International Students In Transnational Mobility
Question:
Answer:
My experience in Australia
The Australian beach presented me with an opportunity to learn Australian culture. Various aspects of my life since have changed since I landed in Australia almost one year ago for my nursing studies. I have made lots of friends who have educational and life objectives similar to mine whom I meet the beach sports events. I have also learned and gained much knowledge which I did not have while leaving Vietnam. The most challenging and enjoyable moment was my first day at the campus when everything was new to me ranging from culture, language, manners, and behavior of Australians among other factors. The student culture in Australia is quite different from the behavior in Vietnam. On the same admission day, the campus had freshman event at the beach where various sports activities were held.
How beach experience made me feel and why?
The event was nice full of joyful moments, and I came to learn a lot regarding Australian culture. Australian culture has been influenced by the aboriginal cultures, the British culture, and the Asian culture. As an international student, I have been able to learn a lot about this great cultures. I greatly enjoy school games and sports at the Australian beaches, and I can confidently say that Australians tend to take advantage of their great weather to trail a different and an outdoor lifestyle (Baldassar, Pyke & Ben-Moshe, 2017). Through the beach sports, I came to learn about the manners and behavior of the Australians. Australians compared to Vietnamese are free in the behavior, they are open as well as direct about their religion, sexuality as well as in speech where they use jokes and sarcasm in both informal and formal conversations.
Australians interact freely with newcomers a behavior which is not similar to my home country Vietnam. The food I enjoy most at the beach is meat pies, sausage roll and a bowl full of Thai noodle soup which I also enjoy most at home too. Another good thing about learning in Australia is that international students are allowed to work and study on a student visa though there are various limitations regarding working hours. As an international student I don’t regret my choice to study in Australia, it is one of the most interesting countries with cultures which are easy to adopt. Australians are friendly and interactive with a sense of humor used in both informal and formal conversation. Learning about the Australian cultures helps the student to enjoy studies.
Similarities and differences between Vietnamese and Australian culture
Introduction
This part of the paper is a research report feeling the gaps concerning cultural experience I gained at the beach sports.
It is quite enjoyable being an international student learning in Australia and I don’t regret my choice to learn in Australia. This is because Australian culture is not far different from Vietnamese culture as most of their culture is more of Asian culture even though the aboriginals also have their culture. While attending the beach games, I was perplexed witnessing couples kissing publicly at the beach and I almost closed my eyes. Public kissing in according to our Vietnam culture is restricted and should not be done in front of children, but I came to realize that cultures are different and that Australian culture is different to our culture when it comes to kissing (Wang & Hannes, 2014). Even though I came to understand public kissing it took me the whole day since in our nation sexuality is sacred. I was also surprised with parents and children kissing each other without any sense of fear. This made me ask myself various questions whose answers I came to know with time. Apart from sexuality which is open in Australia, Vietnamese culture is different to that of Australians in various ways. In Vietnam, we go according to the teachings of Gautama Buddha while Australian observe Christian teachings which are based on the on the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Australians worship in churches and cathedrals while in Vietnam temples people worship in monasteries, temples as well as nunneries. Australians celebrate birthdays which is different in Vietnamese culture where we only celebrate death days (Tran & Pham, 2016). With my stay in Australia, I have learned that Australians value Christmas and the New Year dates which are not most valued in Vietnam. As Vietnamese, we only value most the Lunar New Year which is celebrated annually. Australians and Vietnamese play similar games with the most popular sport being soccer and martial arts. Other games such as cricket, athletics, rugby, and tennis are both similar in Australia and Vietnam with federation responsible for sports in both countries (Gomes, 2015). Regarding language, I did have difficulties as same English language with Latin origin is used in both countries. Australians and Vietnamese use the same English even English is used more in Australia compare to Vietnam where the English language is used in most important institutions and administration.
References
Baldassar, L., Pyke, J., & Ben-Moshe, D. (2017). The Vietnamese in Australia: diaspora identity, intra-group tensions, transnational ties and ‘victim’status. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(6), 937-955.
Gomes, C. (2015). Negotiating everyday life in Australia: Unpacking the parallel society inhabited by Asian international students through their social networks and entertainment media use. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(4), 515-536.
Tran, L. T., & Pham, L. (2016). International students in transnational mobility: Intercultural connectedness with domestic and international peers, institutions and the wider community. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 46(4), 560-581.
Wang, Q., & Hannes, K. (2014). Academic and socio-cultural adjustment among Asian international students in the Flemish community of Belgium: A photovoice project. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 66-81.
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