Becoming an American

Becoming An American

Socialization is the process of learning the culture of a place. We learn how to interact with other people through socialization. I was born and brought up in Nepal so when I came here, I wore Nepali clothes (Kurta) and spoke in my native Nepali language. My personality was deeply ingrained in Nepali culture and beliefs. However, when I moved to the U.S, I had a culture shock which led to me going through socialization. This process of me changing my thinking, beliefs and personality to a certain extent, to fit into what I saw as “American” culture has been going on since I moved here, and is going on till this date.

In Nepal, girls wear traditional clothing called “Kurta” on a daily basis. I was raised wearing Kurta ever since I was little. When I came to the States, I saw every girl wearing pants and shirts. My uncle told me to dress similarly to how the girls here dressed. At first, I was not too enthusiastic about wearing “American” clothes. Initially, I went to school wearing my traditional Nepali clothing, but I felt very uncomfortable doing so. All the other kids was wore skirts, jeans and pants. I felt like an outsider. As time went on, I started to wear jeans, pants and shirts although they felt really tight and uncomfortable. As soon as I came home from school, I used to take off my new clothes, and changed back into my traditional clothing. As long as nobody saw me wearing those clothes, I felt relaxed wearing them. It took me months to get used to wearing jean and shirts.

The second change that I went through was that I started to speak in a very low voice, when I was around American people. I used to speak very loudly when I was in Nepal. People in Nepal are in general louder, and not as conscious as people here when it comes to the tone of their voice. They are loud everywhere whether it be the library, theaters, or even when someone is giving a speech. However in the U.S, I noticed that people are not loud like that. People will stare if you are loud in public places such as the hallways in school or in the library. If someone is too loud, they might think they are fighting. It didn’t take me too long before I started feeling uncomfortable speaking loudly, or in other words just being myself. I would tell my friends in my native language, “Bistari bolna aru manche haru le hereko cha hamilae” which means “Hey, talk softly. People are watching us.”

When I think about it, there are so many