I am an international student from Vietnam who came to the United States to pursue higher education. I was brought up in a very unique culture and family traditions, and this has had a strong influence on my beliefs and mindsets. Together with all the experiences that I have been through so far in my life, I have formed some social and personal identities that I might or might be aware of. Such identifies are an important tool that can stay with me and remind me every day of who I am and my origin. In terms of social identities, I was born in a middle class Vietnamese family where my parents have worked so hard to provide the best education and living standards for my two other siblings and me. My parents also have taught me to appreciate …show more content…
For instance, since my parents do not have a religion, I decide not to have one as well. Some of my beliefs were shaped based on my parents’. We do not have a commitment or a passion for a religion because we believe what we do now will bring either positive or negative results in the future. As a result, my parents always remind me to be careful in all the actions that I plan to take and think thoroughly before I do something. Furthermore, as my national origin is Vietnam, and both of my parents speak Vietnamese as their first language. I practiced learning and using it from a very young age. As I got older, my parents decided to transfer me to an international school where I started to learn English as my second language. The new school environment transformed and gave me a passion to learn another language, and this was a strong foundation that helped me to make the decision of pursuing a degree in the United States 6 years …show more content…
In particular, I can easily connect with individuals who share similar social identities with me and establish trust between us. My social identities have also prepared myself for interactions with people who do not share similar identities with me by expressing my respect to them and my appreciation for getting to know them and for sharing with me their own identities while having conversations with those individuals. By letting others know about my social identities through interactions and allowing them to do the same, I believe we can learn new things from each other, and together we will grow and thrive as a group. In conclusion, I believe it is essential to know my social identities since this is a foundation for me to know myself better and appropriately interact with individuals who share different social identities than mine. In other words, knowing my social identities helps me to find better ways to maintain good relationships with residents and my co-workers, and this will result in an inclusive and diverse living and learning environment where everyone can be who they are and thrive from meaningful interactions with each