As you know, I travel a lot. I have also got to experience living in 2 very distinct cultures. The first culture was where I lived the majority of my life: Marshfield, Wisconsin. I did live in Madison, Wisconsin for college, and then a stint for a job after college, but I was coming home almost every single weekend so that doesn’t count for much. What I truly know and grew up with was the culture around Central Wisconsin. In May 2014, I decided to uproot and move to Austin, Texas. I can tell you, even though it is in the same country, it might as well be a different country due to the cultural differences.
With that, I have been able to really examine, in depth, the cultures of two areas far across the country from each other. Additionally, with my travels, I have been able to gather bits and pieces of many other cultures in between.
From my general observations, I can see cultural changes in varying levels depending on distance:
- 30-50 miles: These cultural differences are not noticeable unless you look hard for them or have a trained eye where minor differences are automatically noticeable. I get this distance because it is the distance from Marshfield to the other 3 cities of comparable size: Wausau, Stevens Point, and Wisconsin Rapids. This can really be between any two cities close to each other, but not super far apart.
- 100-200 miles: These cultural differences are noticeable but not super self-evident. They will pop out every here and there, but for the most part, you still have to look for them. This is basically the equivalent of Central Wisconsin to the Fox Valley.
- 300-500+ miles: These cultural differences will be noticeable, without having to look. Whether it be a different accent or the use of different terms like kitty vs catty corner, you won’t have to actually look at all to notice the difference. I run into this all the time since my cultural point of reference is Central Wisconsin, which is 1300 miles away from Austin.
One thing many people take for granted is culture and their cultural point of reference. There are a lot of understandings that are completely implicit in every culture. When talking to someone, you have a subconscious bias to think that that person has the same implicit understandings. In many ways, once you go into the 300-500+ range, this isn’t the case anymore.
The “Culture Shock” series examines my observations in cultural differences from my (limited) viewpoint. These observations might change over time as I observe more and take in more information. It’ll be interesting to point out the differences in culture and I’m sure a lot of people will be able to relate in one way or another.
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