Transitioning

I can speak only from the perspective of an American, which for many people around the world, doesn't mean much. That is to say that the stereotype persists that Americans are not well traveled or well cultured. I've even heard some say that we don't even have our own culture, which is a bit outrageous but I'll save that topic for another post. I think it might be evident, however, that we are somewhat geographically isolated especially compared with European inhabitants or East Asians. Our neighbors to the north are, to put it simply, quite similar to us upon shallow observation. Our neighbors to the south are mutually integrating whether we like it or not (just to be clear, I love the integration). But other than that, we have no immediate need to think globally as Americans. Though it is absolutely imperative that we do become more globally aware as a country (not just military), it is not such an immediate necessity when compared with a commoner in Europe, for example.

In having said that, it is not at all surprising to be met with such low expectations as I scoot around the world. Of course, in Germany my accent was hard to place but when people found out that I was an American there was an instant change in how they spoke with me. I had been met with this attitude many times before, it just takes time. The world would be such a better place if people would just get to know each other rather than make assumptions. But in particular, I would have to say that the most difficult part about transitioning from place to place is adapting the the language and the culture.

Language is difficult. I am a linguist and probably one of my best known traits is that I am pretty decent at picking up languages. But that doesn't mean its not super difficult. It takes hard work and a tremendous amount of focus. And as I have said many times, culture and language go hand in hand. You have to try pretty hard to study language without studing the respective culture. I might even go so far as to say that culture is just as important as language, although language might have it by a hair because it is definitely way more immediately practical. Last year, as I lived in Germany and traveled to Denmark, Belgium, France and England, it was impossible not to see how different each place was even within such close proximity. The drinking culture is different, the food culture is different, the night life is different and if you ignore these things then it is easy to be spotted as an ignorant traveler. Basically, its a matter of respect.

Mostly I hear from people that Americans are proud and ignorant, stupid and blood thirsty. Sometimes I hear that Americans are genial, generous and good looking. And even rarer yet do I hear that Americans are distinguished, brilliant and well meaning. Some have said these things to me without knowing my nationality. One man even shouted at me in the city square, blaming me for the death of his family just because he identified me as an American. The thing is, I don't really care what those individual's experiences of Americans were, I can only represent my country as one person and I take a tremendous amount of pride in that. But that's one part of transitioning that can be both hard and interesting at the same time. Certainly in Taiwan, being American makes it easier though. I love to see other Americans abroad, especially when they are going against this stigma that I really resent.

With this in mind, it is important to draw the line between culture and the individual. Sometimes you can meet a person and realize that that person is just an asshole. It doesn't mean that the culture has anything to do with it, it just means that some people are assholes. Some people have even tried to directly excuse their assholery by way of their culture. "Oh, that's just they way we are around here," I'm leaving out names and countries just to protect individuals but I think my point is clear. If you're an ass then you're an ass and you should own up to it and not blame your culture. I'll be the first to point out that I am not always the smiling, laughing, happy guy that many people perceive me to be. I too, am an asshole and that has nothing to do with my nationality or culture. This distinction is important because if you have only a short time in a certain place and you happen to be surrounded by less than pleasant individuals then that is unfortunate but please hesitate to let that experience leave an impression for you on the region. Most locals are very pleasant to foreigners. The only exception might be Paris (some places in particular) but that is due to the exceedingly high number of tourists who relentlessly gawk and shout and continuously disrespect their host country with litter and ignorant jests at the French language. I love France, though a part of me still resides there in agony.

This post is vague, I know. But I can go into more detail in later posts. Suffice it to say that it is much better to travel prepared. And that doesn't just means good packing, that means be prepared to learn culture, language, food and drink. Otherwise, what are you even doing? If you plan to remain ignorant then don't waste the money. Even more importantly, don't give your home country a bad impression to the rest of the world.