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Making Friends
Americans are curious about many things and may ask you many questions. Some of the questions may appear ridiculous, uninformed and elementary, and even rude, but try to be patient in answering them. You may be the first foreign national of a particular country whom they have met and they probably have little understanding of life in your country. Most Americans are sincerely interested in learning more about you and your culture.
It is sometimes difficult for international students to understand how Americans form and maintain friendships. In this fast-passed society, friendships may be transitory and are often established to meet personal needs in a particular situation. The casualness of friendship patterns in the United States allows people to move freely into new social groups. These groups usually form around work, school, shared interests, or places of residence. Most mature Americans readily welcome new people into their social groups. Americans have many interests and engage in a variety of activities so the warmth expressed in one meeting, while genuine and sincere, may be confined to that occasion. Close friendships are the result of repeated interactions between individuals as they identify similarities in a point of view and share a variety of experiences.
It is possible that some American family customs will bother you because they are very different from your own. To help you enjoy your visit more, try to discover what in the two cultures is behind the differences in customs. Look for similarities and enjoy or overlook the differences.
The above section is excerpted from the Michigan State University Handbook for International Students.
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