Last night I went to a dinner in Chicago with people who have attended or are currently attending the different UWCs. There were two current UWC-USA students, one UWC-USA alumn, and one UWCCR (Costa Rica) current student. Beyond just being a really nice night with some interesting, international minded people, one interesting topic came up in the course of conversation that I can't quite get out of my mind.
We were talking about where the students' friends at school came from, and whether people hung out with people from their home countries, or other countries. Some of the people said they were closer with people from their own countries, just because of shared experiences. Somebody said that he felt people formed friendships on campus based on socio-economic status - regardless of national origins, people felt more comfortable around others who had similar amounts of money as them.
It just made me wonder - what is the most important factor when we're connecting with people? Do we gravitate towards people with the same amount of money as us? Do we gravitate towards those with similar national origins? What do we see in other people when we start to get to know them?
And even more so, do we have any control over it? Once I got this into my head, it's hard not to think about. Even if we were to try to ignore part of a person, such as their socio-economic status, would they ignore it in us? Is it even possible to ignore? No matter how open minded a person is, can we really meet a person and pass no judgement? What can we do about how people see us? Anything?
Say you were presented with a neutral face. The image is from the neck up, so you see no clothing, and no suggestions of anything about them, other than their face. Now, what if you were told they were a multi-millionare? This piece of information now affects how you see them, regardless of how open minded you may or may not be. Now, what if the picture was of you, and someone started to throw out facts about your wealth, or lack thereof?
It's just interesting to think about, especially as I'm getting ready to go to a school with so many different people, from different soci-economic backgrounds, nationalities, religious backgrounds, and so on. The other side of this coin is that right now, things like "being from the States" don't really define me, as I'm around a lot of other people who are also from the states. At the UWC, or any exchange-type program, it becomes a question not of whether your nationality will impact how others see you, as it's a surefire thing that it will, even if only in the tiniest way. Instead, it's more of a question of how nationality impacts how people see you, whether it's a lot or a little, and how you handle it.
But hey, what do I know? I'm just speculating...
We were talking about where the students' friends at school came from, and whether people hung out with people from their home countries, or other countries. Some of the people said they were closer with people from their own countries, just because of shared experiences. Somebody said that he felt people formed friendships on campus based on socio-economic status - regardless of national origins, people felt more comfortable around others who had similar amounts of money as them.
It just made me wonder - what is the most important factor when we're connecting with people? Do we gravitate towards people with the same amount of money as us? Do we gravitate towards those with similar national origins? What do we see in other people when we start to get to know them?
And even more so, do we have any control over it? Once I got this into my head, it's hard not to think about. Even if we were to try to ignore part of a person, such as their socio-economic status, would they ignore it in us? Is it even possible to ignore? No matter how open minded a person is, can we really meet a person and pass no judgement? What can we do about how people see us? Anything?
Say you were presented with a neutral face. The image is from the neck up, so you see no clothing, and no suggestions of anything about them, other than their face. Now, what if you were told they were a multi-millionare? This piece of information now affects how you see them, regardless of how open minded you may or may not be. Now, what if the picture was of you, and someone started to throw out facts about your wealth, or lack thereof?
It's just interesting to think about, especially as I'm getting ready to go to a school with so many different people, from different soci-economic backgrounds, nationalities, religious backgrounds, and so on. The other side of this coin is that right now, things like "being from the States" don't really define me, as I'm around a lot of other people who are also from the states. At the UWC, or any exchange-type program, it becomes a question not of whether your nationality will impact how others see you, as it's a surefire thing that it will, even if only in the tiniest way. Instead, it's more of a question of how nationality impacts how people see you, whether it's a lot or a little, and how you handle it.
But hey, what do I know? I'm just speculating...
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