So what is the importance of friendships across cultures? And what are the good aspects, but also the difficulties, of these relationships?
Friendship is when you trust and confide in someone and genuinely want them to be happy even if it means making sacrifices yourself to make them happy.
A true friend is someone you can talk to about your feelings, someone you can tell anything to, for example, things that you could never tell your family or even your partner. They are someone who you don't have to talk to every day but you know you can talk to anytime; someone who will go out of their way to be with you.
Friendship is when you care for someone and are happy when they are happy and sad when they are sad.
Personally, we think that this project, that allowed us to meet people from other countries has been wonderful. It's a dream come true! We never expected to be in contact with someone from a different culture, to exchange letters and to be working on a project together. It has been a unique experience and we would like to continue working on this project and to stay in contact with our new friend. We have learnt a lot about a different culture, religion and language. Finally we hope to meet one day and know more about each other.
Friendships between different cultures have so many advantages:
First, having a friend from another culture is a different experience, because speaking with someone who has a different language or another religion, teaches us how to communicate with them and respect them.
Second, this friend opens our eyes to the world, because knowing their lifestyle, network of friends, travels gives us an open mind, a new look into the world that can change our way of seeing things and judging them.
Third, sharing our own culture’s music, food and customs with another person allows us to see our own culture and our friend’s from a different perspective while also learning about where someone else comes from. You become open minded and an international person.
Also, having a friend from another culture is about respecting yourself and your friends: we don’t care about skin color, language or religion. The most important is the personality of the person: their ideas, experiences…
Friendships between different cultures also have some disadvantages:
- If you are friends with someone from a different time zone it can be difficult to contact them whenever you want because they could be asleep while you are awake, although this was not the case between us, as we live in the same time zone.
- Sometimes when you don't speak the same language it can be difficult to communicate how you are feeling and things you are saying may not be understood the way you want them to be. But, at the same time, this can be positive, as it shows us the importance of speaking a common language, that will allow us to understand each other.
- When you have a friend from a different culture you could unintentionally offend them without realising it. For example, if your friend is a muslim and follows the tradition of not eating until sunset, which is Ramadan, they could be upset if you eat near them during the day. So, they must explain this tradition and you must respect it.
Friendship Across Cultures
Liliana Borges | Leila
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