I am a freshman and I am Asian here at BG. I am writing to share my experience at the University, and my thoughts on some of the different characteristics between Asians and Americans.

I was born and grew up in Hong Kong, China. This year I came to the University to pursue my study. At this University, most students are Americans (77 percent).

Last Friday I attended a seminar given by Jean-Marc Hachey, a Canadian who is an international career editor of Transitions Abroad magazine and the author of a book entitled “The Big Guide to Living and Working Overseas.” After listening to his presentation, I came down to ask him a few questions. He shook my hand. I introduced myself, “Hi, my name is Eva. Nice to meet you,” In no time, he said to me, “Stand straight, speak up, and say confidently: Hi, my name is Eva. Do it again like me.”

I was a little scared, but I knew what he meant, so I followed his instruction. But he was still unsatisfied after I did it a second time. “Don’t laugh at yourself, and don’t step backward.” Then, he explained to me. He said I am a very traditional type of Asian woman. “But now you are in North America. You can be a powerful woman,” he said.

I used to think my personality came from a lack of confidence. But I started to observe my Japanese friends after that event. I live in Global Village where there are a lot of Japanese students. I found that we do share some similar characteristics. They speak softly, they always say “sorry” and “thank you” (I’m not saying this is bad, indeed it is a kind of politeness). Moreover, I remembered when my Japanese roommate told me she wanted to eat something sweet, I gave her some of my chocolates, but she refused, she said, “No, it’s yours, you keep them for yourself.”

From my point of view, traditional Asian women are sometimes too shy to express truly and wholly what we are thinking and feeling. Even if we desire something, sometimes we tell others we don’t. Also, Asians are not used to challenging authority. We always believe professors must be right.

On the other hand, Americans, from my observation, do not hesitate to express themselves confidently. They are not afraid to challenge professors in classes. They always ask questions, request repititions, explain or clarify. Although this, to a certain extent, depends on each individual’s personality, I believe there are some differences between races.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny that every characteristic has both pros and cons. So we do have to respect different people, no matter what gender, race, age and background.

Yin Fan Chan is a freshman, undecided on a major.