Although the interview I had with the students from the American University in Cairo this week was mostly focused on my own culture and what I could provide to help them with their project, I was nevertheless struck by the ways in which the intercultural experience prompted me to think in ways that I don’t typically. Right away when proposing meeting times we had to consider the time zone differences, and how a time that is convenient for me could be late at night for my interviewers or a time convenient for them could be early in the morning for me. Meal times also don’t correspond to the same times for us respectively, as our days are out of synch, so you can’t expect people to think of a certain time as universally for one activity like a meal, especially if you consider the cultural differences around mealtimes and eating that may arise between different countries. We both seemed to address this by being particularly open and accommodating of each others’ schedules. However, I was reminded that ordinarily I wouldn’t think to consider these aspects when planning a meeting in my own time zone, and it gave me a new understanding for how to be respectful of people’s time.


I also gained a new awareness with respect to the topics that I addressed in the interview. Often as a member of the dominant culture society emphasizes that I do not have culture, that I fit in with the expected American norm whereas there exists a cultural “other” with practices associated with race and ethnicity that are “exotic” to this norm. Articulating my perspective on the dominant American culture functions that I am a part of helped me understand the complex messaging and structuring that shapes this society. I became aware of how I push against and conform to American culture even within specific categories like toxic masculinity, and how in some ways my identity is a departure from my culture but in others it is a direct continuation and consequence. I became more aware of the concept of counterculture especially as it relates to American individualism, as often these values are pushed upon us but there exists such a large movement of people who emphasize community in opposition to these values that it can be considered another American culture in and of itself. As I said to my interviewers, I felt that the opportunity presented a chance to better understand my own culture and identity, as if I were also interviewing myself.