Category: France: IAU College

By being an international student, I have learned to gather the habits from each culture to help develop my own character. So far, the United States culture had the biggest impact on me. In other words, I have more values and behaviors from the American culture than from my native culture. The value behind individualism…

When I think about American culture, a significant aspect that comes to mind is the individualistic nature of society. Compared to the more collectivist culture in Europe and in Asia, in the US every person is viewed as a self-sufficient individual. I think this connects significantly to the idea of ” The American Dream”. Over…

America has many different cultural identities that have been fused together by generations of immigrants. One aspect of American culture that I will delve into is the independent drive of America that is based upon the very Independency that our Founding Fathers dreamed of when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. In America, it is…

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…

One moment where I experienced confusion by my host culture in France was during dinners with my host family. Before arriving to Aix-en-Provence, we were told that the French were very opinionated. It is one thing to be told and then another to actually experience such opinionated thoughts. During a lot dinners, controversial topics would…

Since I arrived here in Aix, I have been amazed by the beauty of the town and the people around here. My experience of cultural confrontation so far is very mild. The reason is quite simple. This is not my first time being exposed to another culture. Culture in the State is already different from…

I will have been in Aix-en-Provence for three months and that still feels unreal to even believe I am in France. When thinking back to pre-departure and orientation I listed to all the many things we would be going and growing through during our time. Of course, it goes in one ear and out the…

In three days, I will have officially been in France for two full months. I feel like the first month felt much longer than the second month. I am very glad to have been told about “The U-Curve of Cultural Adjustment” because it is very real and knowing that I am not alone in this…

American culture, it seems to me, is an amalgam of many competing influences and ideas. There is an openness here that allows the ambitious to integrate and thrive, but that openness seems to come at the price of a well-defined cultural identity. I feel very much of two minds about the multicultural environment in the…

An aspect of U.S. culture is a generally a go getter attitude. People in the United States are more open to risk taking and exploring all aspects of what the world has to offer. In general, we are seekers.  My own judgments on these aspects are that in of itself. I do believe that our…