Culture Differences and Similarities

I was born and raised in Sweden, but I come from a Polish family. I grew up in Sweden, went to school there, and while I grew up with Swedish culture, I was also very familiar with Polish culture. I started learning English in fourth grade, and it is seen as a second language in Sweden. In Sweden, movies are generally not dubbed, but subtitled, so that also helps in learning the language. However, in Poland, movies are often dubbed and the use of English is not as wide-spread as in Sweden. Before moving to the U.S., I would see many American movies and get to know American culture even from far away.

English is actually my third language, as I speak both Swedish and Polish. I moved to the U.S. when I was 20, and lived in Los Angeles for five years. I moved to New York in 2009. I have learned a lot over the years, and improved and grew a lot as a person. Since my daily life is here, and I’ve been speaking English almost daily for over six years, it has become very natural for me to speak English. Sometimes I even find myself forgetting words in Swedish and Polish, and instead I'm finding that it's easier to express myself in English. Hearing it everywhere and using it in school is something that I’ve gotten so used to.
I have always liked the American culture, and I have gotten so used to it that it feels like home to me also. It feels natural, and I've become "Americanized." I enjoy the language and the lifestyle, and even though there may not be huge differences in culture, it fits me better in some ways. Either way, there is a huge mix of cultures in both Los Angeles and New York.

One thing that I’ve noticed being slightly different in the U.S. compared to Sweden and Poland, at least in our family and among friends, is the way we eat. In Sweden and Poland, we would usually eat breakfast with sandwiches, lunch, and then dinner around 3-4pm (or later in the afternoon, depending on work or school schedule), and then even later, we would eat "evening food" ("kolacja" in Polish, or "kvällsmat" in Swedish), around 7-9pm or so, which often consists of more "sandwiches" in the evening. These sandwiches would often be bread with various toppings such as cheese, ham, and tomatoes or other veggies, or with honey, and we would eat this for both breakfast and "evening food." These times could vary of course, but the main difference is that we usually eat dinner a bit earlier than in the U.S. and sandwiches in the evening again. This has probably been more common with our Polish culture though. During my first few years in the U.S., I would eat like this and some people would be surprised by this, especially by the frequency of eating bread/sandwiches. However, over the past few years I have been eating less bread, and I’ve been eating more American breakfasts’ such as pancakes with syrup, breakfast sausage patties with eggs and cheese, among other things, and especially in New York I have also gotten into delicious bagels more than ever. Sometimes I also have yogurt or milk with cereal, which seems common in many various cultures.

Culture differences and similarities is an interesting topic, and traveling opens us up to many various cultures. It is a topic that can be discussed in many different ways. I have discussed about some of the food differences and similarities, but there is still so much more to say about food. Besides food, there are so many more things that can be discussed about various cultures. Even without traveling people can experience culture differences. In New York, there are so many different people and cultures that you see everyday and everywhere, and sometimes things surprise me and are unfamiliar to me; however, I am open-minded and interested in learning more about various cultures!