Top 5 (ish) Differences Between Here and Home

            I think that one of the most daunting aspects of long term travel for a lot of people is the threat of culture shock. Upon arrival to a brand new place with different customs and lifestyles, you may feel very uncomfortable with the change, and struggle to adapt to your new surroundings. That, or you may go through a Honeymoon Phase where you are really enjoying discovering and learning the way of life, and then eventually find yourself uncomfortable once the phase ends. At least, that's what other people have told me. Actually, one of the major reasons why I chose an out-there place like Macau to study abroad was because I wanted to be hit with the challenge of adapting since I thought it would be the greatest way to learn and discover. Also, they make for great memories and stories to tell. However, I don't think I've ever felt particularly uneasy about where I am and what I'm doing. Maybe I'm eternally in the Honeymoon Phase.
            I suspect that if I was living with a host family in the city itself, I would feel differently. My school is very modern and doesn't have too many quirks that make it feel much different from a normal Western school. I'm not unhappy with this, I've really enjoyed living on this campus with all of its conveniences and events, and being able to make friends with my fellow students. But while there aren't any major cultural or lifestyle changes that have made me uncomfortable, there are a couple small things that have made my daily life a little different compared to at home.

1. My Classmates Are a Little Shy...

            There are a few students that were very excited to meet me and we talk regularly before and after class, but there are a lot of others that seem to be naturally very quiet. Not towards me specifically, but to most of the other students too. This is amplified during class time, where even the more extroverted students are significantly less talkative. When the teachers ask questions, they usually avoid volunteering to answer even if the question is very simple. This forces the teachers to call on specific students to answer, and I'm pretty sure they'd much rather melt onto the floor. Maybe they just don't have a lot of confidence in their English skills. I've always been a talkative one in class and like to answer questions and discuss opinions, but I also hate awkward silences. I'll do anything to prevent them, so I volunteer to answer questions a lot. Sometimes I feel like I do it too much, so restraining myself is a little difficult 😅.

2. Chopsticks

            As the staple of Asian culture, chopsticks are obviously very common eating utensils here. Luckily, this hasn't been much of a problem for me, Chinese take-out at home has prepared me for this! I've actually been complemented a bunch of times for my skills 😎. They are used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner of all kinds with the only other utensil usually being a spoon. My friends, on the other hand, have had less luck. They are not that good with them, so they usually request for a fork and knife in the cafeteria. I do that sometimes as well since eating something like a whole pork chop with chopsticks when I can have a fork and knife is unnecessarily challenging. But I can't wait until I can have Chinese takeout with my family again so I can blow them away with these skills!

3. Macau is a Little Limiting

            This whole thing with Macau being "part of China", but not really, can be a little bit annoying when you want to explore the area at large. I've mentioned in my last post that Macau is very nice, but a little small, so your options for activities are not very vast. In these kind of situations, this usually means go to another city for the day. But the city of Macau is the only one in the SAR of Macau, and while you can go to Hong Kong, it's a little long and expensive travel for just a day. I've mentioned this before, but despite Macau being "part of China," it doesn't make going in or out Mainland any easier than doing so for a completely different country. I do have a Mainland visa, but it takes a little while to enter and exit whenever I want to go to nearby China, so it's not exactly convenient.

4. Transportation

            Despite just saying that Macau is a little small, I have become reliant on something that I never experienced very much: public transportation. This is definitely not a unique thing to Macau, I just always had access to a car or never had any places to go to at home. In a way, I've enjoyed getting more comfortable with using the bus system, but it was also a very stressful thing. In the beginning, I had no idea where to go, which bus to take, when to get off, and if I had to take more than one bus to get anywhere, I was screwed. I still get very confused with these things! But I'm proud to say that I'm at least semi-comfortable with 3 bus routes. Anything else, I'll have to plan ahead and get confirmation from some of my friends to make sure I don't end up completely lost.

5. Some 5th Thing, I Don't Know

Any list should have a nice number, like 5 or 10. Unfortunately, I can't think of a 5th one 😕.

All and all, I've been enjoying getting used to a slightly different way of life compared to what I was doing 3 months ago. But I think that I have found that life here has more in common to life in the US than it has in differences. Sorry there's no pictures, but I couldn't really find anything that matched the theme of this post. But I have plenty of photo albums on my Gallery page if you haven't looked through the recent ones already! Expect me again next week, but until then,

再见！

TL;DR: Culture shock hasn't been too much of a problem, but there are a few things that are a little different compared to home, like my shy classmates, eating utensils, being confined to a city-country, and using... public transportation 😖.