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Hi everyone! I’m a first year history PhD student about to set off to Grenoble, France for my summer language abroad experience. I am currently with my fiancé’s family in Oklahoma City and am gearing up for many changes in the next couple of weeks––moving to a new continent, studying a new language, and immersing myself in a new culture. The conversations I have had with my SLA cohort have already helped me reflect on some of the challenges I might face during this experience. For one, I have had the opportunity to reflect on my own values––namely, how my Catholic faith, academic background, and socioeconomic status each shape my interactions with other people and places. I have noticed that this has been a central topic of conversation in our discussion posts. How can we simultaneously be confident in our own religious and cultural identities while being inclusive of different ones? I hope to practice walking this line in France––growing as a Catholic while learning more about other systems of belief.

In addition to developing my own beliefs and understanding of others’, I am just really looking forward to getting to know a new place, culture, and language. Living in the mountains outside of Grenoble, I am eager to take advantage of the chance to build relationships with hikers, paragliders, and hut keepers. And in my classes in the city, I am ready to work hard to grow as a French speaker and writer. I am already so thankful for the chance to embark on this journey and look forward to keeping everyone updated on my travels!

Imanalla! Ñukaka Chihiromi kani. Kunanka Ecuadorpa kapakllakta Kitupi kawsashpa kichwa shimitami yachakuni.

It is my second week in Quito, Ecuador, and I would like to share some of the Critical Incidents I have encountered. As the title suggests, I have three small stories.

Bills: how are we supposed to pay at restaurants?

Located right on the equator (hence “La República del Ecuador“) and bestowed with the diverse nature of the Pacific Ocean, the Andean mountain range, and the Amazon, Ecuador has unique and delicious cuisine. Naturally, I cannot resist my desire to try some Ecuadorian food in local restaurants. So I enter a restaurant, but then suddenly I have a slight sense of panic.

• When should I pay? Before seating? After the meal?
• If I get a bill, then will I pay at my table or go to the cashier?

I feel confused, and I actually felt the same way when I moved to the United States. The payment custom at American restaurants is surprisingly different from that of Japan and the United Kingdom. So, being aware of these three norms, I genuinely did not know which of these applies to the Ecuadorian culture; or, using one of the metaphors introduced in the Module, I have three glasses that I have customized in order to look at Japanese, British, and American cultures, but I could not see it well with any of these at first in Ecuador.

After some trials with fear and curiosity, I have figured out that the payment custom really depends on each place. There are restaurants that you pay first at the cashier when ordering, pay at the table, or pay at the cashier after the meal (but I haven’t seen anything like payment like in the US where your waiter reads your credit card, comes back with it, you sign on a receipt and add some tip). I have learned that it is totally acceptable to ask them directly about when and how I should pay, because the system ultimately depends on each restaurant (what’s more, even 10-dollar bills are sometimes not accepted, so it is better to ask them if you only have them).

Musicians: should we give money to strangers?

When having my lunch at those Ecuadorian local restaurants, sometimes a musician comes in and suddenly starts playing an instrument or singing. It was a little shocking to me because other customers and staff around me were not showing any shock as if it was normal. Though I almost immediately knew that they came for earning some coins, I still did not know whether I should give them money or not.

On one hand, I tell myself, “Just give them some money, it won’t hurt me while it might mean more than it for them.” On the other side, I also cannot help myself thinking: “Giving them a little money does not ultimately help them; if I give them, other tourists might be looked at as money trees; or, in the first place, I don’t even know if they are really in need of help.”

When I was in Japan, I hardly thought about this question because it was very rare to be begged there. However, in societies with huge economic discrepancies, it is inevitable to think about it, not only because there are such occasions, but also because it is not so rare for someone to choose to give them money or donate some of their belongings.

Every time I face this kind of case, I feel a little confused either way; if I choose to give them money, I think “Will what I have just done help them get out of this situation? Aren’t I just being a hypocrite?”; if I choose not to, then I feel guilty because I would barely get any harm by sharing and I could have made their day a little better. My cultural glasses simply cannot find an answer to these questions even now.

Prayers: what should I do during the prayer before the meal?

Since coming to Notre Dame, it has not been rare to see Christian people pray before starting their meal. It was a little shocking (not in a bad sense) to me at first, simply because I have grown up in an environment without such customs of praying before meals.

The large majority of the population in Ecuador is Catholic, and my host family was also praying before their meal on my first day. I felt awkward. I identify myself as a secular person with a bleached background in Buddhism and Shintoism. I did not know how to pray in a Christian way; I am not familiar with what kind of importance the prayer has; or what non-Christians are supposed to do during the prayer. I could not see well through my cultural glasses. I still do not know.

I do not know if they noticed me being a bit awkward at it, but they no longer pray before our meal since my third day. I haven’t asked them why either, because I am not ready to ask them about religion, because sometimes it can be personal or sensitive. I do hope that I will learn how to cope with customary differences arising from religions in general because they are ubiquitous in the world, sometimes even with the potential of causing aggressive friction.

Hello everyone! My name is Evie Garces-Foley and in just a week I’ll be in Madrid beginning my summer abroad to study Spanish. I was born in Oxnard, California but grew up in Annandale, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC. The last time I lived abroad was in 5th grade when my family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia for 5 months. I’m lucky to have lessons and memories from my time in Ljubljana as I venture out to Madrid, but this doesn’t mean that I’m not a bit terrified to be moving to a city where I don’t know a single person and am definitely less than proficient in the language. 

In Slovenia I discovered much of what I now hope to improve upon while living in Madrid. It was there that I realized that there is a lot more to the world than just Virginia and California, which sparked my interest in the variety of the human experience and the joys of independence. For example, the realization that it’s not ‘normal’ in every country to have a selection of 50 different name-brand salad dressings at your local supermarket has now become the goal to reflect upon my biases of American exceptionalism while learning the cultural norms of another country.

I also got my first taste of independence in Ljubljana, which is now something I hope to fully embrace in Madrid. This means embracing the opportunities that exist for me to explore on my own, as well as embracing the discomfort that comes along with this. I’ve never lived in a city or explored a country on my own before, and although I’ll have my host family and people I meet in Madrid along with me on this adventure, I don’t want solo travel to be a barrier to my full immersion into Spanish culture and language.

Seeing as I truly have no idea what I’m getting myself into (at this moment I don’t even know where I’m living or what classes I’m taking or anyone else in my program), I’m looking forward to continuing these blog posts and seeing how much I grow in the next 2 months. Not only do I hope to improve my conversational and academic Spanish skills, but I also hope to look back at this post in August and say wow 1. This girl actually had no idea what she was getting herself into and 2. I’m more interculturally competent, independent, and badass for having done this. 

The SLA has been an interesting experience so far. I am an American-Israeli, who has lived on multiple continents. I have always considered myself a fairly open minded person. Discussing the IDI with other SLA students, it appears that “open minded” might mean different things to different people. While some believe being open minded simply amounts to “live and let live,” it seems to me that one must actively try to understand the prespective of others.

This leads to the uncomfortable understanding that we are not, in fact, all the same. Different cultures truly are different, and they don’t have the same social norms and customs. Sometimes, a new social norm can feel completely bizarre. We have to acknowledge our differences before we can start learning from each other.