{"id":1745,"date":"2016-09-28T12:01:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T12:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/serbia.afssite.afs.org\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2016-10-04T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T01:30:08","slug":"getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting immersed in a new culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m Zeineb, an AFS student from Tunisia in China and I’m writing to talk you about my first month here. I’ve always wanted to be an exchange student and now I’m achieving my dreams. Words cannot describe how much I’m enthusiastic and excited about the next few months.<\/p>\n

After a few days in China, I finally knew that what motivated me the most to participate in AFS program was the intercultural part, getting immersed in a new culture. Even though I\u2019m struggling trying to eat with chopsticks\u00a0or drink hot water during\u00a0the meal. Adventure is out here!<\/p>\n

\"photo
photo by Zeineb Besrour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before landing in China I thought that Chinese people eat fried insects, Chinese restaurants cook cats and dogs\u2026 Definitely not! All of them were false stereotypes. Eating cats and dogs almost doesn\u2019t exist and if there were such restaurants, they aren’t\u00a0in big cities such as Beijing, Shangai or Guangzhou. Chinese food is just amazing. I even gained three kilos that I\u2019m trying to get rid of.<\/p>\n

I started really\u00a0appreciating my own culture\u2026 It would not be an exaggeration to say that no one in China, no one in Guangdong (my host province) and no one in Foshan (my host city) knows that somewhere in North Africa there is\u00a0a country called Tunisia. \u201cBut whose fault is that?\u201d I always wondered. Therefore, I realized that I had a huge responsibility to\u00a0represent my country like never before. And I even once hugged a girl in my high school because she was the first one that I met after a month knowing that Tunisia is in North Africa and Tunis is its capital city. Weird!<\/p>\n

During my exchange year I\u2019ll do my best to make Chinese people enthusiastic to learn about my country, and\u00a0combine a taste of home with a Chinese dish. The last few days I\u2019ve also asked where I can learn Kung Fu, thing that I\u2019m really excited to do.<\/p>\n

\"unnamed-2\"<\/figure><\/p>\n

I think that I really depend on my family so living apart from them is my biggest challenge ever. I\u2019m a little bit scared of forgetting what my relatives sound like or missing my mother’s cooking. Feeling disconnected from people and places I know, and adopting\u00a0a new routine makes me maybe feel a kind of homesickness.\u00a0To avoid that, I\u2019m trying to be present in my host family physically, mentally, and even gastronomically!\u00a0Making friends and talking to others about how I feel makes me feel better and concentrate on why I wanted\u00a0to go participate in this\u00a0program.<\/p>\n

I understand that I can encounter challenges such as homesickness or cultural shock. But I\u2019m convinced that there is an endless number of ways to deal with them.<\/p>\n

Zeineb Besrour, exchange student from Tunisia to China<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m Zeineb, an AFS student from Tunisia in China and I’m writing to talk you about my first month here.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":2735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,54],"tags":[129,135,126,127,128,134],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student","category-learning","tag-become","tag-china","tag-exchange","tag-exchange-student","tag-study-abroad","tag-tunisia"],"yoast_head":"\nGetting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’m Zeineb, an AFS student from Tunisia in China and I’m writing to talk you about my first month here.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AFS Serbia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-28T12:01:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-04T01:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1-1134x630.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1134\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AFS Intercultural Programs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AFS Intercultural Programs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/\",\"name\":\"Getting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-28T12:01:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-04T01:30:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e627e9ffe1ec358b49dab08075bf01db\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg\",\"width\":1134,\"height\":844,\"caption\":\"Zeineb Besrour\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Getting immersed in a new culture\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/\",\"name\":\"AFS Serbia\",\"description\":\"Study abroad, host a student, intercultural education\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e627e9ffe1ec358b49dab08075bf01db\",\"name\":\"AFS Intercultural Programs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff6c0bcc137e3ca7a07fce2b7a814ff9c7e470127af3eda432421633baf9518?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff6c0bcc137e3ca7a07fce2b7a814ff9c7e470127af3eda432421633baf9518?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"AFS Intercultural Programs\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/author\/afsinternational\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Getting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Getting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia","og_description":"I’m Zeineb, an AFS student from Tunisia in China and I’m writing to talk you about my first month here.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/","og_site_name":"AFS Serbia","article_published_time":"2016-09-28T12:01:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-04T01:30:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1134,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1-1134x630.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AFS Intercultural Programs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AFS Intercultural Programs","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/","url":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/","name":"Getting immersed in a new culture - AFS Serbia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg","datePublished":"2016-09-28T12:01:46+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-04T01:30:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e627e9ffe1ec358b49dab08075bf01db"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d22dvihj4pfop3.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/03213247\/image1.jpeg","width":1134,"height":844,"caption":"Zeineb Besrour"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/2016\/09\/28\/getting-immersed-in-a-new-culture\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Getting immersed in a new culture"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/","name":"AFS Serbia","description":"Study abroad, host a student, intercultural education","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e627e9ffe1ec358b49dab08075bf01db","name":"AFS Intercultural Programs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff6c0bcc137e3ca7a07fce2b7a814ff9c7e470127af3eda432421633baf9518?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bff6c0bcc137e3ca7a07fce2b7a814ff9c7e470127af3eda432421633baf9518?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"AFS Intercultural Programs"},"url":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/author\/afsinternational\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2786,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/2786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afs.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}