Student bridges cultural divide

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Farzana Shaheen comes to Indiana State to learn and teach from more than just the information in her textbook.

"I feel myself the luckiest person because I'm fortunate to come to the U.S. as a cultural ambassador of Pakistan to learn about people's different cultures," Shaheen said.

Shaheen attended ISU this semester as part of the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program.

Her job was to teach her culture, learn ours and bring that information back to Pakistan to help bridge the cultural gap.

She participated in regular studies, cultural presentations, enrolled in extra curricular activities and was involved in community service.

"Before just having perceptions about anything, we should learn about the reality, we should learn about each other and we should communicate," Shaheen said.

Before setting foot in the U.S. for the first time, she said the biggest stereotype was Americans are unfriendly.

"The way they treated me, the way they accepted me, my culture and the way they were interested in learning about my country and learning from my culture and my people, it was just amazing," she said.

She wants to clear-up a stereotype of people from Pakistan, that they are more liberal than you think, with women having equal rights.

"There are good and bad everywhere. It doesn't mean that the whole people are bad, the whole people are extremists in Pakistan. It's not like that."

It's an opportunity of a lifetime, teaching students that no matter where we're from, we're more similar than you think.

Shaheen will return to Pakistan in a couple weeks, which will take two days.

She plans to continue traveling and learning more cultures around the world.