Interviewing an Immigrant

Interviewing an Immigrant

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Interviewing an Immigrant

I have met with Albert Einstein who was not born in USA but and has lived a significant life outside USA and finally immigrated to USA. Albert Einstein was born at a place known as Ulm which is in Germany. Six weeks later after his birth, his family moved to a pace known as Munich where he began schooling. He later joined the Federal Polytechnic School where he was trained as a mathematics and physics teacher. He struggled to get a teaching post in vain and later accepted to work as a technical assistant in the Swiss Patent office. After the Second World War, Einstein at the fore front in the Government world movement whereby he was offered the position of Israel president and he declined and collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann the Hebrew University which is in Jerusalem (Neil, 2011). He was a genius and had a great knowledge in physics and mathematics and solved all the problems that were related to them appropriately.

He later received so many honorary doctorate degrees in medicine, science and philosophy from so many American and European universities. Einstein became so famous whereby his fame made him to win a Nobel Prize in physics and brought lectureships throughout the whole world. This also made him be the focus of all the attacks in a very increasingly anti-Semitic and militaristic Germany. All this made him live in so much fear and hence he migrated to the United States together with his wife who was known as Elsa. He was a very outspoken person when it came to politics and was an avid pacifist. This person had become very famous in Germany because of his good work and persona and for that reason he grew so many political enemies who were against him and who for instance claimed that his work was un-Germany. This is another reason which forced to get out of his country and emigrated to the United States since he had been offered so many position there. He was not welcomed well in United States because of his pacifist views but this did not move him or discourage him (Walter, 1987). After landing in the United States his wife and he tried to help all the Jewish refugees to immigrate to United States. Einstein had some mixed feelings. He felt very privileged and honored to live a very peaceful life in US while he deep down in his heart felt guilty since knew that some people were living miserable live and their lives were being destroyed in war. While in America, he lived in New Jersey and Princeton where he worked for the institute of advanced study. He also gave some lectures in Princeton University which was near the institute of study.

His experience in US was different from the one he experienced in Germany. To him, US was a peaceful state and he did not find anything unusual or funny. He continued with his career and profession in the University in the field of science. He faced some challenges due to cultural differences since he was from Germany and the cultures of those two countries are different. He had the challenge of time simply because he was used to Germany’s time. When it was in morning in Germany, it was at night in US and vice versa. There are so many cultural difference between Germany and US. For example when it comes to freedom, in US freedom does not exist in the constitution. One is under the parents care even when he or she is past 21 years. One is not allowed to drink in US until 21 years old which is very different from Germany. In USA a police officer gets training for six months only while in Germany that job is preceded by a three year schooling and training. In Germany restaurants, asking for free water without any food is frowned upon and is not a common thing which is contrary to US restaurants which go to an extent of serving food to customers up to 10 pm exactly but when you go to Germany you will find that they still serve food even up to midnight. Another different cultural practice is that in Germany at funeral services, the casket is closed while in US the deceased gets a lot of make-up and the casket is usually open (Edward, 1990). This experience stretched my comfort zone so much because those things done in Germany are so different and quite unfamiliar to me and affect my intercultural communication because the way we do things is not the way they are done in Germany.

References:

Neil, C (2011): American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. Routledge Publishers.

Walter, D (2011): The Westfalians: From Germany to Missouri. Princeton University Press Publishers.

Edward, H (1990): Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans. Intercultural Press Publishers.