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Blog #3: Some Unexpected Stereotypes

When I asked my host family about their impressions of Americans most of their stereotypes seemed to be based on a combination of personal experience (having hosted American students for the past seven years), films, and the news. The words that the parents first gave to describe Americans were: open, friendly, chatty, intelligent, hard working. They definitely seemed to share an overall positive view of American culture. One stereotype I found particularly interesting was their assumption that most Americans were overall quite religious and go to mass every Sunday (though this is true for myself, I would not say this is true generally). Then I asked them specifically if they had any negative stereotypes associated with Americans. They responded that they tend to think of Americans as a bit dirty and also they find it hard to understand aspects of the culture like the lack of good food, the use of guns, and the way the government functions in general.
I was a bit surprised at how positive their opinions seemed to be regarding Americans.

I would have thought they could have been a bit less positive due to the Senese dislike for tourism, but it seems like their problem with tourism is more general and not American specific. Their impressions were overall pretty accurate, especially when it comes to Americans being chatty and also just a generally friendly disposition (most of the time…). I have the exact opposite impression of most Americans, however, when it comes to being religious. Also, the generalization about Americans as being dirty was funny to me because I had heard the same generalization about Italians. This conversation about the different stereotypes did surprise me and I would say that they had a far more positive overall impression of Americans than I even have. I would have expected them to say that some overall generalizations were that Americans were loud, obnoxious, and often a bit rude, which can definitely be true, especially in big cities like New York or LA.

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Pre-Departure: Nervous or Excited?!?

Welcome to my first blog post! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Carson Hruskoci and I will be in Salamanca, Spain for 6 weeks!

This entire summer has been great, as I have had time to hang out with family and friends, however, the thought of going to Spain still does not feel real. Being at home, a place where I am comfortable, my mind attempts to feel what it will be like in a week, but cannot. I come from a suburb of Indianapolis, and to be honest have not experienced much cultural diversity in my lifetime. While I do consider myself a fairly experienced traveler, I have never had to collaborate and live in a place where I am a minority. This does ignite a sense of nervousness in me as I will experience something I never have before.

However, while I have begun my packing, this nervousness was bombarded with excitement. I have begun to feel a lot more confident about this trip because I know that I will have such a fun time. Throughout my summer days I have been attempting to translate everything I say in English into Spanish to see how I will do. While I am able to speak full sentences, they are often broken and very simple. I also found that I am always missing a vocab word every other sentence. Speaking is something that I overlook, as I have always been able to speak English in America. This feeling gives me anxiety but is coupled with excitement that I will get better!

Overall, I am feeling more excited then nervous for this trip, but am mad because I cannot find my sunglasses lol.

PS: I wrote this 2 weeks ago but it never made it out of the drafts… next post coming soon!

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How Stereotypes Lose Their Sting

“You wouldn’t know it, but all of the Spanish students here are very smart and accomplished. In fact, they are all studying either law or medicine.”

Half-joking statements like this are very common here in Granada as students from France, England, the United States, Australia, and Japan interact with Spanish students, in particular, and Spanish culture, in general. Statements like this have always made me squirm because I am familiar with how non-consequential statements can take on a life of their own when combined with a history of deprecating humor towards a group of “others.” My professors here joke that Americans are too politically correct and easily offended by statements that are common in Spain. During the first half of my summer, I have struggled to balance my aversion to stereotypes and the more relaxed Spanish attitude toward these phrases.

For me, stereotypes have always been dangerous. Stereotypes destroy the confidence of those who they are directed towards. Additionally, the “stereotyper” is often absolved of any culpability for the harm they cause. Stereotypes are also simple and for language-learners simple always seems better. Sometimes, finding the right words to describe the complexity of your thoughts and feelings about a given subject is not possible given your limited vocabulary and lack of experience with the language. As a result, stereotypes abound within language learning communities.

On the other hand, stereotypes are continually challenged in these communities. I have seen this first-hand in my first month of classes here in Granada. My professors are quick to correct students in our class who make generalizing statements about Spanish culture and we do the same regarding American, British, French, or German culture. Whether we are discussing the state of Catholicism in Spain or local cuisine, stereotypes appear and are addressed quickly. For me, the process of addressing cultural differences and evaluating our own perceptions of another culture is just as important as learning to create grammatically accurate sentences or learning colloquial phrases. It ensures that when we return to our respective countries, we will better understand what it means to be Spanish, beyond generalizations and cultural stereotypes.

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Pre-departure thoughts through a post-arrival lens:

This summer in Yerevan, Armenia is my first ever study abroad adventure, and while the bulk of my time here will be spent in class improving my Russian, I also hope to collect memories and moments that will stay with me and help shape me as a thinker and scholar.

When I was getting ready for this trip a week ago, one thing that I kept telling myself was to make sure I get out of my comfort zone and push myself to interact with people in Russian. I decided to stay in a Russian-speaking hostel in the centre of Yerevan to maximize opportunities for language practice, and to make it easy to find vibrant, welcoming spaces. But I knew pushing myself wouldn’t be easy. Having previously faced mockery for my English as a teenage Eastern European immigrant in Ireland, I knew it would take real effort to commit to exposing myself to the possibility that Russian speakers in Yerevan might react similarly to my far-from-perfect Russian. It took just a day of Russian interactions for Armenians to prove me wrong. Russian conversations outside of class are stressful, yes, my first instinct is always to say nothing. But this is a summer of firsts, and I am doing less and less in silence. Although I have only been here for three days, I can only hope that the trend continues, as I just made plans to introduce myself to one of my roommates tomorrow over breakfast.

As for Yerevan itself—it feels like home to me. I have lived in five different countries so far: Poland, Ireland, Romania, Austria, and the US, and visited many more, among them Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Japan, and Russia. Yet, Eastern European places speak to me in a way no other places do, or perhaps ever could. It is the way the paths are paved with small bricks; it’s rows and rows of pickles and kefir in supermarkets; it’s endless glasses of kompot with dinner; and terrible (though multilingual!) graffiti on walls everywhere. It’s the way my pierogi-making skills transfer directly into correctly flattening dough for lavash, and the fact that indoor spaces are not air-conditioned into oblivion.

But Yerevan is more than that too. It is a beautiful, yet sometimes chaotic, blend of many cultures, owing in large part to its tumultuous history of colonization by various powers, including, of course, the Soviet Union. Being here, for me, is feeling at home in many ways, yet in many others it is a rich learning experience. When I described Yerevan to my husband on the drive into the city from the airport, he commented that it is remarkable when places really look like their history and geographic location suggest they would. Since then I’ve been wondering whether there really are places that do not, in fact, fit this category? This is a question I certainly cannot answer with any authority, but it does take me on a journey of memories of other countries and cities where history is a palpable and visible feature, especially east of Germany.

Over the next two months I am sure I will learn much more about Yerevan, and discover more ways in which it feels like Warsaw, or Bucharest, or Belgrade, other ways in which it reminds me of Erbil, or Amman, and still more ways in which it is entirely unique—and this is what I’m looking forward to the most.