India has always been one of the most popular spots for AIESEC exchange as there are a wide variety of internships to choose from. Therefore, I was able to meet people from all over the world during my short stay there. One particular scene that I will never forget: in an extraordinarily ordinary night, my flatmates together with a few friends, adding up to more than 15 people, were all packed in a small room, in which the only place that air-conditioning worked in our flat, in order to get away from the heat (it was super-hot even at night) – basically we can be divided into two major groups: Westerners (with people from Canada, America, Belgium, Portugal, Spain etc) and Asian (with people from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore etc) – and clearly the westerners were on the left hand side of the room, engaging in non-stop conversations while the Asians were sitting quietly on the right hand left, immersing in their own digital world, either playing ipads or iphones. Interestingly enough, I was sitting in the middle of the room (that’s why people say Hong Kong is where the west meets the east), sometime chatting with the westerners and the remaining time having a good time with my iphone.

 

To say we were learning how to get along with foreigners is an understatement – we were actually learning how to live with foreigners. Given the fact that we all came from completely different cultural background, it is actually no surprise that there were a lot of conflicts and arguments – especially we share very different values and habits. In this context, the cliché of open-mindedness and acceptance becomes exceptionally important. Without mutual understanding and forgiveness, it is hard to live with people with completely different background. Indeed, we spent a lot of time together – like we would share with each other the happenings each day after work and we would try to understand each other’s home countries and living habits. At the end of the day, it was communication which melted the cultural barrier between us – and to foster communication, you have to firstly let go of any prejudice while upholding a curious and open mind.

 

In fact, learning different culture is very interesting and the most effective way of learning a culture is to interact with the people practising that particular culture. If you have an open mind, you will surely appreciate cultural difference and actually learn a lot and enjoy the difference. After all, it is cultural difference which makes the world diverse and interesting.