Upon reflecting on my identity, I believe that my identity provides both advantages and disadvantages toward my world experiences. Being an American allows me to the see the world in a very broad perspective. Being that the United States is the third largest country in the world, I get to see so many diverse people and places. I feel the U.S. provides an aspect of freedom and patriotism through its societal values, specifically on independence. With the U.S. being a more individualistic society, I feel that I can put the emphasis on “self”, meaning I truly dictate almost every aspect of my life. This way of thinking can be very fulfilling and powerful yet also selfish. I think being an American can also make me turn a blind eye to the suffering world around me. Not everyone obtains the same confidence, esteem and independence as I do nor do they value independence as much as I do. I feel as well being African American gives me the ability to experience what it is like to have the perspective as a minority. Nonetheless, my identity as an African American gives me pride and courage that I believe are needed to be able to appreciate this world. I use this to my advantage to create new experiences and break cultural norms.
When I go abroad, I expect to encounter people who think differently than I do. I expect to meet people who find value in different things than me as well as have fun doing different things than I do. I expect to meet people from different religions, cultures and ethnicities. I think these people will probably value different things than I do. There are so many cultures with so much history in our world and I know that is something people take pride in. I expect people to really view life through their cultural identities. With this, I think viewing life through their culture may limit their perception. For example, I understand everyone has different ‘norms’ and I think that not understanding some one else’s perspective may cause you to think indifferently about what they think is normal. I am so excited to learn and to adjust to all these different things. I think it is fascinating how different people are. I cannot wait to learn more.