I was fortunate enough to spend this weekend in New York City and above all else, the trip taught me that you don’t have to leave the country to experience culture shock. The City That Never Sleeps shares a flag and a president with those of us in Wyoming, but many things, most noticeably manners of self-expression and driving styles, are widely different.
But different does not have to be a bad thing. A little culture shock serves to pop personal bubbles and open eyes to new experiences.
In Manhattan, a black pea coat with a scarf is standard attire and wearing jeans is close to the equivalent of wearing sweatpants in Wyoming. Saturday Night Live wasn’t just a late night TV show filled with jokes that only a select number of people find funny but a show that was taking place only a few blocks away at Rockefeller Place. Those outfits that make you wonder where you could wear it? Well, chances are high that someone in New York was walking around in it.
One of the biggest things I noticed was the class differences. Driving from Queens to Times Square showed the entire social economic spectrum, from the apartment buildings that looked out of a documentary about a developing country to the diamond district with what looked like the Hope Diamond in the window, and everything in between. America truly is a melting pot if a twenty minute taxi drive can show some of the countries’ richest and poorest neighborhoods.
This was not my first time in the Big Apple. Last time I was in New York I was going through puberty and entering junior high. I was blown away by the sky scrapers and unique little restaurants. I loved visiting the first time, but I feel that now that I have been living on my own, I can appreciate the city in a different way. I can appreciate how many people it takes to keep the city running and how expensive going out to eat in Times Square is. One night in the hotel was as much as my rent for a month and I kept on reminding myself that many people don’t actually live in the Times Square area but in more manageable places like Brooklyn or the Bronx.
I find it all too easy to slip into routines of going to work, class, the gym and then home in the afternoon. To quote Pink Floyd, we can become comfortably numb with life where sometimes the biggest surprise in the day is seeing the grade on your last paper. There is something to be said for pushing those invisible boundaries, especially those you don’t even realize. A big one for me was being in a tight space with people I don’t know. I find the tram at Jackson Hole claustrophobic, but riding the elevator in the hotel people packed just as tight and that was something I had to get over. I felt more culture shock during a few days in the city than I ever had in a foreign country.
Now is the time to start making plans for studying abroad, spring break and next year. Push your boundaries expand your world view and that so called culture shock may be closer than you think.
