My second international experience is with my good friend Anh, who is from Vietnam. Unlike Anannya, she had extremely little exposure to American culture, but her grandfather did teach her English at a young age.
I met her the first day of Freshman year, although we had already communicated online. She was wide-eyed and anxious, having to adjust to a completely different country. It’s still sometimes hard for me to imagine her growing up under a communist regime.
Her pronunciation of words was sometimes off, so I would help her where needed. Her English is quite good despite that. However, the cultural references are sometimes lost on her. Once, I told her to “spill the beans,” and she looked at me like I was insane!
Anh had the opportunity to meet my grandmother, who is Japanese and grew up in pre-WWII Japan, and they immediately felt a connection. My grandma could see that she had been raised in the traditional way; Anh was close to her grandparents as well. Seeing the two cultures come together at that moment was amazing.
Having two close international friends has probably been the best experience of college so far. Learning about other cultures, and seeing proof that there actually is life outside of Texas has confirmed my desire to one day travel the world.
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