BACKGROUND
The interviewee has requested that their story not be shared on social media.
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIBED BY Neil Bhagat (x 3)
What do you remember from your first few days in the United States when you
arrived?
I can give you both if you want, for my vacation and then coming to Bowdoin.
I remember my first time when I landed in the US. This was in 2017, when I had to drop my brother off to college. I was mostly very excited. I’d never been to the US before. I landed in California, San Francisco. And I just remember there being no big buildings. I remember a lot of… like a suburban environment. Growing up in Singapore for 13 years, I’m used to skyscrapers and apartments and condominiums. But, you know, San Francisco is very, very different in terms of architecture. I remember that being my first like, “Woah this is very different.” Then, I think the weather was also very different to something that I was used to. As I said earlier, Singapore was a very humid, warm climate. San Francisco is the perfect weather, which is kind of what you grew up thinking. California had the best weather. So that was pretty interesting. That was the vacation side of things. I don’t remember thinking anything else really. It was very all top-level thinking.
But when I came to Bowdoin for the first time, I remember driving. I landed in Boston, and I drove the two and a half hours to Brunswick, and this was all during COVID. I just remember the US being a lot less developed from my perspective. You know, I just remember Singapore, there’s no electrical wires and all that stuff on the streets but Boston had infinite of those electricity wires, which is pretty interesting for me. Also, the highways, you see a lot of these fences and stuff like that, which I’d never seen before. Lot of graffiti, which in Singapore is a crime. So those are interesting and that kind of gave me an image of a developing country, per se.
Also, I remember I went into a restaurant for lunch. And the portions, the food portions, are just massive. That to me is also very interesting. I think I had a pasta or something and the size of the meal was just insane. And then I remember getting a small drink. But what I noticed was a small in the US is a large in Singapore, which I think was just an interesting cultural difference. I don’t know if that’s a question you’re going to ask later.
Yeah, were there any interesting interactions you had with someone in the US when you first came?
To be honest. I wouldn't say they were interesting. They were pretty straightforward. But I think one of the concerns I had coming into the states was, obviously, the whole racism side of things. For example, in Maine, it’s the whitest state in America, right? For me, I’ve always been concerned that I would encounter… I don’t know… a racist redneck, which is very possible, right? But that, to me, was probably my biggest concern coming to the States. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that in Singapore. These are all stereotypes, I know. But it’s something that I grew up fearing. A lot of us international students do fear that “Oh, are we really welcome?” And thankfully, I’ve not felt unwelcome. But it’s the fear of feeling unwelcome that we students, or me, face. But no, nothing… oh! Yes, actually, yes! There was one time I was getting tacos with my roommate [inaudible] and we were in line. Basic stuff. And the guy in front of me had a pistol in his pocket. And I thought that was so strange, because on one hand he had his baby and in his back pocket, he had a pistol. And that was the first time I saw a firearm just out in public and I thought that was just absolutely bizarre. I think that is a big cultural thing and I guess an interaction that I was completely baffled by. It’s also because no other part of the world are guns allowed to be freely available. And it was just weird. This guy had a baby on one hand and then an armed weapon on the other which I thought was just crazy.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Of course.
* The contributor of this story has asked that their name be withheld.
