My Experience Studying In US

I got a scholarship to study in the US and I felt very excited about it. However I knew this would come as a challenge since it was to be my first time in the U.S and I did not know what to expect in the new country.I expected it to feel different since this was not my country and there were obviously different cultures and beliefs that the people had. This paper will therefore look at a situation where someone can feel different and how one can behave and handle such a situation.

When I arrived at the airport I felt I was given different treatment from other passengers not only from the staff in the airport but also from fellow passengers and people generally in the airport vicinity. I felt different because I was treated differently by people within the airport as compared to other passengers. This ranged from how the people spoke to me and even through their actions. It was a very awkward moment as the people there were looking at me in a funny way. Their eyes were full of suspicion and most of them avoided getting close to me. When I went to join a queue for collecting luggage almost everyone moved away apart from two young men and a lady who were Muslims and I suppose were also from my country. I chose to remain calm since I did not want any confrontations that would lead to a more uncomfortable situation. When I was taking my luggage the person who was handing them to me remarked “young man hope you do not have a bomb in there”. This came as a surprise to me since there and then I felt that anyone from the Middle East was stereotyped for being a terrorist or being associated with terrorism. This is a great problem of perception, this is among the many varied ways that westerners in the US and in my case that man misinterpret, is-characterize and stereotype people from the middle East. (Tristam, 2010 I told him that not everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist and he should not judge me based on that stereotype. as I walked from the airport to outside where I was to meet with the person who had been sent to puck m and take me to the school, everyone seemed to move away from me looking at my luggage suspiciously was not carrying a lot since I knew I would have to but new things there.

When I got outside the person to pick me had not yet arrived so I sat down next to a woman who was in the company of daughter. The girl was playing around and by mistake touched my bag; the woman quickly pulled her away screaming” don’t you know that these people do not like us”. It was quite uncomfortable since I did not expect such words fro her. Even if I am a stranger how I can possibly hate “them” and never knew them. This made me feel so bad since it was the least of what I expected from people in the US. The one to take me finally arrived and just pointed to the taxi that he was to drive me in, he never bothered to assist me in my luggage as I saw other passengers being assisted. This was shocking and when I got into the taxi he told me that he hoped that I had not carried any explosives from where I came from I told him that he could have searched me if those were his thoughts.

The whole experience at the airport was very uncomfortable, took various steps in dealing with the situation. First I accepted that the situation I was in was indeed uncomfortable and it was what I expected since it was my first time in the US and being from the middle east the people un the US and formed opinions of people from the middle east. I chose not to overreact and aggravate the situation any further, for instance I answered to the remarks made by the people there in a casual way so that I would not build any unnecessary tensions (WikiHow, 2012).

References

WikiHow. (2012). How to Deal With an Uncomfortable Situation.Retrieved December 2, 2012 from http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-an-Uncomfortable-SituationTristam, P. (2010). Five Myths about the Middle East. Retrieved December 2, 2012 http://middleeast.about.com/od/middleeast101/tp/me080120.htm