“What?! You guys already have your driver’s license?” I could never imagine my 16-year-old friends behind a steering wheel. The thought made me feel sick to my stomach. They can’t even walk straight on the sidewalk. How can they drive?
“What do you mean I have to pay an additional $5 for tipping?” My first few meals at Hokkaido and Tapas Barcelona ended with a frantic search for extra cash.
My four weeks at the cherubs were a crash course in American culture shock. As an international student from South Korea, I was constantly baffled — what was the big deal about tipping and why were people so friendly?
It turns out, I wasn’t alone.
“People here like to compliment others,” said Shirley Xiao of Shenzhen, China. “At first, I wasn’t really used to these compliments. I felt like I did something very wrong.”
Like Shirley, I was often overwhelmed by the friendly and outgoing nature of my peers. From endless questions to fruitful discussions starting with “on that same vein,” I was amazed by the amount of student participation in lectures during the program. At my international school in Korea, teachers would be lucky to get even one remark from a student. Here, every lecture felt like a lively debate.
While I exercised my extroversion full-time during the first few days at the cherubs, I quickly found friends who helped me navigate American quirks. To my surprise, even cherubs from the U.S. were experiencing culture shock.
“There’s no seat covers in the restrooms here! It makes me feel very unsanitary,” said Grace McCloskey of Arcadia, California. “I have to rip toilet paper and make a makeshift toilet seat cover. Whoever runs this state needs to get on that.”
Despite being 10,485 km (or 6,534 miles) away from Evanston, I’ll always remember to look out for cars when crossing the street, and sometimes, a compliment is just a compliment. Through cherubs, I can confidently say that I know one thing: Always carry around an extra $5 and maybe some toilet seat covers, just in case.
