Read the views on the USA of a 25 year-old girl from Taiwan, whose
first experience of ‘abroad’ was as a student in Michigan. A lot of cross-cultural differences between those two cultures! Mindy (Min-Yi Chang) is now back home and reflects on her time in the US. Here are the two extracts I found the most interesting – from the blog post on Pocket Cultures which is always an enjoyable and insightful read.

The 4th of July

Whilst speaking to someone in the States on the telephone last summer I was asked if I was going to celebrate the 4th of July holiday, which was due in a day or so. I was taken aback for a moment by the question? I thought to myself, “But why would I? I mean after all, we (the British) were the ones that lost the War of Independence weren’t we?”

I don’t think that the full historical context was uppermost in the person’s mind when they asked me that question. They were simply spreading the ‘goodwill’ that the 4th of July event can evoke in the States.