Foreign Exchange Student Interview

I chose to interview my next door neighbor Joey Chugani in the South Hedges Dorm; he is an exchange student from the United Arab of Emirates and has been in Montana for the last two years studying Accounting. I asked him five different questions about his home culture in a hope to get a better understanding of where he’s from and the way of life in the middle east. The first question I asked him was what the dominating religion was. He told me, unsurprisingly that almost the entire population is Muslim. There is somewhere around 80 to 85% Sunni with the remainder being Shi’s. He also told me that religion is a much stronger influence on the way of life there then it is here, people plan their days and lives around prayer and living within the confines of the religion. The Next question I asked was why he chose to come to school here, half way across the world instead of his own country. He replied that the schooling there is pretty good up through high school but there is no higher education available unless you are extremely wealthy. “You are expected to go straight to work after high school, college is hardly thought about”. He also has straight A’s here and probably works harder then anyone else on my floor. I asked him how they greet people and the general way they live, via “backstage” behavior. He told me that the men typically shake hands and behave generally like they do here, but the woman are not allowed to start conversations with men outside of the home and typically do not leave the home alone. When in the home they do not have to wear headdresses and can speak freely just as they would in an American home. I asked him what kind of sports they play and he almost laughed saying soccer, or football as it is called there. He also said that cricket is huge and played by almost all young men. I asked him if he was in close contract with his family still and he told me that he talks to them from time to time but is considered a man and is on his own which is a little different from the American culture. Talking to Joey has given me a new perspective on other cultures and I am glad that I got to know him over the year and had my eyes opened a bit more then they were before coming to school.