Transcript
What is important to know about Minnesota culture?
Sabrina, Student: When I first got here, people told me about how like Minnesotans are nice, and I would just like to just emphasize that they are not just nice, they are very, very nice.
Sophronia, Student: It’s something that international students are not used to, because where I’m from, like, I’m from a city people are straightforward, people just like ignore you on the streets and everything like that, and it’s really shocking to see, like, people, strangers just walking by smiling at you. I found it creepy at first, but then I got used to it. People just like sitting next to you, people start talking to you all of a sudden and start a conversation? That's also something that I was not used to and, like, I kind of like get it now and really like it because you kind of know people from different walks of life and learn about their experience, and they would love to know about you too, you're from such a different culture.
And also, like... Okay, one thing is, people open doors? That is something that is really weird to me still, because you can be like ten feet away from them and people can still hold the doors for you, and you have to run in order not for them to hold the doors for so long, and so, like it’s little things like that they're super-nice about.
Junyo, Student: There's this thing called "Minnesota nice" here in Minnesota but I found it to be a little passive-aggressive sometimes.
Sophronia, Student: People don't, like, to talk out their feelings, straight-out sometimes. They will, like, maybe like have some facial expression but they will never tell you that they don’t like you or anything like that, so just be mindful of that. But otherwise, people are really nice here and you will feel really welcomed here.
Qingkang, Student: So Minnesotans are a lot more quote-end-quote nicer than people that are from the east coast or the west coast, but I feel like in some way, it’s actually kind of similar to the culture back home. It’s that people are nice to people they don't know really well, right? But at the same time, you also have to know that because of that, people who don't want to hang out with you might appear to be the same as the people who want to hang out with you. You need to be able to differentiate though who want to hang out with you and those who don't want to hang out with you, even though a lot of people might all be friendly looking. It's really important to find that shared experience or shared interest that people can, and you will be able to tell when people actually to hang out with you, they will constantly be reaching out to you.