3 if your Swiss
(I think it's 2 for the French and Italians.)
This week I learned about the European custom of kissing when you greet each other. I have breakfast with girls from Spain, France and Italy in my dorm. We were talking about how even between European countries, customs of greeting can be so different. Sego, a lovely and outgoing French girl had to work with this German boy for a project. She greeted him with the cheek pecks to be polite and he totally froze up and thought she was weird. I think she was put off by his cultural insensitivity. Haha...so I decided to try it out and "europeanize" myself. It was a little awkward at first, but it's a fun.
It's kind of amazing to realize what an international environment I am in. Geneva definitely attracts an international community because of organizations like the UN, WHO, WTO, ITC, ILO and many others. My dormitory alone houses girls from 43 different countries! This week my WHO Ageing group held a 3-day meeting with people from Japan, Jamaica, Turkey, the UK, Singapore and more. My overwhelming impression is that we are not all that different no matter where we come from. Although it's nice to see a fellow American (and there are many of us). The only challenge is the language barrier you run into sometimes. It's definitely a great investment when countries teach their students foreign language. I am able to talk to so many people because they took the time to learn english. Makes me wish I was able to speak to others in their language.
2 comments:
you know, i wish i knew more languages too. it's kind of sad how the american school system doesn't require taking a foreign language in grade school. yeah, it's optional to learn it in high school but no one takes it seriously. i mean, we do speak the "international language," english, but i think we need to make an effort to encourage learning foreign languages in this country. like for instance, my spring roommate at yonsei, she was chinese, and she spoke, french, mandarin, cantonese, and japanese. crazy, huh?
hee hee. I'll be sure to greet you with a cheek kiss when you get home! That was something I learned during college. All of my filipino friends greeted eachother (and me) with a cheek kiss (just one side tho). I had to get used to it. But not its not biggy.. it all depends on their own culture... haha.
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