Reflective Essay: Culture Vs. African American Culture

I was born in Egypt and lived there till I was 11. I thought that Egypt will be my only home, but I was wrong. My mother had to leave the country for financial reasons and went to Abu Dhabi. When I moved to Abu Dhabi, I experienced culture shock for the first time: hearing people speak in different dialects and languages, practice different religions, eat different foods, and have different values. I had some challenges at the beginning adapting to the new culture and people, because most of the population was compromised of foreigners so I interacted with at least ten different nationalities every day. For 11 years, I studied subjects in two languages different than my mother tongue. This made me fluent in three languages, Arabic, French, and English. I strongly believe that my learning about various languages ease the communication with other people. Not only because they speak the same language, but also because each language has its own expression and vocabulary, so it will be easier to know how the person …show more content…
Different in culture can come within the same culture. We don’t have to speak different languages to be different, but the way we are raised, the religion we believe in, and the socio-economical background can make us different. The European American culture is variously different than African American culture, even though they are in the same country. This taught me not to generalise my conclusions or assumptions. There are always varieties among population. Lastly, since interacting with diverse people and learning not to generalise or stereotype, whenever I discuss a lot a topic, I learned that I always need proof and data to support my claims. I cannot just this situation was caused because of that situation; I always need a proof before I make a claim. This technique made it easier for me not to generalise, because I always dismiss an idea in my head, until I have a proof for