Some Notes from Friends:)
This week I’ve gotten to sit down with a few of my Greek friends that I’ve made in classes at ACG and talk to them a little bit about culture! A few of them have been going to ACG for a few years already so they are used to being in classes with American students and/or have a few friends that are American, but I have also met some students who are in their first year at ACG and don’t have too much of a past with multi-culture classrooms, so this was a great and highly interesting opportunity to sit down with them and listen to some of their thoughts.
Going right into it then, I’ve heard pretty much across the board that there is much less background with multi-cultures within classroom settings like was mentioned by my one friend. This I found very interesting. Apparently most primary grade schools and high schools are mainly just Greek students, whereas, I can always remember at least one or two students growing up whom I became friends with that came from a differing culture than my own. My friends say this is something they can always tell with American students because we do not seem so surprised when something happens that they know is not a part of our culture. I also hear though that this is changing more and more as people move to Greece and enroll their children, that the schools are becoming slightly more diverse than they were when we were young.
Another thing that was mentioned across the board is that we as Americans are more talkative than Greeks in the sense that we will say hi to students we don’t know in the halls and have much more to say in class. I was also told that we use more words to express ourselves when we are giving answers in class and that’s something I found funny because I have also noticed it! The Greeks are very good at getting to the point with fewer words than we are and it’s funny to listen to in class because for example, if a teacher asks a question, I’ll think in my head about what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it, and then I have to find all the correct words but sometimes it doesn’t work and I take this whole round about way of getting my point across, and the Greeks are somehow able to find within their vocabulary these words that perfectly describe the answer and get their point across in about 1 spectacular sentence. (That’s another thing I’ve noticed while being here. Don’t be fooled by the accent and the knowledge that English is their second language…Greeks have big and very impressive vocabularies. Sometimes I don’t know the meanings to the English words they use)
The other main point I heard from my friends was that American students tend to be easier to work with because we are more willing and work oriented. They said that with Greeks everything is laid back, which is good, but when it comes to homework assignments and group assignments, it’s good to know that you have a group member that will undoubtedly put work in. (This is actually another point I’ve experienced with a few group projects in some of my classes. Work gets done, but usually it’s just a lot later than what I’m used to! Haha.)
Overall it was really fun to sit and listen to some friend’s thoughts on Americans in Greece and the culture differences especially within the school setting at ACG. It was fun to compare what they noticed as differences to what I had also noticed and to laugh about the differences a little bit. They were very interested in my school back home after I asked all these questions! It was just a great conversation and I’m thankful to have had such great people to speak with!
