Culture Views
Foreign Exchange Students Views on American Culture.
I asked three former foreign exchange students about their thoughts on American culture.
Alis Reid~ She is from Scotland. She has a you tube channel all about her student exchange. She went at the age of 18 and went to a school in South Carolina. Came to America in the 13-14 school year. She joined lacrosse and an acting class.
Pia Schmitt ~ She is from Germany. She came to America to work on her English. She came at the age of 15 and stayed for half the school year. She was here for the 14-15 school year. Her favorite part was all the nice people. She joined Cross Country, Cheer leading, and Basketball.
Lydia Viberud ~ Lydia is from Sweden. She loves traveling and wanted to come to America to also work on her English. She was here for the 14-15 school year. She came at the age of 17. She joined the Dance Team, Volleyball, Basketball, and Track. She enjoyed her three art classes and loves playing the flute.
They all had different culture shocks...
Lydia~ Lydia said that America is much more conservative than Sweden; America is much more religious. Like Pia, she said she was used to using public transportation or walking everywhere. Here in America we drive everywhere.
Alis~ She said that football here is super important to us. In Scotland it rains a lot and is cold: and in South Carolina it is sunny and warm. She also said she was surprised how much Americans love accents. Another big culture shock is we have a day called Black Friday completely dedicated to shopping. She thought it was crazy how people go nuts on fighting over certain things on Black Friday. Also another difference was that we have a lot different words for things such as biscuit to them is a cookie to us.
Pictures of Their Biggest Culture Shocks
Pia said we had very greasy food.
Lydia said we don't have any public transportation.
Alis said she was surprised how crazy Black Friday is.
They also had views on our schools.
Along with culture shock they had many stereotypes about America
Lydia~ She said our schools had a lot of restrictions. Such as, we cant leave the building. Along with this she said she has a lot of free time because school was very easy for her. Back in Sweden all she did when she got home was study. She was also surprised that we had school sports. In Sweden they had club sports. In America we make a big deal about sports.
Alis~ She has all her stereotypes in the video below.