Now my semester begins–busy as always, with some signs of possible improvements. I see people from different backgrounds presenting great efforts in trying to fit in the Concordia society. Perhaps these observations have to do with the fact that I am coming from a different place with hopes and dreams interfering with the living reality that accepts no hopes or dreams, just efforts. Your efforts shape who you are.
My theory is explicitly shown in our daily lives. This society is small and has more to do with each individual more than anybody expects. I would argue that presenting who you were back in high school is great, but change to fit in is needed. Just go with it. For many people and most societies, different is bad, but distinguished is good and the difference between these two is nothing more than a thin line. We live in a society of great minds; so be flexible and live it.
I notice that some people were gathering in their own special communities, especially those coming from different countries, locking themselves in their own little cocoon of home, not realizing that they actually left home and are in college–a chance for meeting a different group of people you might not realize existed if you did not interact with them.
I was talking to a friend one day about the difference in the social interactions between the international students and the domestic ones. We concluded that one person we knew first to be quiet turned out to be much happier after being with a person from a different country most of the time. This doesn’t always hold true, as shown by a friend from back home. He left the United States hating every bit of it, with no intentions of coming back. It seems the mission to actually adapt to being a member of a bigger group is not as easy as it seems, but why not try?
Perhaps the idea of an “ideology of fitting in” might overshadow us, but a few weeks in a different country can make all the difference in a mindset.
This article was written by Abdallah Shuhadeh a contributing writer for The Concordian.
