What is culture?

This is an essay that I just wrote for my Cross Cultural Communications class. The question is simply- "What is culture?"

The first time that I remember analyzing the word “culture” was when I was sixteen years old. My sister-like family friend, Danielle, had recently married a Swiss man and was trying to convince my mom to let me visit her in Switzerland for three weeks. Alone. Her convincing statement was it would be the best way to become “cultured.”

Of course, I had been using the word “culture” for years, but I had never actually stopped to think about it’s meaning. What exactly did she mean by “culture?” Danielle’s meaning of culture seemed to mean worldly, knowledgeable, and advanced.

I have somewhat internalized this definition, along with others, to create my own definition of culture. To me, culture is a way of living, thinking, and identifying yourself. It means that you are knowledgeable, respectful, and accepting of ways of living, thinking of others. You are well read, travel domestically and internationally. Your identity- based on nationality, religion, or the like- embraces your way of living and balances it with your background and identifying groups.

I believe that to be cultured is something that you should strive for and that it makes you a better person. If you are accepting others and the ways of others, you can live a better life. Hopefully, when you have experiences outside of your norm, you can take something out of that experience and mold it into your own life (therefore becoming a part of your culture). When you are continually becoming “cultured,” you continue to mentally grow.

This definition began to develop after my life changing trip to Switzerland, with detours to Austria and Italy. Not only was I able to peek into the culture of the Swiss and Europeans as a whole, but I began to embrace my own culture. After visiting Italy I began to value and accept my Italian grandmother traits and beliefs. I began to connect with her, and my mother, by learning to cook cultural food. My eyes were open and I wanted to continue embracing all that I could.  It led to my second trip abroad, this time only to Italy. Connecting with the people and I share a background with was amazing. I found that learning a different way of life made me evaluate my own life’s goals and value. I want to value family, take life slow, bond over a meal, and have a passion for life. I was able to take Italian cultural beliefs, and intertwine them into my American life. Based on these experiences, and others, I believe that I am on my way to being “cultured.” 

Optimism

I was watching Micheal J Fox last night on his TV special-- Adventures with the incurable optimist. 

He actually had some very interesting things to say. I am a very optimistic person and enjoy being surrounded by positive people. I was very interesting in the people from Bhutan (in Asia). They live thier life to optimize hapiness. They actualy measure thier lives and success as a people through Gross national happiness, as we measure our success through gross national product. 

I wish that people had more of that outlook on life in the US. It seems that people are so career and product driven that they can not see the happiness in thier lives. I am sure that it is culturally driven- Bhutan take a very communal outlook on life, while western United states is mostly individualistic. I have actually heard converstation that this general out look on life is changing due to economic hardships. Banding together and supporting one another. I hope that this is true because communal living, I believe, creates acceptance and optimism. You are all in this together and will pull through together. 

On a slightly different note, I have been listening to a lot of classical music, since I have been studying for finals. Here is one of my favorites, which was brought to life for Fantasia 2000. Enjoy!

Finals

So I am sitting in the library waiting to start the excrutiating chore of studying (so it is natural that I would be writing a post). To be quite honest, I don't mind studying for finals. It is actually exhilerating to sit in the library for 8-12 hours and know that you and hundreds of other students have the same goal as you... to get an A. I think that I will actually miss that feeling once school has ended. 

Highly recommended movie: The Soloist. 

Of course it combines my love of classical music and abnormal psychology (paranoid schizophrenia). Jamie Foxx was supurb, as was Robert Downy Jr (if you liked JF in this you should also see Ray!!). I was hoping for a different ending, but I suppose that there is no "happy" ending for a movie like this. 

That being said.... I am going to start studing for "Learning Psychology." 

Christine