minded and rude and it's hard to just be around that type of aura.

[Mooseketeer]

I find it odd that anyone could presume to judge entire populations by meeting a couple of people in a hostel. I don't think cultural preconceptions and prejudices can be overcome unless one truly delves into a country's culture and mores. I tend to take people as they are on an individual basis , I also think that what we often take as unfriendliness is just a different way of externalising things.
People can be very reserved and still be friendly but on the outside appear rude. Others can be superficially very frienddly and yet nothing of more substance will ever emanate from them.

People are people. I have only been a couple of places in my life where I found the majority of people to be on the unfriendly side ( one was Bordeaux and the other Glasgow and I lived in both places long enough to make that very personal opinion based on something more profound than whether someone laughed at your jokes).

Having travelled the world I tend to find most people extremely friendly to outsiders as well as genuinely hospitable and helpful. It does not mean they have the same sense of humour as myself or same cultural "landmarks" but our shared humanity always brings us together in spite of language and cultural barriers. I used to travel extensively as a single woman and there are virtually no places I ever found myself worrying about danger or finding the locals out of reach.

We all are different, we don't all appreciate the same things or see the world in the same way. It does not mean the "other"' is any more unfriendly , just different. That is what makes travel such an exciting and fascinating pursuit. To me anyway.

You cannot judge millions of people on a sample of a couple of people. That seems incredibly narrow minded and disingenuous.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by DontH8Me

Can you elobarate on that?

They simply have very, very different cultures, that's all. Most people, because of the media, tend to be more familiar with the cultures of European countries (think "National Lampoon's European Vacation). However, because of the nature of politics in Eastern European countries (including the "Stans" which used to be part of Russia), people have not been exposed to the some of the more unusual aspects of their culture. Likewise third-world countries. We are very isolated from knowing much about a lot of places that you do not hear about on the nightly news. Can anyone on this forum (who is not from there) even point to TONGA on the map? I couldn't. LOL

20yrsinBranson

[Scotslass]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

I find it odd that anyone could presume to judge entire populations by meeting a couple of people in a hostel. I don't think cultural preconceptions and prejudices can be overcome unless one truly delves into a country's culture and mores. I tend to take people as they are on an individual basis , I also think that what we often take as unfriendliness is just a different way of externalising things.
People can be very reserved and still be friendly but on the outside appear rude. Others can be superficially very frienddly and yet nothing of more substance will ever emanate from them.

People are people. I have only been a couple of places in my life where I found the majority of people to be on the unfriendly side ( one was Bordeaux and the other Glasgow and I lived in both places long enough to make that very personal opinion based on something more profound than whether someone laughed at your jokes).

Having travelled the world I tend to find most people extremely friendly to outsiders as well as genuinely hospitable and helpful. It does not mean they have the same sense of humour as myself or same cultural "landmarks" but our shared humanity always brings us together in spite of language and cultural barriers. I used to travel extensively as a single woman and there are virtually no places I ever found myself worrying about danger or finding the locals out of reach.

We all are different, we don't all appreciate the same things or see the world in the same way. It does not mean the "other"' is any more unfriendly , just different. That is what makes travel such an exciting and fascinating pursuit. To me anyway.

You cannot judge millions of people on a sample of a couple of people. That seems incredibly narrow minded and disingenuous.

We said!

That is like me saying all Americans that live in the south are rednecks because i saw a few. Simply not the case, you get all walks of live here just like you do everywhere else. To judge purely by nationality is shallow and ignorant.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

I find it odd that anyone could presume to judge entire populations by meeting a couple of people in a hostel..

Agreed... I don't think that a handful of tourists really makes for a good cross section to base an opinion about certain cultures. A pack of presumably 20-something college students "abroad" will probably have different attitudes than the average person in their home countries.