America. The place we call home, but often forget why we cherish it so much has despite my lifelong residence, only just now become my favorite place in the world. We often don’t realize the abundance of freedom and luxuries we have, until we live in a place on the other side of the globe and for me that other side is Nanjing, China.
After spending four months in a country with an almost opposite culture, I have yearned for America unlike ever before. When you study abroad, you are immersed in not only the language culture, but also the food, life and social culture of the host country. Studying in China gives you a new experience every day. Whether it is eating handmade dumplings, trying Taichi or calligraphy, finding amazing handcrafts that beautiful people spent so much time creating, or perhaps the abundance of people who are curious where you come from, and how you can actually speak the language. Studying abroad has taught me so much about foreign countries, but ironically a hefty amount about good ole’ America too.
I think it is absolutely mind blowing that so many people have pride in their own country, both Chinese and American. Cultural adaptation in itself is an experience that you cannot fully be prepared for. Living in a different culture is something that both teaches you and challenges you on a daily, even hourly basis. It challenges you to understand the very depth from which an experience is rooted in culture, and that while different from your own, you can learn to accept and adapt to the culture you’re living in. The differences not only made me understand cultural awareness, but just how privileged we are in the big US of A. My Chinese professor asked us in class what makes up American Culture. At first, we were stunned by the question and not sure how to fully answer, but after experiencing abroad we knew the answer, because it was what we were yearning for the whole time, American Culture.
American culture is indescribable and putting such a large topic into so few words would never be enough to express the gratitude we should be showing towards our own country. Although America has problems that still need to be solved, after living abroad, they seem like such first world problems that we all complain about, when in reality they are merely mole hills in comparison to other countries mountainous problems.
As a millennial, it took me traveling thousands of miles around the world to notice the actual beauty and abundance of liberties in America, but I can only hope that my fellow Americans can truly notice the beauty that is around them at every moment, and seize every opportunity to learn about other cultures in order to fully appreciate just how great we have it.
As a student living in China, I am yearning and appreciating America like never before, are you?
