my life
...ith the co-culture of Florida students to which I now belong. I also have interacted regularly with other co-cultures that live in Gainesville. Some co-cultures in Gainesville that I interact with are the working professionals that work at the university but do not attend classes at UF, as well as local residents that live and work in Gainesville, known as Alachua County Residents. I really enjoy meeting and talking with new people. At this point in my life, I understand that college is a time where I can meet so many different people with different kinds of beliefs and experiences. By talking to and becoming friends with so many different kinds of people, I am becoming very cultured and I have a well-rounded view of the world. I believe that it is vital to grow as an individual by meeting new people both inside one’s culture and in other cultures and co-cultures. Going along with ideology of wanting to meet new people, I feel extremely comfortable approaching and talking to strangers. One’s mindset is key in developing a comfort zone while speaking to strangers, and I talk to new people with the approach that each person has their own interesting stories and experiences that they are just waiting to tell me about. The cultures of these strangers do not affect my mindset while speaking with them, and I would prefer to speak with as many people from as many different cultures as possible. To be willing to meet new people and expose yourself to new cultures and ways of thinking, one must be open-minded, and I see myself as an open-minded individual. I believe this because I was exposed to many different cultures during my childhood. I converse with individuals from 3 different religions, of which I have loose affiliations with. My mother is a Buddhist, and during religious meetings at neighbors’ houses, I would be in the playroom conversing with young Asian children who did not speak a word of English. After going to about ten of these meetings, I had formed a belief in my head that the children of all the local Buddhists spoke no English or very little English. One night, my mother took me to a new house, where the meeting would take place. I was introduced to an Asian child and began pantomiming words to him. I falsely stereotyped him, as he began to laugh and informed me that he spoke perfect English. After this event occurred, I made it a point to always ask whoever I met if they spoke English. When I went to these Buddhist meetings, I was literally thrown in the midst of a completely different culture. This culture was one of Chinese speaking Buddhists who could speak little or no Engl...