During my time abroad in London, there were several instances where I felt a bit confused and had to learn to adjust to a cultural difference. One example of this is when I arrived at my internship placement and began to learn the ways that people socialize at the office – the way they treat each other, the type of jokes they make, and the emphasis placed on work relationships. It was quite different to what I was used to, which was more work focused and placed a large emphasis on time, and not wasting time. I felt a bit worried at first that I wouldn’t fit in well with my new team, but I can now say that I left feeling proud of how everything turned out. By the end of my internship, I felt extremely comfortable doing all tasks with no guidance, starting conversations with everyone around the office (and about things that had nothing to do with work just to form a better relationship), and I even trained a new hire.
In my opinion, there are positives and negatives to the differences in the work culture in the UK and the US. I feel that the UK work environment is a lot more positive. People are less focused on working non-stop and focus more on making the experience positive. For example, my boss took a break every hour to read or take a walk. When I first arrived, this really surprised me. I wondered, why does he keep leaving the office? Then I realized that he did this in order to keep a positive mindset and make work more enjoyable. My time working abroad has made me realize that the US work culture can be a bit toxic as there is so much emphasis on working as quickly as possible until you are defeated. However, there are things about US work cuture that I prefer, like the communication style on tasks. In my internship, I would get vague instructions sometimes and felt very overwhelmed. I had to learn to take it upon myself to ask for clarification where needed, and to check in with my boss to show my progress and make sure I was on the right track. I feel that in the US, the communication style is low-context and therefore everything is communicated the way it is, leaving little room for interpretation.
I think someone from my host culture of the UK would view my experience as quite reflective of their culture. There are so many things I learned that I had never thought were different abroad. The way people speak and lingo they use, type of jokes they make, and way they treat eachother is so different. For example, when you say “thank you” people say “that’s okay”. At first, I felt odd about this and thought it sounded as if I was bothering them or apologizing, but it’s just a difference in the way they speak.
These reflections on my time abroad have prepared me to response to any future cultural misunderstandings or conflicts that might arise because I now have more insight into how the differences in culture can influence how we interact. I think I will be able to view all conflicts from a more ethnorelative perspective and take time to think, “how do our cultural differences make this situation conflicting, and how can we overcome it?”.