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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for All Categories of Immigrants to USA, April 20, 2009
Want practical advice for adjusting to life in America? This is it!
This book is intended for international students, but I think parts of it can be helpful for all categories of college students and immigrants to America. This book shares tips on how to adjust to everyday life in America: how to get a car, how to do daily tasks, how to interact with people, how to navigate cultural and social situations. These tips can be helpful for anyone. In fact, I grew up in America, and some of these tips would have benefited me when I transitioned into college life in America, let alone when I came back to U.S. after myself having had been an international student in India!
I have put a review of 4 out of 5 stars for the following reasons:
1. I realize it is hard to write anything and keep the same tone throughout. I also realize one needs to be realistic, but there were phrases and comments throughout that made me think the authors had some negative or bad experiences and were transferring their opinions on to the readers.
2. I realize coming to America is a dream for many around the world, but that does not make America the best country! All countries and places on this earth have their plus points and also points of improvement. Some of the activities throughout the book tended to lean toward always seeing America in the best possible light. This may be contradictory to my first contention to the book, however, again we must have a balance. There will always be good things to learn while moving to a new country, in this case, America, and there will always be good things to learn from the 'old country.' We can integrate the lifestyles as much as possible. This is healthy. Coming to a new country is not like 'converting to a religion.' One does not have to give up a culture of another land to adjust fully and become an American. We can pick and choose what we like to put into our lifestyle, the values we represent and the way we express our lives, whether we are in America or any other country. That is the beauty of human life!
But do not shy away from reading the book based on my points of contention. I think when anyone reads anything they should question what they read (see, hear, experience), as there are so many viewpoints and ways of understanding things. Just because it's written in a book, it's not the be all end all. Just because I am writing this, doesn't mean that I am 100% right, either!
Thank you for reading my review.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
if only it had been available then..., October 24, 2001
dr. shiraev's and dr. boyd's book, which i have recently read alongside a few other books on giving advice to international students coming to the united states in order to reccommend a work for friends of mine planning to come to study in the states, is by far the best that i have come along. it poignantly addresses all the issues of importance for a foreign student, leaving little to be desired, without being patronizing or attepting to prescribe receipies of how one is to manage once arrived. maybe it is the unique or if not unique: successful combination of a foreign and domestic point of view, that manages to be very precise and diligent in sketching out that, which is to be expected by those who come from cultures that are both very different, but also seemingly similar. indeed, as a german, i have found out that the seeming similarities of western countries contribute much to the skewed expectations of students that culminate often in a rude awakening, often without knowing why. it is often less important to be pointed towards the obvious, after all, if i had come to the us from myanmar, or swaziland, i would have known very well THAT i was to expect great differences and hence would have been more aware of them. even at the danger of being redundant: in my opinion the danger or difficulty is more often, that differences are not obvious and thus not expected. these subtle differences, different attitudes not perceived up front, the accumulation of otherness in often miniscule details are put forward in a way that i would have very much appreciated being told when i came to the us. unfortunately, then the book had not even been conceived. alas, now it exists - and i would not reccommend any other book but this to anyone coming to the us, in particular those 'familiar' with the western or european lifestyle.
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