What is culture? What is my culture?

Culture: the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

Here is how I see American Culture: Culture to me, contrary to what is normally thought, is not necessarily about all the commonalities a country has. Rather, it is what makes the place so unique. It takes a different approach to decide what the culture the United States has as the great diversity creates so many different cultures of their own. One could argue that the festivities of eating barbeque while tailgating before football games is a big part of the culture of the US as a whole. While that is a major part, there is so much more to it. To say what is exactly the culture of United States as a whole is hard to say. Besides that basic cultures like the equal opportunity, and having freedoms, different regions have different cultures. The football-loving culture of the South, is not the same as the laid-back attitude of the West Coast. However, if we look specifically in Alabama, the culture becomes apparent. A big part of Alabama is pride. People here love who they are and where they come from. Also, Alabama is a part of the "Bible Belt", so naturally, religion is a large part of the community here.  Of course, football, and sports in general, are a huge part of what makes Alabama a community. These cultures that bring us together in Alabama are unique to Alabama. The culture of not just Alabama but every state is unique. Every state has their own community, their own history, and their own culture. It think embracing this fact of the US inherently brings us closer together as a community in some way.  Maybe the culture of the United States is that each state has their own culture. There is no definitive answer.

Have I ever had culture shock: I have experienced culture shock a few times, but I think the best example of culture shock was from someone experiencing a culture shock from me. Last year at the Boys and Girls Club, I was tutoring a girl about 7 years old. As I was in the middle of teaching her how to do a math problem, she quickly interrupted me and asked, "Do you go to church?" While I do go to my own temple, practicing Hinduism, I don't go to a Christian Church. While I was tempted to say that I do go to church just to end the conversation there knowing that she had never heard of Hinduism, I told her that I go to temple and that I was a Hindu instead. After I said this, her eyes widened, and I could sense the river of questions that were about to flow out of her mouth. The fact that there are more than one beliefs of the existence of humans and life on Earth existed blew her mind. What was originally suppose to be a math lesson, ended up being a lesson on the different views of life and religion.