Let’s be truthful and straightforward. As we Polish and French exchange students call it – let’s be honest in a European manner. Don’t get me wrong; I am not accusing Americans of some nasty addiction to lying. It just seems that the people I have encountered during my exchange experience have been more concerned with being polite and avoiding hurting anyone’s feelings than with the plain truth. Before I could understand this, I am sure I sounded rude and offended many people with my brutal European honesty.
The concept of talking around the truth for the sake of niceness is only one cultural difference I faced during my troubled beginnings at NEIU. During my first classes, I was appalled to find that no one in a political science class, including the teacher, was sure how the United Nation (UN) Security Council is structured. The attitude was ‘no big deal, just look it up.’ Okay. Maybe. In Poland, this is the kind of knowledge any political science / international relations student acquires even before getting to college. Once at the university level, the Polish student can be awakened in the middle of the night and asked, “How many permanent members does the Security Council have?” Without so much as batting an eye, she would immediately answer “five” and list them all.
Frankly, I was really frustrated. Later, I understood that teaching about UN Security Council is not considered to be such a big deal. Instead of stuffing students’ heads with knowledge that is easily available in books and on the Internet, teachers encourage more critical, analytical and creative thinking. It would be hard for me to learn this way in Poland. So after a full year as an international exchange student at NEIU, I have no doubts that this is unique and priceless experience.
Other exchange students deal with similar frustrations during the beginning of their stay, even if they do not say it out loud. Learning how to overcome many cultural differences and appreciating NEIU may take a little while for a foreigner. The multicultural environment of NEIU for a newcomer from homogenic Poland, (where everyone is white, Polish and Catholic), is not only the most precious feature that NEIU offers, but also the most challenging.
American culture has a lot of race-related topics that are taboo such as, understanding the stereotypes of African-Americans and watermelons or Asian immigrants and laundries. These racial issues are more mysterious to the foreigner when political-correctness and politeness make it difficult to even discuss them out loud. Now I have a better understand about how a melon that originated in southern Africa was used as a source of hydration for slaves working in the fields and how this habit was later linked to derogatory stereotype of blacks in America; and about the emergence of thousands of laundry facilities started by Chinese men that immigrated without their wife or family and how this practical service later developed into business opportunities during the Great Depression. But this type of cultural understanding would not have been possible if not for NEIU professors, like Sara Hoagland or Cecilia Hayes, who do not hesitate to pick up the most difficult and controversial topics during their classes.
There have been other difficult experiences, like dealing with public transportation, Chicago winters and walking distances. I was recently forced to buy my fourth pair of sandals this summer because, after a couple days of walking, my shoes would just fall apart. Apparently, shoes are made to look nice and American distances are meant to be driven, not walked. But I still hold this little European habit of learning about a city by walking through it.
I also found it difficult to deal with the gigantic portions of delicious foods served in all kinds of restaurants. Eating out in the States is definitely different than it is in Poland. In Poland, it is relatively more expensive, but probably more of a social event rather than culinary event. We do not have even a tiny percentage of the variety of cuisines I have found in the U.S. and it is not so cheap to have, let’s say, a Mexican burrito dinner. But here, I have often seen people eating their food very fast, trying to maintain some silly small talk, and then leaving restaurant very quickly. Europeans do the opposite – we have smaller portions, eat slower, stay for hours and talk.
I could keep listing cultural differences for a while. But one crucial issue specific to exchange students at NEIU is the university community experience. As a commuter school with no dorms, it is not easy to make friends. Many NEIU students are older, working adults with family obligations. It is hard to expect someone in that situation to spend a lot of time hanging out with some newcomers. But I have met many people here.
In spite of, and because of, my experiences here, I have been at NEIU for a year now although I had not planned to stay that long. I had an airline ticket to Poland for January that was wasted and another for May before I decided to stay a bit longer. Now, I have ticket for September. So I have to hurry up, finish writing this article and start searching for cheap flights back to Chicago.