My name is Scott and I am a Year 2 Business Administration student from the National University of Singapore (NUS). I consider myself a cultural enthusiast, and this post would be about how to best experience the culture through your exchange program.
Note, this post is for people who are willing to have your life and perception of other cultures flipped upside down and have a huge paradigm shift. If you do not wish to have such an effect, please do change the tab and read another light hearted exchange article
Well, first let me start by telling you more about my partner University. I spent five months of my Y2S2 doing my exchange program in the United States, Wisconsin. The university is called University of Wisconsin-Madison, and it is a small school in the Midwest region of the U.S. This small state is known best by its cheese, and its farmlands.
At the start of my exchange, I set out a task for myself to be immersed in the culture of the country and to have a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend a long duration of time overseas to study the culture of that country. I will be listing how you can start to embark on your culture discovery journey and get the most out of it.
- Make a conscious effort to learn more about the host country’s culture
Back before I was an exchange student, I made a list of the things that I wanted to achieve from this exchange, and one of these was to make an effort to learn about the culture. So often during school when I feel myself going into a routine life of study-eat-sleep, I constantly remind myself that my quest to learn more about the American culture has not yet been fulfilled and I push myself to continue to glean more about the American way of life.
- Be ready to step out of your comfort zone
In University of Wisconsin-Madison, there were many options for accommodation. One could choose the traditional way, to stay in the residence halls (which are single room), or live together with other locals in other boarding homes for students. I made the decision to stay with Americans. Daunting at the start, this was in fact the best decision that I have made so far. Staying with other locals gave me more interaction time with my apartment mates, and also provides me a glimpse of life in how locals thrive in their homes. Within months, I became close to my apartment mates, and we became the best of friends. For those that are planning to go for my exchange University, you can check out this Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/284165505043431/) to find out the latest deal on apartments. I bought some cosy shaggy rugs to make the apartment feel like home.
- Be curious
Being in a foreign land allowed me to be curious to explore things that I have never done before, and would usually not want to do or have the time to do while I was back in Singapore. Knowing that, I signed up for a gym pass, which allowed me to attend any gym classes. There were many gym classes that are offered in your exchange university and it would be the best time to try them. I tried out Zumba, and the first lesson made me fall in love with this activity. I would make time to attend the Zumba lesson every week. Although at first, I was one of the few guys in the Zumba class, I felt really awkward, but I did not let that stop my curiosity to explore this new passion that I had.
- Take the path less travelled
Many exchange students on exchange tend to stick to their own “cliques” of local exchange students. Somehow, we feel really comfortable when we are speaking the same lingo with fellow students from our country. However, if this is so, then it would not make much sense to pay the air ticket to interact with someone from the same country. We could have been better off just staying in Singapore. However, in my quest to experience new cultures, I ventured off the path most travelled, and started to talk to other exchange students, from Germany, Austria, France. This was the most rewarding experience to hear about how school was like for them back home.
- Live life on the edge
As my exchange was during the spring semester, I had the chance to experience winter, snow, and all the good things that it brings. One particular weekend in January, I participated in a trip to the Devils Head Resort for some skiing. Growing up and living in a city, I have not tried skiing before and the first time skiing was a nightmare. However, I chose to challenge myself, to live life on the edge to take the ski cable car up and ski down. Even though it was very scary, I was proud of myself as I pulled it off, with a few falls. I also decided to take a solo trip to San Francisco, and Los Angeles, as going solo would force me out of my comfort zone to talk to others. It worked out as I made many new friendships during my solo trip.
Altogether, approaching exchange from a view of culture-seeing instead of sight-seeing gave me new and fresh perspectives about other cultures. More than the lessons that I learnt over at UW Madison, the fresh perspectives and the friends that I made were the things that made me feel that Wisconsin would always have a special place in my heart.
Written by : Scott
Edited by : Tan Kiat Han
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