Cultural relativity vs. ethnocentrism

After being in the US for a couple of weeks, I have started noticing that a lot of people over here, have no clue how it is, and what is going on outside of their borders. One girl, said she was from the Phillipines, but when I asked her where it was on the map, she pointed at the Western coast of the US.  I have commonly had questions like "Is English the main language in Norway?" and "Whaaat, you don't have Taco Bell in Norway?", that clearly shows that some Americans think that the American culture, is the "right" culture. I believe this has to do with both the school system over here, and that a lot of people have not traveled much outside of the US. What really helps for getting your eyes open for new cultures is going abroad for a semester or two. So while I work here at the International Office, I will try to encourage as many students as possible to study abroad, especially to Norway.

Tiping at restaurants

When I first got to the airport here, and had my first meal at Chili's (a popular barbecue food chain here) and was given the receipt, I was very unsure of how much to tip the waitress. I knew from the opening scene from "Pulp Fiction" that waitresses here run their butts off for their tables and typically make around 3 dollars an hour, which equals nothing to their paycheck after taxes. My meal was 7,50$, and I simply gave her a 10, and said that she could keep the rest(25%). 


Now that I have been here for a while I have learned that it is common to double the tax or to give 15%. This goes for workers such as: waitresses, hairdressers, delivery people, cleaning personel and taxi drivers. This is to show that you appreciate their service and to make sure that you get treated good if you are a customer in the future. 


In small towns it is common to give around 10%, but in major metropolitan areas like NYC or LA 20% and up is common to tip the waiters. If the service is good, if you are in a large group or if it is a nice restaurant you usually tip more. I guess the golden rule here is: If they take good care of you, then you should take good care of them.

"Snus" and "Dip", the same thing?

For those of you out there who are planning to bring a bag of snus when going abroad to the US; don't do it. If you live close to a big city, it is very likely that you will find a place where they sell it. Chicago is one of these cities, and online shops like buysnus.com or northerner.com sell snus for less than half the price of what Norwegian shops charge. Some cans to start on might be smart to bring from the duty-free shop, but if you buy too many they will just expire, so it is better to get them fresh over here.

If you are a little more willing to adapt to other kinds of tobacco, then you will find it even easier live here without snus. Very few Americans are known to the Scandinavian Snus, but they have a similar tobacco product called "dip" or "chew", which is grinded tobacco, which can be loose or in pouches (a littlebit longer than the average "portion snus"). The difference is not just the product itself, but how the people here use it: People put it in their under lip, and spit(or swallow) the juice that comes out of it. You sometimes even see people walking around with bottles full of black spit, which they have saved up during classes. When using dip in your upper lip on the other hand, it pretty much has the same effect as snus and does not make you have to spit, like the dip. More choosy/picky users of snus will probably find the taste and feeling of dip disguisting, but others do not mind the difference. I guess everyone have to find out for themselves.

Drop/Add day

After two weeks of school, every student get to decide if they want to stick with the courses they are enrolled in, and if they want to add/drop courses. I used this chance to add two courses, while I left the course "Leadership and Communication". I joined the course "Human Sexuality" because I want to understand how these psychological factors affect people in their daily life. I also added "Internship" to my schedule. This is a very common way for students here in the US to get credits, and it also makes you learn things in a practical way. My tasks are:

• To make a Norwegian cultural table and personal presence at March Study Abroad Fair
• Blogging about the school, and differences between the US and Norway (This blog)
• Create and develop promotion material, such as posters and guide booklets
• Classroom Presentations about Norway and the exchange program that Stritch is offering

Chillout

When people have nothing decent to do (70% of my time here at Stritch) they usually go to the Claire Lounge, the Den, Sam's Place or Assisi Living Room, which are places to hang out. All of the rooms have big TV's, some have vending machines, one has a cafeteria with pizzaovens and others have table tennis or pool tables.

"Healthy Food, Healthy Heart"

..is a commonly used saying in the US. A little thing I find a littlebit sad about the school and culture here, is the food. Here at school we get fed three times a day.

7.00AM-9.00AM: Is breakfast, which usually consist of cereals, french toast, bagels, egg, omelettes, bacon, sausages and pancakes to mention some. There is an own cook, at the cafeteria who you can order hot dishes from for free. I cannot think of anyhthing that is missing, exept for dark bread. For me who is used to dark bread with cheese, this is a problem, as I always go for the fattiest dished I can find, with pop/soda or chocolate milk to drink.

11.30AM - 13.00PM: Is lunchtime. The lunch over here, is like a dinner in Norway, and is usually a selection of hot meat, with rice, tater tots, hashbrowns or french fries as suppplement.If you miss out on the lunch, the studentcard is charged with 5$ that you can use at the Student Union, which is a place where they sell food here at school. Sometimes I just skip lunch, because I am pretty used to eating twice a day. Instead, I just go to the Student Union to buy some pop and snacks that I can eat at night or whenever I feel like it.

17.00PM - 19.00PM: Dinner is another hot meal, which is about the same as lunch. For dinner they usually serve more "exotic" food, like fish or lasagne. They usually also have burgers wrapped in paper, for the ones that want their dinner to go, og just an evening snack later in the evening. After every meal, you can help yourself out with fruits, cakes, coffee and icecream, which they have standing there the whole day.

I guess i cannot blame the food if I my health is going bad, as there are so much to choose from. It is my mind that I have to work with. But right now I feel like eating the most cheesy, fatty and sweet stuff I find, but I guess it will not last for long.

School system

Now all of the syllabuses have been handed out and school has already started being serious. It seems to me that most of the classes here have few or no tests, but instead there are a lot of assignments to be handed in and presentations that have to be made. The classes here are really small, and a lot of the teachers share personal information with the class and seem to be interested in what is going on in their student's lives as well. This might seem a little bit strange when coming from Europe, where they want a more professional distance between students and teachers. Personally I think the Stritch-way is a lot more convenient when it comes to getting help from the teachers and making sure that you understand what is being said in classes.Unfortunately, that does not stop the teachers from giving the students a lot of homework, so I am sure that I will have enough to do while I am here.