Comments on: Remembering My Diverse Friendships To Help Me Open Up In China And India

By: Oscar Merlin

Oscar Merlin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:41:52 +0000

That was an interesting post. I am glad that you were able to be open towards accepting other cultures. And, just becuase you lived in a small town doesn’t mean that you cann’t get to know people from different walks of life. I lived in a city for my entire life, and have seen people from time to time who haven’t explored any other culture outside of their own. Living in city hasn’t been really helpful for them because they were not open towards accepting different ways of life other then their own.

So, travel, travel, travel, like Dr. Whiteker says. That way, your shoe box can keep geting bigger and bigger as time goes on.

By: Scotty Hayes

Scotty Hayes — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:48:09 +0000

I strongly believe that the more individuals can learn about other cultures the better the world will become. Many times when people fear or dislike another person it is simply because they do not know them or their culture. I also grew up in a small town, where I was not exposed to a lot of different cultures. However, I have always made it a point to not judge a book by it’s cover. I attribute that to great parenting.

Cultural awareness allows me to better understand myself and the world around me. Business is greatly influenced by culture. A crucial learning experience in our studies and in our trip itself is the Chinese and Indian ways of life.

By: Chris Carr

Chris Carr — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:01:55 +0000

Thoughtful post. I enjoyed reading it.

Sounds like you have a strong and unique foundation to allow you to quickly adapt and not get overly whigged out by what you will see in Chindia, particularly the poverty in India — the largest democracy via population in the world, by the way, and the pollution in China. Same re: the very different cuisines of both places.

By: Cece Reyes

Cece Reyes — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:29:38 +0000

Interesting that you mention diverse friendships and growing up in Santa Maria since that is how I remember growing up there as well “back then”. I was friendly with everybody in High School and although I had other friends “like me”, I also had friends of every ethnicity. It had never really occurred to me that the variety of friends I had was anything other than normal, not until I went to Stanford. My freshman year, we had a large group of friends that was clearly divided in half. The half I was part of was all ethnic (a variety), except for our Caucasian friend who was born in Turkey. The other half was ALL Caucasian. I think somewhere late in the year we realized that this split existed even though we were all friends.

Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to travel in Africa, Europe, Central and South America several times over the past 15 years, and my eyes have absolutely been opened and I love experiencing different cultures. In Zimbabwe and Malawi, I was an oddity, in Central and South America I fit in a bit more, but I stand out as soon as I speak. My best friend is mixed and kind of exotic looking, and she traveled with me to Costa Rica once. It was a very interesting experience for me because of the attention she received when we were just walking through town.

As a traveler, I most enjoy traveling when I can stay with local people so that I have time to enjoy the local culture and traditions. My brother-in-law is from Peru and he has family in Costa Rica, so I have been able to spend time with them and see what everyday life is like - in addition to enjoying the beaches.

For me, the fact that San Luis Obispo is less diverse that a lot of places, including Santa Maria, is strange for me since I am so accustomed to being around diversity. There is no better reason to travel than to be open to whatever you may find along the way be it people, food, sights or one-of-a-kind experiences.