Intercultural Communication and Interaction

Studying in the United States has always been my dream. I dreamed of traveling around cities and making friends from all over the world. Sometimes I wonder whether this would be an unforgettable journey in my life. Reflecting back from what I have experienced here at UCSB, all I can say is that this is not only a lifelong memory but a process of bettering myself as a global citizen.

I used to believe that cross-cultural interaction is the best way to learn from others and adjust myself; however, sometimes it is challenging to efficiently adapt to and connect with a brand new culture. My roommate in freshman year was a Californian girl from Riverside. When I saw the roommate assignment, I started to imagine how our dorm life would be like. “Will we hang out on weekends?”, “Will we go to classes and have dinners together?” These questions just kept popping up in my mind. Maybe my imagination has gone too far, the moment when my roommate opened the door, she was so shy that we did not even have a chance to introduce ourselves. I tried to talk to her after her parents left since I knew this awkwardness should not last forever. Sadly, after several attempts, I started to feel the enlarging gap between myself as an international student and my American roommate. As days went on, the miscommunication between us has expanded to more aspects, especially our perspectives toward respect. My roommate’s boyfriend used to drive up from Irvine and visit her every other week. At first, I thought it would just be normal visiting like me and my friends did in Taiwan. Little did I know, her boyfriend always stayed overnight in our room for four days. Even though I wanted to tell her that my schedule and study were interrupted by his frequent visiting, I was too scared of her being mean and ignorant because of our difference in backgrounds and the way of thinking. Finally, after several practices and mental preparation with my friends, I finally got the courage to tell her the true feeling that I have always wanted to ignore but just could not do so. I thought this would be the end of this drama, each of us stepping backward and show our respect as roommates. “I also pay for this room, so I don’t think you have the right to prohibit my boyfriend from staying overnight”. With that being said, I was speechless and completely freak out. How could our understanding be so different? I started to question myself, thinking about whether I am the person that needs adjustments.

Confronting cultural differences is definitely not an easy task. It is a process of reshaping our thoughts the way we interact with people around us. Based on the study done by the Association of Talent Development, “The training of intercultural interactions and communications are important for breaking down cultural barriers and building awareness of cultural norms” (Sinden). Keeping that in mind, I decided to stand up again and show my attitude. Rather be being a follower, I learned to be confident and express my thoughts as a mature adult. The difference in backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives may seem like a barrier that separates international students and domestic students; however, think from another perspective, when we see this as an opportunity to interact and communicate with people that are so different from us, the differences will now be a beneficial resource that fuels our life experience.

Reference:

https://www.td.org/insights/the-importance-of-intercultural-communication-training-to-the-global-workforce

The Importance of Intercultural Communication Training to the Global Workforce