Customer Reviews

Crossing Customs: International Students Write on U.S. College Life and Culture (RoutledgeFalmer Studies in Higher Education)

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Enlighteningly refreshing look at American and specifically Ivy Legue culture. International students reflect on their lives abroad and their experiences in Dartmouth College and the surrounding New England community. The students and alumni that have contributed their short autobiographies to this compilation contemplate their diverse backgrounds and grapple with the American culture, to which they are compelled. Some of the stories are hilarious. Some are heartbreaking. But all are profound. The students take good aim at social and philosophical questions imposed by their new community and search for their identities in a place that canonizes monotony and conformity. This book can not be put down until it's finished.

Very engaging reading about foreign students lives prior to their education here. It's a revealing look at what they brought with them in life experience compared to what they saw in the average American student. They contend with the clash between the beliefs and values of their upbringing and the shallow nature of the sheltered American student. A very well written, thoughful response to the blending of their prior experience, their expectations of study in the U.S. and the self discovery that results.

This selection of essays should be read by the American College student body across the U.S. The essays shed a light to the level of maturity the "typical" American college student possesses and demonstrates more than they illuminate facets of other cultures. I found myself stunned by the level of ignorance and apathy demonstrated by the "average" American student in the respective stories.