Things that shock you as a European at Emory

“Sometimes I forget that you didn’t grow up here.”

That’s a sentence that I quite frequently hear from one of my best friends here at Emory. But to be honest, I can never forget that I was raised in Istanbul, Turkey.

Now, don’t let the title fool you. I’m fully aware that Turkey is barely European (if at all), but I’m one of those people who rightfully have had an identity crisis their entire lives.

You see, I was born in Chicago, lived in Istanbul (the European side, if that clarifies matters) for the majority of my life, and attended a German high school for 5 very interesting years, where both my teachers and the medium of education was German.

Add to that the fact that both my grandmothers are Greek, and my stepdad is French, and you can maybe understand why I associate myself more with the European part of the Turkish culture than the Middle Eastern one.

Anyway, I was no stranger to American culture before coming to Emory – the entire world is influenced by it.

I, like many other international students, grew up watching Disney Channel, listening to Britney Spears and all that; so to be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting a culture shock.

However, in this case, it’s the small things that count.

Smoking cigarettes is judged more than smoking weed 

To start with the obvious ones, let’s talk about the drinking age and the stigma of smoking for a brief second. I knew that smoking cigarettes was looked down upon in the US – I’d heard about it from several people. But it was only when I started living on a tobacco free campus, and met the judgmental stares of people walking by as I had a cigarette in my hand that I understood what they meant.

I’m not saying that every single European smokes a pack a day; it’s bad for you, and many people choose not to do it. However, smoking is just more accepted and somehow integrated in the culture; people are not surprised when they find out someone smokes, and they don’t protest or try to stop you every time you’re going out for air.

It’s also kind of astonishing how weed – an actual drug- is more commonplace and “okay” than tobacco in many Americans’ opinion, but that is the experience I’ve had regarding the controversy so far.

The drinking age is backwards 

As for the drinking age, it was obviously more comfortable to be legally able to drink. Nobody’s going to claim the opposite. But stepping aside from my personal standpoint, I find it hard to understand how Americans can get married, buy a gun, drive, enlist in the army, and do every other “adult thing” but still not be allowed to drink at the age of 18.

It seems to be counter-intuitive because, let’s be real, people drink once they come to college and if their first exposure to alcohol is chugging Burnette’s, things aren’t going to go that well.

In Germany and several other countries, you can drink beer and wine if you’re 16. It might sound a bit premature, but it makes you learn how to drink properly and develop a tolerance; so by the time you get to drink hard liquor, you know your limits and avoid blacking out every weekend.

I also find that it is loosely tied to the notion of independence, in the sense that European university life means that you live in flats like an adult and go to pubs with your friends, while underclassmen in US colleges live the life of glorified high-schoolers, hiding from RAs and drinking whatever in dorm rooms.

Vocabulary

Other minor and rather funny things include the lack of metric system and Celsius (what do you mean it’s 80 degrees?!) , my refusal to call football “soccer,”and an ongoing astonishment with grinding.

However, these are only a few examples that I could think of, so I decided to ask around and find out what differences other European friends noticed the most.

Julia Mulliez, a sophomore from London, UK, said: “There were plenty [surprises] like the prevalence of hookup culture was initially very surprising as well as how people offered to get blackout drunk together as opposed to having a nice drink and chilling.

“Also, American greetings such as ‘Hey, how’s it going’ / ‘Hey, what’s up?’- I always assumed they were actual questions for the first two months, and was so confused when they walked away without waiting for my response. I later realized it was a greeting that was a way to say hi and they didn’t actually care about what you were up to!”

Loli Lucaciu, a junior from Romania, said: “I was thrown straight into Southern culture as I first moved to Alabama and it was certainly a culture shock. At that point I hadn’t had any experience with specific foods like hello grits, collards and cobblers as well as certain symbolically American things like weekly football games and cowboy boots and Uggs worn with Nike shorts.

“On a more general note, I was surprised to learn about pep rallies, strict schedules and lack of walking and hanging out outside.”

Ana Ioachimescu, a sophomore also from Romania, started by describing an incident in her Psychology class: “Well the other day in my Psychology class, the professor was talking about how some grad students were telling her they’d want to finish their education while the grandparents took care of their kids, and I was surprised by how many of my classmates seemed shocked by this.

“Where I come from, it’s no big deal for grandparents to practically raise kids up until a certain age; my parents were working in England and the US while I stayed with my grandparents in Romania.” On a different note, she added: “Also, the coffee is really bad here!”

Italian-Cuban freshman Kenny Igarza summarized his experience: “I lived in the US for four years, but coming here was definitely a culture shock. I found it weird that people wore hats even indoors and that guys wouldn’t wear socks with the shoes.

“Also, people wearing flip flops all over, especially at the beginning of the year, was beyond weird.”

However, there are many positive surprises that I shouldn’t skip over, which were expressed by Aleksandra Goryszewska, a freshman from Poland: “Well, I’d been in the States a few times before, so coming here wasn’t that much of a shock for me – but I guess that the constant positive attitude, and openness of Americans was the most pleasantly surprising thing to experience!”