Cultural Diversity

I really enjoyed this weeks topic because it really got me thinking. Lisa and I discussed that we thought tthat race, language and ethnicity would be some of the biggest shocks with started college. I think this is what was so hard for me when it comes to diversity. There is so much diversity with in diversity. I mean being at Iowa State was the first time I actually met people who have just came straight from their country to college. They have not lived in America before so their culture shock it large too. Socioeconomic was another one we thought was big. It is crazy how differently we were all raised and how we were taught to spend and use money. What we think are needs and what other people think are needs that we would consider wants. Iowa State is a very culture place. There is a lot of differences for me from where I come from since my graduating class had the first black person to ever graduate from my high school. I enjoy being in the mix of a bunch of different diversities because it makes things more well rounded. You cannot live under a rock your whole life, you should see all the other kinds of people and cultures that are out there. I have traveled to Mexico before and I loved seeing how they lived and how things work down there. I find things like that very interesting. I lived with a host family for a week and at first it was hard to communicate cuz my spanish was not the best. Luckily my host sister spoke perfect English, but no one else in her family did. She encouraged me to speak spanish and try and learn while I was there and I ended up learning a lot more that I went there with. I think it is very important that you get and see what other cultures are like, it also helps you reflect on your own and see how your culture appears to other people. I think I need to work on being more open minded. I am a fairly open minded person but there is still much room for improvement. Sometimes I do not even realise that I am not being open minded and that I already have very strong beliefs about topics.