Posts

Posted on

Blog Post #2: Túuuuuusted

My cultural immersion is inevitably plagued by uncertainty and misunderstanding. These critical moments are learning opportunities, ways to improve my understanding of Costa Rican culture. During my orientation, I learned that Costa Ricans mostly use “usted” instead of “tú” when speaking to someone. The first term is more formal, but I learned that it is becoming the common phrase in the way that “you” replaced “thou” in English. My program director even told me that she hears spouses use usted with each other. Internalizing this new way of communication, I used usted with my host brother. I didn’t understand why he looked at me strangely. 

“Are we not friends? Why are you calling me usted?” 

At the moment, I felt uncomfortable. It is difficult to dually navigate living in a host family and communication and cultural barriers. Now, this moment seems less significant: simply a part of adjusting to new languages and relationships. 

Culturally, this moment relates to respect. I am still learning how to properly address each person. While usted is a sign of respect, tú can be as well: it can show the depth of a relationship between friends and loved ones. Thinking about cultural metaphors, I find myself looking at this critical moment through a camera lens. When I zoom in, I see difficulties navigating a new brother-sister relationship. However, zooming out reveals the background of the picture, the different ideas of respect our different cultures hold and how it translates into spoken language. 

While this was a passing moment, it taught me to adjust my expectations of Costa Rican culture. Learning about Latin American culture in class and actually navigating life here are very different. I am doing my best to stay open minded and to learn from my errors instead of letting embarrassment keep me from improving my language skills and cultural understanding.

Posted on

An Interesting Uh Oh! (The First Post)

Uh oh. 7 days until I am on a series of planes getting shipped off to a country I will live in for two months, the glorious Egypt. Firstly, I should introduce myself. I am Amir Khouzam, a rising Junior majoring in Arabic and Neuroscience at the University of Notre Dame. Ok, back to uh oh. The reason I decided to go to Egypt is because I was born to Egyptian parents, and grew up surrounded by people speaking Arabic. Arabic, and particularly Egyptian culture has shaped me growing up. I would pick up on certain things, but was illiterate basically until college. Having visited Cairo a couple of times in the past, I never stayed longer than two weeks. Actually, come to think of it, I have never spent more than two weeks out of the country anywhere. Truly living somewhere else (outside of college of course).

To be fair, I haven’t really felt too nervous just yet, but I think that it hasn’t really settled in yet. Once I get on that plane, we’ll see how that feeling changes. Regardless, I think that these two months are going to be insane. I don’t really know what to expect, but I think that’s the fun of it. Getting to see family again will be amazing, and learning how to navigate life alone will be a challenge for sure. It will be the first time in my life that I live without anyone from my nuclear family, because I am a triplet, and my brother goes to Notre Dame with me. I’ll be truly alone. Uh oh. Being a week out now, it is starting to settle in a bit more. But it’s a good Uh oh. One that is a little anxious, but is so for all the right reasons. I believe being a little anxious about the unknown is never a bad thing. I pray that this trip will offer me a chance to grow more as a person, and I now promise myself that I will take everything that comes my way when I’m in my heritage land, with an open mind and an open heart. Well, I think I’m logging off for now, but I look forward to catching you all up very, very soon. Please wish me luck, and Go Irish!

Posted on

First Blog Post (Первый Блог)

I realistically expect to maintain my Russian language proficiency over the Summer. This will be my first trip to a Russian speaking country, meaning that it will be the first time I can productively use my Russian language skills to communicate. This is no longer a classroom, meaning that communication is key.

My lived experience has to this effect been very insular. A teacher and a major can only take you so far, and at the end of the day, I must be able to apply what I have learned to the real world. My lived experience is comparable to that of an infant, and it is daunting to know that it is a world of unknowns in which I voluntarily enter, passing the threshold that is the plane’s walkway. In a sense, this trip will be a test of my education, and it will be a test of my preconceived notions of Eastern Europe.

I have written extensively on Eastern Europe, on NATO, on Russia, and my unconscious bias, my frame of reference as a member of the Western community, will of course seep through into my writing. I can only hope that my world will widen.

Я желаю чтобы мое мир ростил.

Posted on

Third Post

Once a week at a restaurant in Tours, natives of the area come to meet international students and help them practice French. This week, I asked them about common stereotypes held about Americans, and we discussed differences between our countries.

Many come to the event frequently, so they have met Americans from all over the continent. Most have additional exposure to American culture, whether it’s living and working with other Americans or visiting a few major US cities. They shared that American culture is generally admired and liked by the French. Cultural elements such as music and film have been embraced, and the opportunities for enterprise and travel within America is also attractive to foreigners. Americans are generally perceived to be welcoming, friendly, and outgoing.

Some of the drawbacks or more unfavorable aspects they pointed out were things that I agreed with. For example, while American cities are very big and offer many opportunities and events, they lack the history that Europe can claim. They also have a much more modern layout, making it necessary to drive or take public transportation everywhere, while in France much more is accessible by merely walking. In my opinion, the most interesting cultural difference is that French households have dinner together every night. At least in my experience, I have observed and heard that most American families seldom dine together on a consistent basis.

It seems to me that many of the differences stem from the country’s history. France has been developing their culture and lifestyle for much longer than America, so many elements of modern culture are not as integrated yet. However, the more I learn about differences between countries, the more I see how difficult it is to trace back a certain feature to a single cause. Historical, social, political, and cultural factors have blended together over the centuries to shape our societies, and they will continue to interact in shaping our countries’ futures.