Cross-Cultural Blog

Hania:

When I moved to America the summer before university started, I spent a month at my aunt’s house in St. Louis, and was both surprised and somewhat appalled by the fact that my only interaction was with ‘brown’ people. In order to ensure that her children grew up with ‘Pakistani values,’ she had created a mini Pakistan in Missouri. Her children’s primary and, perhaps only, groups of friends were of South Asian background, despite the fact that they went to a very culturally diverse high school. I promised myself that I would not do the same; I would not go to Stanford and hang out only with the brown people. I would force myself to assimilate and be as ‘American’ as possible.

Somewhere down the line, however, I realized I could never be American. I didn’t possess the intense love for America that all my American friends did, and I never would. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the country, and wouldn’t leave Stanford for anything, but my true patriotic love is, and always will be, Pakistan, despite all of its flaws. I realized the importance of striking a balance, and being a part of what made me comfortable, instead of trying to escape my roots and simply blend in. The beauty of being at Stanford is the opportunity of meeting and mixing with people of so many different backgrounds, and the fact that I come from a different culture was something I needed to embrace instead of try to run away from. So now, I’m no longer embarrassed by the fact that I enjoy wearing bright and colorful eastern clothes and love dancing to Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi songs. At the same time, I have a diverse social group and love it. Cultures are something we’re born into, and whether we like it or not, they go with us, changing and adapting to who we become.

Amanda:
Here at Stanford University, I discovered how important the role of diversity is to me. My mother is Mexican and my father is Puerto Rican. Growing up, I learned to value both of these cultures as well as the American culture. Living in Southern California, I was surrounded by people who shared a similar culture as I did. In Southern California, I was part of the majority, but once I came to Stanford, I found that I was part of the minority, surrounded by people of all different ethnicities. I never recognized the magnitude of the importance of my culture until I came to Stanford. During freshman year, I joined a dance group called Ballet Folklórico de Stanford which practices traditional Mexican folk dance. The music that I once dreaded listening to became the music that I desired to feel a part of the culture of my family.

I also found that I was learning so much about different cultures while at the same time, was able to share my own. In such a diverse setting as Stanford, everyone has a chance to learn, to teach, and be enriched. Because of the importance of diversity to me, I decided to join a Sorority called Sigma Theta Psi which is a multicultural interest sorority. We are a small group of women who are all extremely different, but share a common value of multiculturalism. Through the sorority, we try to get involved in and reach out to the many different communities here at Stanford. To us, multiculturalism is not only about different ethnicities, but about different hometowns, lifestyles, and backgrounds. Being exposed to this kind of diversity expands our ways of thinking in ways that we cannot learn in the classroom.