My experience in France was a unique opportunity and I am very lucky that adjusting to life abroad was not too difficult, I credit a large part of that to the fact that I grew up visiting family in Mexico a lot; however, that does not mean there were not experiences that proved to be challenging. The first aspect of my host culture that comes to mind has to do with living with a host family. I lived with two women and another American student. I found that since my host moms were younger than most other host parents we had few rules and those that we had were common, such as locking the doors, turning off the lights, and other small things such as those. Once the rules were voiced, it was expected that we did not have to be reminded often to do them, and if we did forget and “break” a rule, we would be reminded in a stern tone or with what would seem to be annoyance.
There was one specific instance where my roommate broke every rule one afternoon, and my host mom reacted in what my roommate considered an extreme way, I felt that due to a cultural difference it could have been taken as being an extreme reaction, but I believe that growing up in a Hispanic household, my roommate’s actions were disrespectful and warranted an upset response. To me, I feel that having grown up Mexican American, I almost had a harder time having a roommate that was wholly American, we simply had different values and grew up in different ways.
I believe that someone from my host culture would consider and view the situation as being completely normal. I heard of many other students who lived in a household with even more rules that were even more upheld. From my time abroad I learned that traditional French households value structure and respect, I believe that others in my host culture would believe that perhaps the host needed to have communicated in a calmer manner, but most would agree and claim that my roommate’s actions were disrespectful, especially since the situation occurred the last week of our time abroad.
I believe that these reflections prepare me for future cultural misunderstandings and conflicts because this semester abroad forced me to put aside my perspective in order to understand the things my host moms voiced, as well as things that were brought to light by school administrators. I also believe that living with another American student was also an experience I did not expect to be so challenging but has taught me how to cope with cultural differences even in my home country. I believe that this experience served to broaden my understanding for both my majors, international relations and sociology. I found that many of my cultural conflicts abroad ended with a greater understanding of other individuals around me, a skill that is extremely valuable in this ever-changing world.