Some cultural differences
So, one of the more interesting aspects of the trip is learning the different norms and mores of each natioanlity. For example, you may remember an earlier post in which I felt bad about the fact that the French girl didn't have a place to live. So it turns out she's Moroccan and her 7 year boyfriend is moroccan as well. She found another place to live with a Canadian guy, but the Moroccan boyfriend "wouldn't let her" move in with the other guy.
As an American, this seemed quite shocking. First of all, what nerve to tell your girfriend she has to live in a crappy dorm instead of getting a flat. Secondly, knock Morocco off my list of places I want to visit. Granted it's a sample size of one, but Moroccans seem to be possessive and psychotic. I can imagine myself in Morocco, walking into a bar, asking a girl for directions and getting a bottle broken over my head by some ridiculous, jealous hothead.
On the flip side of that experience was an hour long conversation I had with a Pakistani guy. He laughed about the Indian-Pakistani conflict, explaining that he has many Indian friends and the people get along fine. It's the government fighting over Kasmir, but in reality most Pakistanis and Indians bear no ill will toward each other. he went as far as to say the governments actually fuel the extremeist groups who cause the conflicts, but the ordinariy citizen is indifferent. It's also interesting to hear how many large American companies - including Proctor and Gamble - have offices in Pakistan. Not something you would ordinarily think about. He did mention that the American heads of these corporations need bodyguards - again not from ordinary Pakistanis, but from the extremists.
And one final thing about English. We have a class in Entrepreneurship that involves a group project. The class is about 4 Exec, 8 exchange and 8 full-time students. We were supposed to "network around" the class and find groups, but damn if the English full-time students hadn't already teamed themselves up ahead of time. What a bunch of jokers.
As an American, this seemed quite shocking. First of all, what nerve to tell your girfriend she has to live in a crappy dorm instead of getting a flat. Secondly, knock Morocco off my list of places I want to visit. Granted it's a sample size of one, but Moroccans seem to be possessive and psychotic. I can imagine myself in Morocco, walking into a bar, asking a girl for directions and getting a bottle broken over my head by some ridiculous, jealous hothead.
On the flip side of that experience was an hour long conversation I had with a Pakistani guy. He laughed about the Indian-Pakistani conflict, explaining that he has many Indian friends and the people get along fine. It's the government fighting over Kasmir, but in reality most Pakistanis and Indians bear no ill will toward each other. he went as far as to say the governments actually fuel the extremeist groups who cause the conflicts, but the ordinariy citizen is indifferent. It's also interesting to hear how many large American companies - including Proctor and Gamble - have offices in Pakistan. Not something you would ordinarily think about. He did mention that the American heads of these corporations need bodyguards - again not from ordinary Pakistanis, but from the extremists.
And one final thing about English. We have a class in Entrepreneurship that involves a group project. The class is about 4 Exec, 8 exchange and 8 full-time students. We were supposed to "network around" the class and find groups, but damn if the English full-time students hadn't already teamed themselves up ahead of time. What a bunch of jokers.
posted by ABoyer at
5:29 AM
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