Experiencing America: Through the Eyes of Visiting Fulbright Scholars

Experiencing America: Through the Eyes of Visiting Fulbright Scholars

Author: Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani, Omer Idrees

This year (2021) is the 75^th Anniversary of the Fulbright Exchange Program, this book is published to celebrate it. The book contains the stories of current Fulbrighters in the USA who came from different countries for higher education. The experiences and definitions present in these stories are images of America in foreigners’ minds and this is how they perceive the American culture. The book can give you so many interesting definitions of America, its people, and culture you have never heard of. For example, some of the “obvious” and acceptable things that pervade American culture can be offensive to people from other countries. Thus, the book’s overall theme is one of mutual understanding among nations and people.

In “Five Definitions of America,” a student who came from a remote region of Pakistan describes the United States as “a new planet.” Even more profound, however, is how his perception changed during his stay. Primed by his hometown media to view America as “the land of prejudice,” he was reluctant to discard such sentiments right away. His story is a timely and insightful examination of the struggle between reality and perception, and how people and their culture combine to give an impression of an entire nation.

“The world is a collection of diverse cultures and people. We should not try to make them one. Instead, we should be open enough to accept them as they are,”  is the theme that evolves throughout the pages in this unique collection.

These stories of foreign Fulbrighter in the United States, “Experiencing America: Through the Eyes of Visiting Fulbright Scholars” give the reader a firsthand account of the value of the international education exchange program. Each story is unique and personal, describing different impressions and values.

~Harriet Mayor Fulbright

The background of these individuals is as diverse as their experience! This book is valuable to document their experience and an excellent reference to Fulbright Scholars.

Ronaldo Menezes
Associate professor, Department of Computer Science
Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL

This year (2021) is the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright exchange program, and a few of their stories have been gathered for this collection of essays. All of the contributors are grantees who came to the United States from their countries, some for the first time. The stories of these are an Ambassador may be humorous or heart-wrenching but there all true.
Eric S. Howard
Executive Director
Full Bright Academy of Science and Technology

Every person interested in being involved with the Fulbright program should read this book. It helps to restore your perspective about the experience of real guarantees. It provides an excellent example of what happens after students receive their grant and arrive in the US.
Grace Clark, Ph.D.
Executive Director
United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan