1) Hello, my name is Ruth. I'm 22 years old and I study English, with Political and Social Studies as a minor. I'm in the fourth semester and I aspire to work in publishing, translating texts, and working with different authors and writers. I really enjoy reading, singing, drawing, and traveling. My sole aspiration lies in exploring as many countries as possible in my lifetime, as well as living up to my fullest potential. I'm currently obsessed with leveling up.
2) In terms of cultural differences that I have encountered and how I managed to deal with them, I cannot but think of the different experiences I had while working as an au pair in Scotland and spending most of my time, meeting up and conversing with people, who were also traveling the country. My closest friends were French, and with each greeting and meeting came side kisses on our cheeks, in other words, "bisous". At first, I was a bit confused, as they would always go for my cheeks instead of just accepting a hug as a sufficient way of signaling "I'm very pleased to see you". As time passed and we spend more time together, I just accepted it as a given and went along, figuring that that is their way of being affectionate, until I stumbled upon a video that explained the custom of "bisous" and how according to the event, part of France (city, village etc.), occasion and other factors the amount of "bisous" as well as the paste of giving them differed. This was a very interesting fact for me to learn. It did not lead to me questioning their true intentions, since they were doing it more out of habit than genuine sentiment, but I did realize that in Germany kisses on the cheeks as a greeting aren't common and are kind of jokingly used and preserved for the dealings of "posh people". How French has always been an elegant language in language history for the pig on the plate is pork and the cow beef. Moreover, how the rather reserved German culture led me to understand a kiss as an expression of affection, rather than a habitual task. Surprisingly, when I first hugged one of my French friends upon meeting her in class, she was startled and awe-struck, forever telling me how adorable she pictured me after that interaction, while I did not see how that was special or awe-awakening in any kind of way.
In that sense, I did not really deal with the cultural difference, but just accepted it as a part of their culture, since it did not necessarily bother me. I was able to upgrade my knowledge of French customs and realized how everyone one of us is culturally engrained subconsciously, the differences only coming to light when met with opposing behavior/expressions.