Storytime.

Tonight I had dinner with Lin, an international student from Singapore. We met back in early September at a cook-out, but I had not seen him since then until I ran into him in the library last week- when we decided to do dinner. I must say, our conversation ranks as one of the best I have had this semester.

I'm not sure if I've met another international student who was more excited about submerging his or herself in American culture than Lin. He continuously spoke about how fortunate he was to have had the opportunity to room with non-Asian students, as he feels it has drastically added to his experiences in America. He has made an effort to interact with his classmates, to dedicate time to schoolwork (he said he preferred the American education system to that in Singapore). He also mentioned how anxious he was to share his story with those around him, as he has realized upon coming to Clemson that he is one of the only outlets people have to his country. This was perfect for me because I know so little of Singapore, and was equally as anxious to learn more.

It was refreshing to hear somebody speak of how much they enjoyed the American lifestyle- a balance of work and leisure, as Lin called it. He talked of how in Singapore, work days are generally from 9am to 9pm, as a person's value is based on how much time they dedicate to their work. He said that life gets rather robotic this way, but that his friends at home can't understand why he would want anything different. For Lin, life is about finding what makes you happiest. It is about having a variety of experiences so that when you look back on your life, you can say you made an impact somewhere, or rather that you have no regrets. This semester, Lin has been volunteering at Helping Hands, where he has had the opportunity to work with underprivileged children. It was inspiring to sense his passion as he talked about this experience, and how much it has touched him to play a role in helping a child build his or her foundation.

We talked about what it means to have a shared cultural identity, and whether or not such an identity will become blurred as we are entering an age where we are increasing our interaction with people from different cultures. Certainly we will walk away from these interactions with some new knowledge that we will then add to our own identity. Therefore, will it be more difficult to identify as "American" or "Singaporean?" For instance, Lin pointed out that before coming to Clemson, he didn't realize just how Americanized his life in Singapore actually was. I asked him if he thought this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he was not sure. He just said that it makes it difficult for him to determine his actual identity- who he is as a person.

I realized tonight that I want to do more of this- to sit down with people I know little of and take the time to listen to their stories. Lin and I both agreed that there is not enough of this in the world- a willingness to share. It is fascinating to me the things you can learn through such an experience. For this reason, I encourage all six or so of you to sit down with somebody that you don't know very well this week- to invest time in sharing stories.