a Taiwanese student asks, what should i know about USA cultures before going to study?
illustrations by jonCates, NFTs from the Glitch Western Art worlds of 鬼鎮 (Ghosttown)™ 金山 (goldMountain) && beyond…
the answers are complicated!
to begin on a positive, you will have an amazing opportunity to be yourself, and to find yourself, in USA.
USA cultures value individuality, ‘freedom’ (defined very differently across the different USA cultures), and self-determination. this means that you can and should be you, your individual self. being a student in USA is a process of finding your individual self, inside you, so that you can express who you are.
you are expected and even required by the (USA educational) system to do this: to find yourself and express yourself individually.
that is a very special opportunity because you will be valued for who you individually are. people will see you as an individual. they will want to get to know you, the individual, for who you are inside. as Americans, we believe deeply in this internal individual self. we believe it is who we truly are. and we seek to express ourselves as individuals in our own special ways everyday in almost all of our choices. for a Taiwanese person this is an exciting opportunity to explore your personal freedom and express yourself.
now lets start with a few of the difficult basic differences between USA cultures and Taiwanese cultures which takes us into some challenging territories that you need to know:
