cultural barrier

8

since i was 16 (getting on 20 now) I turned in on myself somewhat as i drifted away from all the people i knew from my childhood and didnt really make friends at my school/6th form. just after my 16th birthday i decided i would stop watching american films and watch french and japanese ones instead. i also stopped watching tv as i seemed crap to me...as time went on I only listened to greek, and some french music; while the things i read (philosophy, classical stuff, and some victorian) were vastly different to what my contemporaries would read.

maybe i sound like a snob, but the films, music and books were of a higher quality than the 'trashy' pop culture of the english speaking world and i thought this was a good thing i was doing as i was making myself more cultured a intellectually varied. at the same time however, coming into university, i could find very few people, if any, who shared the culture id brought myself up on. worryingly i found that i knew none of the songs the fellow vets would sing together on the way to lectures, or knew nothing about the films or books (havent even touched harry potter for example)... it's just difficult alot of the time to find something in common to talk about, or to agree on what film to watch etc...

id blame my problem on other people when i was responsible for erecting a cultural barrier. i feel like a foreigner in my own country as my tastes and 'cultural knowledge' seem so different from everyone else's (even the food I eat is different- im a vegan and cook all my own food.... mostly with so much chilli poweder than its inedible to most other people)...

so can anyone think of anything i can do to remedy this? saying i should conform with everyone else isnt really what i'd want to do... eg i couldnt go back to watching hollywood films again- so unoriginal and unsubtle... just dire! i keep thinking that i might as well just sleep through uni and emmigrate straight after to try again...

yes... i know im a lunatic... rant over

Reply 1

-WhySoSerious?

17

Great. Thank you :smile:

.

What was the question again?

Reply 2

LearningMath

14

Nice.

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

Ilios_Lampros

since i was 16 (getting on 20 now) I turned in on myself somewhat as i drifted away from all the people i knew from my childhood and didnt really make friends at my school/6th form. just after my 16th birthday i decided i would stop watching american films and watch french and japanese ones instead. i also stopped watching tv as i seemed crap to me...as time went on I only listened to greek, and some french music; while the things i read (philosophy, classical stuff, and some victorian) were vastly different to what my contemporaries would read.

maybe i sound like a snob, but the films, music and books were of a higher quality than the 'trashy' pop culture of the english speaking world and i thought this was a good thing i was doing as i was making myself more cultured a intellectually varied. at the same time however, coming into university, i could find very few people, if any, who shared the culture id brought myself up on. worryingly i found that i knew none of the songs the fellow vets would sing together on the way to lectures, or knew nothing about the films or books (havent even touched harry potter for example)... it's just difficult alot of the time to find something in common to talk about, or to agree on what film to watch etc...

id blame my problem on other people when i was responsible for erecting a cultural barrier. i feel like a foreigner in my own country as my tastes and 'cultural knowledge' seem so different from everyone else's (even the food I eat is different- im a vegan and cook all my own food.... mostly with so much chilli poweder than its inedible to most other people)...

so can anyone think of anything i can do to remedy this? saying i should conform with everyone else isnt really what i'd want to do... eg i couldnt go back to watching hollywood films again- so unoriginal and unsubtle... just dire! i keep thinking that i might as well just sleep through uni and emmigrate straight after to try again...

yes... i know im a lunatic... rant over

The world doesn't just revolve around you.

Reply 4

Prince Rhyus

15

Ilios_Lampros

since i was 16 (getting on 20 now) I turned in on myself somewhat as i drifted away from all the people i knew from my childhood and didnt really make friends at my school/6th form. just after my 16th birthday i decided i would stop watching american films and watch french and japanese ones instead. i also stopped watching tv as i seemed crap to me...as time went on I only listened to greek, and some french music; while the things i read (philosophy, classical stuff, and some victorian) were vastly different to what my contemporaries would read.

maybe i sound like a snob, but the films, music and books were of a higher quality than the 'trashy' pop culture of the english speaking world and i thought this was a good thing i was doing as i was making myself more cultured a intellectually varied. at the same time however, coming into university, i could find very few people, if any, who shared the culture id brought myself up on. worryingly i found that i knew none of the songs the fellow vets would sing together on the way to lectures, or knew nothing about the films or books (havent even touched harry potter for example)... it's just difficult alot of the time to find something in common to talk about, or to agree on what film to watch etc...

id blame my problem on other people when i was responsible for erecting a cultural barrier. i feel like a foreigner in my own country as my tastes and 'cultural knowledge' seem so different from everyone else's (even the food I eat is different- im a vegan and cook all my own food.... mostly with so much chilli poweder than its inedible to most other people)...

so can anyone think of anything i can do to remedy this? saying i should conform with everyone else isnt really what i'd want to do... eg i couldnt go back to watching hollywood films again- so unoriginal and unsubtle... just dire! i keep thinking that i might as well just sleep through uni and emmigrate straight after to try again...

yes... i know im a lunatic... rant over

No, not a lunatic. Sounds familiar over here in that I was never a big one into the "pub and dwunk" culture of those who went to my university. Even the people who I was at college with still (according to the newsfeeds on Facebook) are still into pub and dwunk. We're all going to be turning 30 over the next 18 months!!!

To remedy it?

The challenge is to find people with similar interests to you - they are out there. (Unfortunately for me I had to get onto the Civil Service Fast Stream before finding any of them!)

Look around at your university societies and also outside of university locally. Durham (as with my stomping ground, Cambridge) is bound to have them. For example your local art house cinema or theatre society.

Alternatively, try something new that you've never done before as a hobby. It's amazing what a "leveller" can do.

Reply 5

Helenia

20

Trying out a bit of popular culture isn't going to stop you being the person you are. You can still have the same interests as you ever did, just expanded a little! There will be people around who share them, but they may well be hard to find.

You've erected these barriers yourself, for whatever reason. Obviously the things you do make you happy, but equally, it seems you do want to make friends with people around you at uni. There just has to be a bit of compromise somewhere along the way, without you feeling like you're conforming to the masses.

cultural barrier

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