BLOG #2 EXPANDING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Growing up, I never lived nor interacted with people who were not the same culture as me— everyone who I knew was Nigerian, Igbo and Christian. Growing up in that community and not enough interaction gave me a very myopic view, and I developed very strong values based on my Igbo culture and my religion.

A turning point as I can remember was when I got my first smartphone. I started getting into western entertainment (movies/ music). It was not in any way similar to Nollywood nor Afrobeats, but I realized I enjoyed it. After I moved away to university, I met other people from other tribes/cultures in Nigeria, and I began to learn more from them. I started learning new languages, trying new foods and learning new cultures. The next step was me moving to the United States. I learnt to live among people from diverse cultures. People from several backgrounds (Canadian, Vietnamese, Indian, Texan, etc.), and I learnt to live with, and communicate with all these diverse cultures. 

Each of these milestones helped expand my worldview. However, the biggest one so far is this ongoing study abroad trip in Central Europe. I am not a big traveller, however, having been to three countries in just a few weeks, I have experienced an immense expansion of my global viewpoint and how I see the world. I have now realized that there is not one normal way to live, everything just boils down to one’s culture and how they choose to live. Take transportation for example. In Nigeria, the most common means of transportation was commercial bikes, buses and tricycles. These were not very convenient as most of these mediums were very rickety. In Texas, most people including myself have cars, and these cars are a symbol of social status. In Freiburg Germany, the most common means of transportation was bikes and Trams and now in Vienna, a lot of people just take the underground train system. There are really no normal means of transportation (maybe more efficient ones), just understand that cultures differ.

Comparing social attitudes, people in Aba tend to be very “nosy” and involved in other people's business. That was my normal until I was introduced to southern hospitality, which I would describe as a very superficial "politeness" rather than being nice. I carried on this attitude of politeness to Freiburg where it fit right in. It's been my normal until Vienna. That politeness does not pass in Vienna, as most people are what the locals have described as “cynical”. There is no normal social attitude.

However the violent jump from Freiburg to Vienna has made me a lot more interested in learning about other cultures. There were not a lot of kilometers between the two cities, however the cultures are very different (also, people walk a lot faster in Vienna than in Freiburg). There are so many ways people choose to live, communicate and interact with each other, and now I realize my worldview is still limited, despite the cultures I have interacted with so far. This trip has taught me that understanding father cultures work better experiencing them firsthand rather than just hearing about them, as there is a lot of misinformation spreading. Moving forward, I want to continue exposing myself to new environments and perspectives, because every new culture I encounter challenges my assumptions and expands the way I see the world.