Name: Mester Alghamdi
Where are you from? Saudi Arabia
Do you like being at Alfred State? Yes it’s
lovely.
Tell me what you like about it. Everything here
is really fantastic and it’s my first time to study in the United States
specific college or University. So it’s a good experience for me. The people
and facilities are really good.
What is the hardest thing about moving here?
When you leave your family you got a bigger responsibility on your own for
everything taking care of yourself, helping yourself, finding good people to
leave with.
Do you find it difficult to keep your culture
of your home country alive while trying to assimilate into American culture? It
depends on personality and for me my personality to keep myself open minded. I
am open to any culture. There is a big difference between my culture and
American culture. I like to be friendly to every culture.
Do you practice Islam or any other religion?
Yes. I am a Muslim. I practice my religion every day and pray five times a day.
You don’t find keeping up with Islamic hard
while here in America? No here there is freedom people can do whatever they
want to.
Do you feel discriminated against in anyway?
No. I feel very accepted and not judged.
What do you think are the biggest
misperceptions of Middle Eastern people to Americans? I find it funny when I
meet people asking me about my accent. I tell them I come from
Saudi Arabia and sometimes they don’t know
where that is. I tell them it’s in the Middle East. American assume that all
Middle Eastern people are the same but we are unique. They think that we are
all bad. We should be open minded and not think we are all bad people. I like
to talk to people about my country and explain to them what I am like.
Do you think that once people get to know you
they don’t have those misperceptions about you? Yes. Once they get to know me
they become really respectful and we become like brothers.
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