Coming to Live in a Foreign Country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coming to Live in a Foreign Country - Essay Example I was very excited when I got admission in a United States College. Though I had hoped for it, however, for it to come true so easily was very exhilarating. I was glad that I had been granted this opportunity, both by the college’s board of admissions and by my family who supported my decision to go abroad for higher studies. The delight at felt at being able to be on my own, and that too in a foreign land was indescribable. I constantly made plans regarding how I would go about settling in once I reached the United States. I was essentially entering a new phase in my life and was very keen and enthusiastic about starting this chapter of my life. However, once I reached the United States, in fact as soon as I landed at the airport, I felt a strange sense of trepidation. Everything I saw and heard was new to me. All of a sudden I was surrounded by sights and sounds that were very unfamiliar. There were lots of people at the airport, in fact, it would be right to say that there was a throng of people at the airport, yet I felt completely and utterly alone. Out of all of these people around me, I knew nobody. What is more, nobody knew me. I felt like an outsider as if I somehow did not belong in this multitude of people. I was scared that this feeling of loneliness might get too much for me to bear, causing me to be unable to enjoy anything, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that that was not the case. All of a sudden, the feeling of anxiety was replaced by a sense of excitement. If I were essentially an outsider, then everything I was seeing was a new sight for me. I looked at everything I passed by closely. From the airport till I reached the college campus, I tried to absorb as much as I could. Everything seemed novel to me, even the simple and mundane things like air vents in buildings and how people had a different voice cadence in the United States than in Nigeria seemed to excite me. There was a sense of newness to everything. I noticed even dull and routine details around me and became excited over them. Though at first I only noticed the newness with an excited mindset, yet soon enough that excitement changed to trepidation. I simply had not taken to account the fact that there will be quite a lot of cultural gaps and cultural differences that I will have to cross. It is a given that all countries have their own set of norms and the adage of â€Å"when in Rome, do as the Romans do† entails that one follows local customs. I did not want to offend anyone for my lack of knowledge regarding local customs. Soon enough, though, I discovered that there were quite a bit of similarities between the two cultures of Nigeria and United States. I was still, however, afraid of offending others for my lack of understanding or knowledge regarding local culture. It was soon clear to me, though, that United States has a more relaxed approach towards following cultural norms and one can fit in without having to change or adapt much. Although that is true, nonetheless, I still looked forward to learning new things about the culture of the foreign land I found myself in. Perhaps it seems like my feelings were that of a child who is brought to a toy shop and told to go on an

THE WAR ON TERROR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

THE WAR ON TERROR - Essay Example This terrorism and war on terror is a direct outcome of America meddling into the business and affairs of other nations. Would it have been possible to avoid this kind of terrorism attacking us? When these attacks happen it is easy to put the onus on a few government or social departments. However when terror attacks of this scale happen then it is obvious that they are an outcome of years of meticulous planning. By the same logic blaming Federal Bureau of Investigation or Immigration and Naturalization Service was an easy way out of pinpointing the responsibility. However as stated earlier attack on America is an outcome of years of American intervention in the affairs of other nations and even failing to beef the security well within time. Posting guards at airports post the attacks was a reaction to the event. The more interesting question is what could have been done proactively to avoid the attacks. This clearly indicates that we did not look into the system weaknesses at our en d and rectify them well within time. It also means that someone whose idea could have been useful was rejected on the grounds of ulterior political aims and perceived to be confusing. For ex: Homeland security chief Tom Ridge introduced colour codes for levels of security risk. The colours changed from green to red as the level of security changed from low to high.