Semana Dos; Blog Uno - 400 Palabras

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Polaroid (individual): When meeting our host family we were greeted with a kiss on each cheek. I saw that many of my peers looked very uncomfortable with this. I am from Long Island, New York. Here there is a very strong catholic Italian influence, and I come from an Italian family. It is the standard that every person, no matter how you know them, are greeted and departed with a kiss on the cheek. As emphasized in our reading when developing CQ knowledge, it is important to compare your normal to that of the culture you are immersed in (Livermore, 2015). My Italian-influenced home culture has adopted this European practice, and unlike some of my peers, I was not surprised or uncomfortable when I kissed my host on the cheek.



Postcard (relational): When I am at school in Pennsylvania, I have to refrain from kissing my friends when I leave or meet them, something that is counter-intuitive to my Italian-New Yorker home culture. While I was originally nervous to meet our host family, seeing them greet us with a kiss on the cheek made me feel much more comfortable. Because I was already familiar with this cultural practice, I did not have to change my cultural understanding drastically. Instead, I used CQ strategy to compare the way in which this greeting compares to mine at home and then use CQ action to respond as I normally would, by kissing on the cheek (Livermore, 2015). This enabled me to feel more relaxed meeting my host and more confident to start a conversation with her.



Bill Board (Social): The way in which we greet others is very culturally driven and is largely tied to the way that people are viewed. This can be seen in Culture Smart Spain, where it discussed that in Spanish culture anyone who is not a stranger is considered a friend and is treated as such (Aguado, 2016). Meaning, once people are introduced, there are no formalities between them in the way that they interact. In American culture, respect is demanded through formality long after introduction, and that time period can be prolonged depending on a person’s level of authority. This sheds light on the way in which Spain is more collectivist and relational while America is very individualistic. In Spain as soon as one is introduced they are considered a part of a Spanish family, while in America’s individualist society a person is seen as a source of competition.

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