Chinese students read about Utah?s plague of crickets and the seagulls that consumed them from a textbook. A South African man headed to the University of Utah got jokes about returning with wives.
And when Salman Gharaibeh, a Jordanian, mentioned he was going to Utah, the response he heard was discouraging.
?I came in with a negative image that changed within months,? he said.
Now when asked what he would miss if he left, he answers, ?Everything.?
In a foreign setting, you create another life, he said.
A panel of international students and spouses discussed the preconceptions they have tested in their new, temporary home Friday in the Marriott Library?s Gould Auditorium.
It?s said once someone has lived for a year in a foreign country, the only place they can find happiness is on a plane between places, said Valerie Green, International Center adviser and the panel?s moderator.
When Jan Husdal, from Norway, went shopping shortly after arriving in Salt Lake City, he was startled to find that vendors greeted him repeatedly with ?Hi, how?re you doing??
It took a while to figure out that this was simply a greeting, not a probing question.
Riksta Bos, from the Netherlands, found the same thing disconcerting.
?Every time I run into an American, they say ?Hi, how are you doing?? and then just pass by,? she said.
In her country that would be considered very rude.
Adam West, from South Africa, found conversing with Americans difficult at first.
?American students are looking for entertainment in conversations. If you don?t know slang or sports or pop culture, they lose interest in talking to you rather quickly,? he said.
But the post-Sept. 11 world is different?Americans have taken a more serious interest in the world, he said.
However, others have found the change limiting.
?People try to see if you are with us or against us,? West said.
Several panelists concurred that Americans have a limited conception of what goes on outside of the country?s borders.
?If I really want to get to the real causes, I have to talk to with international people,? said Ulrike Zimdars, from Germany. ?People who have talked to me only see we?ve been attacked and we have to fight back.?
American media tends to neglect the rest of the world, according to Susanna Davis.
Davis is a ?trailing partner??she followed her husband, who moved from Australia to Salt Lake City to do research.
?It really hurts to see your country matters so little to such a big country,? she said.
If she finds a news story from her home country, it tends to be something along the lines of a little koala stuck in a tree?never anything political.
But when she leaves, she will miss the American people and the new friends she has met at supermarkets and on the bus, she said.
?In Australia people are friendly, but they are more relaxed. They?re less likely to strike up a conversation,? she said.
?America is great, that?s why we?re here,? West said. ?The problem is America doesn?t realize it has negatives as well as positives.?
Panelists? experiences talking with Americans varied widely.
Thamina Shai, from Morocco, can tell right away if someone who approaches her is interested in other cultures.
?Most people just say ?hi? and ?bye,? they don?t want to know about you,? she said.
Discussion is easier in the United States, according to Yutaka Iwahori from Japan. Here people can ?agree to disagree.?