Judy

Dear HPA Program,

Never think I could change that much. True. People are inclined to stay with someone who is similar to them, no pressure in the conversation, cultural background is almost the same. But somehow this inclination really takes people apart.

One really important thing I learned is ‘sharing.’ I feel uncomfortable at first since I am so insecure about my language proficiency but people here show a really huge interest to my cultural background and keep an open mind to the difference and culture shock and that helps me realize that sharing the insights really is a way to make friends across cultures.

True, there are times when a minority has to give in their identity to assimilate to the mainstream culture but what’s most important is to share and communicate cross-culturally and figure out a way to get along together. No matter what kind of people you might meet, either north or south (leadership styles), either Chinese or American, we need to build our understanding in order to build out mutual trust and together we might have very interesting chemistry to create something marvelous.

Sincerely,

Judy Wang