This past weekend on the basketball tournament I thought a lot about psychology! Firstly, before each game, I felt my sympathetic nervous system kicking in. I felt my heart racing and breathing increasing. I would also get stomach aches.
The thing that stuck out at me the most was the differences in culture. There were 10 teams total at the tournament. You would think that we would all be pretty similar. We are Jewish teenagers living in America, we go to Jewish day schools and play basketball. However, despite all of these similarities, differences in culture stood out the most. The whole weekend, everyone on our team would comment on the awful driving in Miami. It was much more intense and busy than in Memphis. People were rude and had no problem honking at every little thing. When I was with a group of girls from New York on Shabbos, I was shocked when they started talking about how calm and peaceful the driving was in Miami. Although we only live a two hour plane ride away from each other, we had totally different opinions on the driving in Miami. They are probably used to the intense traffic of New York and saw Miami as a step down. There was also a team who had a lot of Persian girls. Not only did they look and speak differently but they had different customs that I noticed. (davening for example.) You can also notice that each team all dressed similarly. You can also notice a difference between how team A dressed and how team B dressed.
Although I was away from class a lot this month, psychology still followed me everywhere I went!
Haha your post made me laugh Alexa and i enjoyed it a lot. I know exactly what you are saying. When i first moved to America, it took me a few years to recognize that although we are one country, the culture differs very much from state to state, city to city and even in certain areas.The south is very different from the north. The things that people are open to in California for example are absolutely appalling to certain people living in the south perhaps. WE also often hear people say that New Yorkers believe that they are a country of their own. In conclusion, i completely understand what you're saying when you wrote that although we are all part of America our culture, morals, and values differ tremendously.
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