Quest for Culture

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In talking to other international students the number one question asked after one finds out which country you hail from is what the culture is like, in order to compare to what they understand as culture from home. Well, I've found that there's a problem in answering this question with the answer close to being "I don't know" until one actually stops to ponder if there actually is a culture and how do I find it.

For the US it seems that there isn't one overarching culture that can describe such a vast landscape of different peoples. And in addition to that, since the nation is relatively new compared to the rest of the world (excluding Australia and other new nations) that it hasn't had enough time perhaps to distinguish one separate culture that defines the country. It has also occurred to me that maybe the US doesn't have a culture that one can accurately describe because no one takes the time to create culture, particularly in the major cities such as LA, NYC, DC and others. Because everyone is on the go and running from one activity to the next, no one stops to take the time to understand a heritage or culture that they are either a part of or may have some interest in. Few people it seems actually do take the time to create a heritage/culture that can be passed down and actually strive to maintain that culture. But for the most part people simply skim over history, culture, and heritage in their rapid movements forward without looking back to see what they may be missing.

So in response to the question of how the US differs from the UK, for example, I don't have an actual answer other than we don't seem to understand our own culture, if it does exist somewhere on or below the surface, because we don't take the time to find it and excercise its importance in the history of our lives and country. While some things differ as far as nightlife and age laws or what side of the road one drives on, it's difficult to pin down exactly where the differences truly lie and which mode is better....perhaps they all work within the circumstances provided. Who knows?

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