Adapting to America

Learning to adjust to American norms from Scottish tradition

Adapting+to+America

Neda Salamzadeh

One of the first things you notice about freshman Lewis Brown is his intriguing accent.

At the age of 11, Lewis’ father received a business promotion causing the family to emigrate from Scotland.

As expected, there was a significant amount of culture shock upon resettling in St. Louis Park.

“When I moved it was summer and I was sad, but I have loved it ever since,” Brown said.

Brown enthusiastically recalls his first experience in American schools.

“My first day of school we went on a field trip, so I thought America was great. We ate sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, I’d never had them before, they were great,” Brown said.

The cookies he experienced on his first school day gave way to a variety of experiences regarding food.

“I was sitting at lunch with my friend Kyle and I asked what was sitting on his bun, he told me it was a hot dog and I asked what was in it. He told me I didn’t want to know but it was delicious so I then tried my first hot dog,” Brown said.

Although these were the first of many experiences in which Brown learned of the American culture, he has adapted comfortably.