Cultural Exposure and Perspective

I have never been one of those people to follow politics, so issues of how other people and countries saw America was something that had never really occurred to me ... until I began taking foreign language classes and got a taste of other cultures and attitudes for myself.

But it was not until I spent two summers as a part of a study abroad program that I truly began to understand the attitudes of other countries when it came to the United States. The program I was in included a rather large group of students. I watched as some of them vehemently displayed an arrogant American attitude toward our Russian hosts constantly complaining of how it wasn't like "at home";while others genuinely tried to make friends. Displays of downright disrespect were commonplace among the students and other tourists. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism is the eastern European countries citizens in the former eastern block have been returning to the churches that are now frequent tourist attractions. Russian women dress in a conservative manner especially when it comes to visiting one of those churches. My room mate told me of a visit to a church and the total lack of respect displayed by an American tourist who walked into the church bare headed wearing shorts and smacking gum while proclaiming that she didn't understand why they didn't speak English like everybody else. Both my room mate and I were very disturbed by this behaviour and felt like slapping this person. We spent eleven weeks of that summer in St. Petersburg and after a couple weeks we saw our dorm as home; the others were just tourists.

I was there to learn, and not just the language. I took advantage of the situation as I watched, listened and learned. Somehow I managed to blend in and not be pegged as a typical American or even an American. The Russian people I encountered knew that I was not one of them but they thought that I was from some other European country. As I went about the city I got an understanding for why we as Americans are often viewed with contempt and even sometimes hatred.

I have learned that to many countries the typical American attitude toward much of the world is that American believes its own hype as being the best country in the world. As a result some Americans - at least the ones in power - feel that the American way is the right way and the only way to do things; this includes our form of government to our religious beliefs.

My foreign language skills and especially my two trips to Russia have taught me that the "typical " American attitudes are far from right and that while many people will risk a great deal to enter this country that does not mean that the way the "typical" American does things is not the only way to do things or even the right way to do it. Until the American powers that be learn to be tolerant and understanding of other cultures there will always be discontent, dislike, and even downright hatred when it comes to America.