introduction/thesis
There are billions of people around the world, all from different areas, practicing different customs, having different ideas, and living completely different lives than what you do.  Imagine what it would be like to come from one country, where life is much different, to coming to a place you’ve never been before.  This is not a short trip or a vacation either.  It is a long visit in which one must learn to reevaluate one’s self, question his/her beliefs, and adjust to a change in his/her environment.

 One student, Alexi, 19, from Jamaica, is experiencing this right now with his temporary relocation to the United States.  He has been in America for about three months and has always wanted to come here for schooling.  Although Jamaica is our close neighbor to the south, there are still many differences in lifestyles.  Through Alexi’s insight on the change, other research, and previous studies, it is easy to see how the typical Jamaican differs from a typical American, and how he deals with the change of environment for a long period of time.  After applying the concepts from perceptions and values of Hall’s culture context model and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, structure of nonverbals, and the ideas of intercultural adaptation dealing with culture shock and the “U” curve can show these differences and draw conclusions to how Jamaicans might deal with coming to America.  All of the questions were asked in two ways: What would you do? And what would a typical Jamaican do?

perceptions and values
hall’s culture context model
 In general, the northwestern countries of the world are known for being low-context cultures.  Very logical, direct communication styles with structured messages tend to be used in this area.  Jamaicans proved to be more context oriented (more content oriented) than Americans in many ways.  The answers given were explained thoroughly and with much detail.  Much feeling was expressed and many hand motions and facial expressions were used to describe his answers.  Alexi was told to draw a simple picture of a house.  That is all that the directions stated, without details, and simply stated.  Just like his other responses during the interview, he elaborated greatly on his drawing by adding two levels, windows, a porch, and a garage.  He also said that foreigners visiting Jamaica often misinterpret meanings of Jamaicans by their hand motions and expressiveness.  “I worked at a resort, and tourists would always ask, ‘Why are those two men fighting,’ when really they are just having a friendly conversation.”  He agreed that most Jamaicans would respond with the same answers.  The responses I received all show that Jamaicans are typically less content oriented (more context oriented) than Americans did.

hofstede's cultural dimensions
individualism
 The United States is the most individualistic society in the world.  So for someone coming from a country where the individualism is slightly low, conflict can arise.  Jamaicans do have lower individualism rates, and Alexi found this to be one of the most difficult aspects about moving to the United States.  “The main difference I noticed was that friendship on the level I view it at is harder to establish.”  He went on to explain that here, everyone is so different from each other, and it is hard to get close with someone and trust them, because they are so independent.

masculinity
 Alexi proved that Jamaicans certainly do tend to have a higher masculinity level than many other countries.  When discussing the issues about masculinity, he stated, “You never work to live.  You always live to work.  Hard work gets you everything you want in life.”  From responses such as this, it can clearly be seen that Jamaica is a society of high masculinity.

uncertainty avoidance
 Jamaica has one of the absolute lowest uncertainty avoidance levels in the world.  This held true with the results found.  Alexi explained to me that although he personally likes punctuality, Jamaicans are awful with time.  “If you say meet me at ten at night, then anywhere from seven at night, to one in the morning people show up and they think it is okay,” Alexi said.  Nothing is certain for a Jamaican and they generally feel like they can run their lives how they want.

power distance
 Jamaica and the United States are extremely close when it comes to their lower level of power distance.  The people who work hard get their power and privileges.  People are all treated equally, regardless of their skin color.  “The ratio of blacks to whites is about 70 to 30 [respectively], and everyone is content with everyone.  Sometimes you’ll even see the prime minister at the grocery store and can stop to have a friendly conversation, but that’s mainly because my country is so small,” Alexi told me.
These answers definitely reflect a lower power distance in Jamaica.

Based on the surveying on the four subcategories of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance, and by comparing with the results found by Hofstede, a conclusion can be made that Jamaicans are typically low individualism, high masculinity, low uncertainty avoidance, and low power distance.  The results received were identical to the results that Hofstede had.  For all of these, he claimed that although he thinks of himself as a more individualistic and content-oriented person than other Jamaicans, their answers would be very similar, if not more accurate.
 

structure of nonverbals
 Kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage, and chronemics are the four nonverbals in which a conclusion can be drawn from for Jamaicans.  Jamaicans use much more feeling in what they are saying and they use more actions when they talk, as we know before from their high context way of thinking.  This also shows what their use of nonverbals is like.  We also know that punctuality and time is something that is not relied on by the results found in uncertainty avoidance.  These are also ways of how nonverbals are used in Jamaica.

kinesics
 “Jamaicans are full of life when they talk to each other.  We are such spirited people.  Here (the U.S.) I often get bored talking to some people, or even sitting in class watching a teacher,” Alexi said.  I conclude that these are the kinesics of typical Jamaicans.

proxemics
As for proxemics, I have discovered that Jamaicans have a much smaller personal space than Americans do.  It is probably because Americans are so individualistic that they need so much personal space, and because Jamaicans have lower individualism than Americans do, they have shorter distances when talking.  It is extremely common for hugs and kisses to mother, father, siblings, other relatives, and even friends.  “If you have a good friend who is of the opposite sex, and you aren’t even dating, it is still common to greet her with a kiss,” Alexi informed me.

paralanguage
Sarcasm is a popular way of communication just like it is in America.  Alexi believes that it is a more common practice than in America.  And just like American paralanguage, Jamaicans stutter, throw in “ums” and “you knows.” I believe that the biggest reason American and Jamaican paralanguage is so similar is simply because both countries speak dialects of English.

chronemics
 As stated above, time is not very valuable in Jamaica.  This is true of the United States also, but there are instances when you must be on time, such as a job interview, dinner with your fiancé’s parents, or church services.  Alexi claims that there is even a little leniency for those occurrences.

intercultural adaptation
culture shock
 Since Alexi has been here he has experienced frustration, stress, different political beliefs, and money problems.  These are all conflicts that can occur from coming to a new country.  The biggest frustration has been the difference in friends.  He doesn’t seem to understand how someone can call him a friend, but not get as close to him as his friends back home do.  “It is very complicated to explain, but I don’t understand the friendships in America,” Alexi stated.  His stress and differences in politics are more because of the direct location of where he is in the U.S., so they are not that relevant, other than that he just feels more stressed out overall.  Money problems are the biggest conflicts of being away.  He said, “As if being a college student isn’t hard enough managing your money, I can’t just call up my parents and ask for 20 bucks!  Students here can see their parents on a regular basis and can get money whenever they need it.  It is really hard.”

 He has been experiencing two forms of culture shock since he has been here.  Culture fatigue has hit him hard many times because sometimes he just cannot stand being in a place where it is difficult to get others to understand.  The transition form of culture shock plays a large role in his life here because in Jamaica, his family is upper class; he had a great job, lots of friends.  Now he does not have all of those things and he misses it.  “I’m not a big fish anymore” he stated.

 To relieve the stress of culture shock Alexi will talk about his difficulties with a close friend here, and he will call home about once every “fortnight” or two weeks.

u-curve
 Alexi remembers his honeymoon stage very well.  “I wanted to start school so badly.  I love going to new places and this was so different!”  He says that he has not started to hit the adjustment period or the biculturalism period, but he knows that with Christmas so close, he is definitely in the crisis period.  “I think it’s finals, and the cold weather, and Christmas is coming.”

 I conclude that because of his answers so tightly resembling the data taken from Hofstede’s study, many Jamaicans would be in the same situation that Alexi is.  Because Jamaica is so close to the United States and both countries are English-speaking, I believe it will be easier for him to adjust than someone from a farther country, and the same would go for someone else from Jamaica.