I believe a lot of the world sees Americans as people
without a lot of culture. I think that is how I have heard America and
Americans described the most while I’ve been over here. But when you get right
down to it, I think America has just as much culture as Europe. Of course it’s
a different type of culture – it’s definitely more modern, and while we are not
made up of a lot of small countries, we are instead made up of people from all
over the world. Not to mention, our different sections of the country definitely
have different cultures…the West coast, New England, The South, The Midwest,
Texas, etc. A good friend of mine that grew up in South Carolina moved out to
California after graduating college, and it took her a while to get used to the
different personalities and ways of life there. Just because we are in the same
country, doesn’t mean we don’t have different cultures. It’s the same way
Bavaria clashes with the rest of Germany, Belgium consists of French-speaking
parts as well as Flemish-speaking, how Spain has many different dialects of Spanish
all in the same country, or how Italian cuisine is completely different
depending if you are in the North or South.
Look at our food for instance. Yes, we get a bad rap for our
unhealthy food choices, and most of the time when I am having a conversation
with a European, one of the first things they bring up is our food and how fat
everyone is. I think our obese situation is greatly exaggerated in Europeans’
eyes. The good thing about our love (obsession) with food is that I don’t
believe there is anywhere in Europe that has as many food choices as we do. And
I wouldn’t have it any other way. Say I’m in Louisville… I can find pretty much
any type of food I want in a 15-mile radius. Maybe even smaller. How is that
for culture?
While I’ve been here, I’ve been trying to embrace as many
cultures as possible. When I travel to new cities, I try to be as much like the
inhabitants as possible in order to try and understand the city as in depth as
I can. But it’s hard to really familiarize yourself with cultural differences
in a few days’ time. Europe does have a lot of culture… a lot of this is from
all of the immigrants. Düsseldorf has the largest Japanese population in all of
Europe, and where I live, there is a huge population of Greek people (just as
an example). There’s such a mixture of cultures in every city here. Sound
familiar? It’s exactly the same way in America. Where you find cities, you find
a mixing a culture, traditions and philosophies, with Chinatowns and Little
Italys and other neighborhoods filled with immigrants and their cultures’
decorum and atmosphere. The same way we don’t take on the different cultures
and change our personalities when we step in Little Italy, Germans don’t take
on the personality of the French. That is why we have different cultures,
because most people stay tuned to the culture they grew up in. Somehow it is
being read that we don’t have much culture. Just because America is not
surrounded by other countries and most Americans don’t fluently speak more than
one language, doesn’t mean that we aren’t filled with different customs and
personalities. We have our own unique culture that is different than any other
country.
Today, I went to the British Things Store to get some tea and
see what else they had. A very nice British gentleman owns it, and we talked
about England and America for a bit. His 15-year-old daughter wants to move to
and live permanently in New York oh-so-badly, he told me, to the point where
she GoogleMapped it (GoogleMaps can be a verb, right?) the other day in order
to look at the street view of Manhattan. He has been to America a few times
(mostly California, I believe) and thinks that American people are super nice
and friendly and he loves us. Smart guy. I love talking to people about
America, whether they’re saying good things or bad things, just to see how the
rest of the world views us. It’s really interesting. I just like to see what
Europe has picked up about us from TV shows and news. (As a side note, he also
asked me how I was seemingly intelligent when all he has heard of the school
system in America is that it is horrible (from Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien). That’s
the first time someone has brought up that topic with me, and growing up with
both parents being teachers, I’ve heard a lot of shall we say, opinions, about
the school system throughout my life. I thought about countering by asking him
how it was possible that he had nice teeth when all I hear about dentistry in
England is how everyone is walking around with yellow, crooked teeth.)
A lot of what I’ve learned here is to throw pre-conceived
notions about other cultures out the window and form a fresh opinion. Hopefully
I’m showing some people to do the same thing about America.
…and that was a bit of a rant, but all true, so there you
go. Also, I apologize for my over-use of the word “culture”, but there is
really no good synonym to encase the whole meaning.
Love this video. LEARN embodies culture the most, I think, but so does its two mates: EAT and MOVE (my favorite). Look them up. They'll inspire you.
