Learning to Unlearn Culture Norms in a New Country with Mariana - Brazil (English)

Welcome to episode 20 of The American Dream in The Eyes of Immigrants. I am your host, Heidy De La Cruz. If this is your first time listening, welcome, and if not, welcome back. I'm so glad you're here today. In today's episode, I speak with Mariana, who came from São Paulo, Brazil as an adult. She received the opportunity to come to the United States through her employer, which was a dream come true! Even though it was a dream, there was still an adjustment period with learning how to do things in the United States. Even grocery shopping was different for Mariana. She talked about when she visited Brazil for the first time after moving to the U.S. – it didn't feel like home anymore. She also talks about her biggest struggle in adapting to the culture here is being less affectionate, especially in the workplace. In the Latino culture, it's common to greet others with a hug and a kiss, even at work, but that's not a norm here, so it takes some time to adapt. My favorite takeaway from this episode is when she mentions that her boyfriend hadn't realized all the opportunities this country has compared to other countries until he started dating her. We are very blessed in this country, spoiled even, but we won't realize it until we talk to others outside our community/culture or visit other countries. The United States has a lot to offer us, and sometimes we take it for granted. After listening to the episode, let me know your takeaway. P.S. Shout out to @immigrant.finance for educating immigrants about finances and helping them build their businesses. I mentioned them at the end of the episode because I took their business course! Chem them out! Connect with Mariana on Instagram! Connected with Heidy: https://www.instagram.com/heidy.delacruz13/ If you or someone you know would like to share their immigration story, please send me a message on Instagram. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review of the show - this will help the show reach more listeners. Thank you. Stay up to date with new episode information sent to your email - sign up for the podcast newsletter here! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.