Study Abroad: Cultural Divide too Wide to Cross? Video

Studying abroad can be stressful. One problem, how do you make friends with native students? Shay sent us a video talking bout segregation between US and Thai students. John gives a bit of encouragement - even if its hard to make friends, you can get a lot out of your study abroad experience!

Have you studied abroad? Were you able to bridge the cultural divide and make friends with the natives? Or did you experience the same sort of segregation while you were abroad? Let us know!

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You studied in ...
You studied in Cairo? Gah... I'm BEYOND jealous! D:?

Speaking from ...
Speaking from experience, I spent a year in Thailand working as a teacher and this is not necessarily representative of Thailand as a whole. I lived in a town as only one of three foreign people so? I had no choice but to integrate, a process I found relatively easy. I think the location has a big influence, for example in the bigger cities you don't even have to learn the language because tourism and the English language is everywhere, which can act as a big barrier.

I studied abroad in ...
I studied abroad in 2010 in China and it was the best experience of my life. Since then, I have? been studying Chinese daily and counting down the days to go back. While people from different countries would hang out with their own naturally, there was no problem hanging out with different groups and making new friends. In fact, I'd usually hang out with a group of about 10-15 people from all over the world! Chinese people are also very friendly to foreigners!

Perhaps, she should ...
Perhaps, she should have read up more on the culture of that local area and of the county. While the? idea of studying abroad my be charming, the fundamental fact that sometimes the Cultural Divide will just be to big. Not to say they (whoever they might be) can be good people. You might just not get why things are done in a different way. Here in Finland We go into a hot room full of steam and then whip each other with branches, then run and jump into a cold lake. Sauna not bad just diffrent

They love caucasian ...
They love caucasian Americans.?

I agree that it ...
I agree that it would be better for American parents to introduce their children to alcohol,? rather than their college freshman friends and to start with soft liquor. The problem is that most of the US lacks good public transportation. When the drinking age was changed from 18 to 21 in the 1980's deaths from drunk driving accidents when down by 20%.

In Germany, 16- ...
In Germany, 16-yearolds are allowed to drink 'soft' alcoholic beverages like beer, no hard booze. 14-yearolds in company of their parents are allowed, too. In Bavaria, in beer gardens, you see that all the? time

Glad to see your ...
Glad to see your cousin got a real taste of? that "freedom" of which we're so proud .

Yeah as an American ...
Yeah as an American studying in Japan I was surprised to discover other industrialized countries let? you drink on the street. But I think that law is kind of necessary in the US.

Yeah I think it ...
Yeah I think it really depends on which country they come from too. European students tend to be older and more boisterous so they don't really have problems. But some Asian students struggle with English and? making friends etc.

Should add that I ...
Should add that I would still recommend studying in Japan-it's a? fascinating place. Hoping to go back there to work.

Well, as a white ...
Well, as a white American who studied in Japan, I would rephrase it as "Japanese people love white and black Americans." If you talk to the Asian Americans from my university they will say they were not welcomed? with the same open arms. Japan is 98% ethnically homogeneous, so a non-Asian looking foreigner is like a novelty.

Multiculturalism ...
Multiculturalism is? invalid when your best example is a collection of enclaves

Hmm. I guess I can ...
Hmm. I guess I can count myself as lucky. I am Thai and? I went to study in highschool in America. At that time there was another Thai student in the same school and we hated each other. So I was 'forced' to socialize with American students. However, the experience prepared me for college life. Yes, there were more Thai students in the college but I was as comfortable socializing with American students as well as Thai students.

I'm planning on ...
I'm planning on doing a video response to this....I didnt study abroad, but I sure did work abroad and the dynamic is pretty? similar.

I think ...
I think international students in the USA might encounter similar problems, maybe? even on a larger scale.

i have studied in ...
i have studied in Malaysia last year and i had a very good experience meeting people from another part of the world. As an European girl i wasn't used to meet people from Pakistan, Iraq Iran .. and this was a good opportunity to be more open minded to other cultures. But isn't it the purpose of traveling and study abroad? ! ?

Haha? yeah I can ...
Haha? yeah I can totally relate to that. had pretty much the same experience.

Studying abroad is ...
Studying abroad is one of the best? experiences one could make. It teaches you life lessons that no professor could provide you with whatsoever. I don't see how you couldn't make friends except you're a hopeless wallflower. But in my experience even very shy people going abroad returned as entirely reborn individuals. I think especially as a foreign student among other students you create some sort of curiosity that easily helps you win friends. Just be open-minded!

We have a lot of ...
We have a lot of abroad students? where I study (England) the students from China/Malaysia/Commonwealth and they fit in really fine. But of course you stick with those people you fit in easiest with, AKA those from your country.

You obviously ...
You obviously aren't suffering from my situation, I have personally been chased, almost beaten and harassed here upon people learning of my native country. I've had people find out I didn't speak? Estonian, so they start saying random words acting like they're giving me an obnoxious vocab lesson. No, the WiFi is f**king bulls**t, and it's only commonly found around bus stations, squares, or malls. (sometimes schools) teens bring alcohol everywhere and blast loud music from their 80s Audi.

I found it a bit ...
I found it a bit different studying abroad, except, a lot of the other Americans wanted to spend time with me and complain about the other? people. I was tired of telling them the reason I went abroad was because I disliked all the things they were pining for back home. (I guess it helped when I went to other nations, people did not know I was American until they saw my passport.)

@CssAfc You don't ...
@CssAfc You don't know what you're talking about, shut the f**k up. Your friend who lives in England =/= whole Estonian population. My fiancee is Estonian, clearly I have to deal with her whole xenophobic family as well. They are afraid she might lose her? way or god forbid move to the US. Eastern Europeans harass foreigners (especially poor Russians) more than any other people I've ever seen. Its common sense here to verbally hate on outsiders. If you really don't believe it, come and live here.

Well, you are in ...
Well, you are in Alabama. That's like judging an entire class by the anchorman in summer school. After living in the Deep South, I found the? people there to be anything but deep.

For some reason I ...
For some reason I was surprised when she said that the Chinese? are more social.

I have an Estonian ...
I have an Estonian friend from his exchange to Oxford Brookes (England) and this is? not the impression I got of him or his culture, try and be less judgmental and it might get you somewhere.

@michaeladams94 *I ...
@michaeladams94 *I am Studying? in Alabama, my bad*

I am from Germany, ...
I am from Germany, and I am studying in Germany now. Ive been here for about two years now, and I love it. But please guys, I never climbed the wall, I never met Hitler in person (wtf?), we DO have electricity (Mercedes is a german brand), Oktoberfest is not the German version of Christmas, and we do not wear Lederhosen all? day. Not all Americans are stupid, but that is why a Lot of Europeans do not like American tourists, because it seems like some think the world is AMERICA n f**kin boondocks

I'm from Argentina ...
I'm from Argentina and I'm currently studying in Poland. So far it has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I always try to be with my Polish classmates to get more involved? in the country's culture. I think it depends on the people to do so, they have been amazing to me since day one and they make me feel comfortable so I don't really need to be in touch with other Argentinians or Spanish speaking students. :)

I may not have gone ...
I may not have gone abroad to study, but I did go far enough to see some differences from my hometown. However i do agree that the international students or non-local students do find some? difficulty in mixing with the locals. A friend and myself who are local students just happen to be from english speaking families (we speak english better than our local language) and its almost as if we are more accepted among the international students as opposed to the locals, just my 2 cents