What Changes When You Cross an Ocean for Education? (Episode 67)

Through personal insights and cultural reflection, Egyptian grad student Omar Yassin shares a unique perspective on navigating American life while maintaining cultural identity, revealing powerful lessons about growth, adaptation, and building meaningful connections across cultures.

This engaging episode explores:

• Why expanding beyond your cultural comfort zone is essential for personal growth
• How balancing multiple responsibilities builds character and success
• The importance of maintaining cultural roots while embracing new experiences
• The contrasts between Middle Eastern and American approaches to family, work, and education
• Why diverse social circles enhance understanding and opportunity
• The value of non-traditional education paths in American culture
• How authenticity and confidence help bridge cultural divides

Perfect for: International students adjusting to American life, college students seeking to broaden their perspectives, anyone interested in cross-cultural understanding, educators working with international students, and those curious about navigating multiple cultural identities. Plus: Essential insights about building success through embracing challenges and maintaining cultural authenticity.

Warning: This episode might change how you see your own culture.

Transcript

Welcome to Mindshift Power podcast, a show for teenagers and the adults who work with them, where we have raw and honest conversations. I'm your host, Fatima Bey, the mind shifter. And welcome, everyone. Today, we have with us Omar Yassin. He is in Tucson, Arizona, and he is a grad student at the University of Arizona and assistant professor.

So how are you doing today, Omar? I'm doing good. How's everything going wrong with you? Good. Good.

I'm looking forward to this conversation. I think you have a lot of interesting things to say. So let's I like to dive right in. Tell the audience where are you originally from? I'm originally from Egypt.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia most of my life, and, I moved to The US for my undergrad college. And ever since that, I've been living in Tucson, and I'm enjoying my life here. Okay. Just out of a curiosity, is the Saudi Arabian, does the Saudi Arabian government help to pay for your school? No.

Not really. They do actually help a lot of the, like, Saudi people to Yeah. I know. To them abroad. But since I'm not Saudi, I just lived there for Ah, okay.

I had to self pay for everything. Oh, wow. Okay. The reason I asked is because I used to teach English as a second language, and I had, at one point, quite a few Saudi Arabian graduate students. So and I know I know that their government does do that.

That's why I asked. Sense. They feel like they feel like their government needs to, you know, educate the new generation, and I love the idea that they're putting their best possible for their new generation to be educated as good as possible, like, all around the world, I guess. Honestly, I think they're smart for it. They they've helped their economy and their, their country a lot by having that as a policy.

So why did you come to The US? Ever since I was in college, really, my mindset was I wanted to study college abroad, specifically in The US. So I growing up, I knew this is where I wanted to be. I knew my personality was going to really grow, living in in that environment. And then there's all these personal, goals that you want to accomplish for yourself.

How you wanna be a leader, how you wanna be very strong socially as a person and make all these connections. And I always thought like, I you know what? The US is really the place where I can expand. And I I and I feel very proud of of the person or the personality that I came to be in in these recent years. I'm good.

I'm just curious why you chose The US and why The US was on your radar instead of The UK because we're pretty Well, I I had other options. So my other options would be The UK or Canada. Mhmm. It's just more from a college aspect as well. I knew that the colleges at in The US were kinda more challenging.

They were more accredited, you know. And then they were, the system in here is some The US system is something I studied lower through high school, like, my GPA and my SAT is that is something I was, like, I was studying under the American high school diploma, and that somehow made it the the most reasonable transition. Okay. That makes sense to me. I didn't know that.

Did not know that at all. So what is one of so you're from Egypt. Yeah. Before I ask you this next question, let's talk about that. You're from Egypt, which is a completely different culture than The US.

What is one of the first adjustments that you had to make when you came here? This could be very, this could be very broad, but the one thing that actually just pops up in my head is how honest you should be. So as you I've probably you've noticed this before from a lot of Middle Eastern, cultures, they're very generous. They're always giving. Right?

Mhmm. They wanna pay for everything. Right. And coming to The US here, you don't have to I wouldn't say lie and fake that. You just you're not expected to do that.

So that kinda takes away the I wouldn't say fakeness either, but, like, you're not required that you have a desk that you always have to, be overly generous to them because they're like, oh, I'm not expecting that. Back home, you're kinda expected to do that. If you don't, it could put a bad image on you that you're not as as a generous person as you should have been. So that that that raises away a lot like, takes away a lot of the distress that could happen. Yeah.

K. So it's a cultural norm and and that's not just true for well, Saudi Arabia is what you mean. Right? I mean, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. It's it's I think it's more of an a Middle Eastern idea overall.

Yeah. Okay. Well, it's not just Middle Eastern. I could think of a few other cultures that are kind of like that too. I older Greeks can be like that too.

So there's there's many cultures, I think, around the world that are kind of like that, but I see what you're saying. It could be to the point where it's more obligatory than it is, you know, being nice and giving, and then you'll then it then it can actually cause more stress. Yes. It's obligatory as you mentioned. Yeah.

Yeah. And we're not obliged to be that way. What are the other so even though you're from Egypt, how old were you when you moved to Saudi Arabia? I was five years old. So I used to go to Egypt all the time during summer and winter breaks.

However, I generally think the culture between Saudi Arabia and Egypt is kinda similar. Okay. Saudi Arabia just has a little bit more diversity from the amount of, Middle Eastern countries you can find there. So it's brought up around of Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, Sudanese. So you try to make these, like, friends friendships that are from all around and you kinda they're also not a % Egyptian, and I'm not a % Egyptian, and they're not % Jordanian because they kinda grew up Right.

In Saudi Arabia as well. I I just felt it's a nice combination to to get to know different cultures in that sort of way. Cool. Okay. So culturally speaking, based on what you were explaining to me earlier, I would assume that you were more Saudi Arabian because that's where you grew up.

But I but you still grew up in a Egyptian home. Oh, yes. Yes. So so it's a I'm sure there's some nuance differences between the two, but I do understand what you mean because of the fact that I have been around a lot of Middle Eastern, people from different countries. And, I noticed the similarities, but also the differences.

And I know also there's a lot of Sudanese in particular in in Egypt because of war. And, I I just love talking to people from other countries, so I find it all very fascinating. And everybody has a story to tell. So what do you what have you noticed are the biggest differences culturally between the way you grew up, besides the the giving piece? Because there's a lot of other differences.

The way you grew up in Saudi Arabia with an Egyptian culture in the home and coming to America. I would say the idea of working in school is something that, is not very common back home. What do you mean? So so when you're studying and you're in high school or when you're in college, you're not expected to be working. I had to really convince my parents to allow me to to work here.

They thought it would be a distraction or they thought it would be hindering my main priorities on school. However, I took it as like I can't just be staying home and do nothing when I see my friends and colleagues, are working some other job. Even if it's not really related to my future, having that experience is very important. So my first ever job was in The US. Oh, wow.

Wow. Okay. I wanna point out something that you said you probably didn't even notice that you said. How old are you right now? I'm 23.

Okay. So when you came here, how old were you? I was 17. Oh, oh, you were still a minor. Because you just said you needed your parents' permission to work, but you were a minor.

Okay. So that Yeah. But I I was I was I didn't even want to work when I was 18. I really started the idea of working, like, when I was 19, when I saw that a school isn't that much of of a time consuming thing as as I expected. And I do actually have time to to work, so I this is where I started engaging in that idea.

Wow. Okay. I well, then my thought process there was incorrect, but I'm I'm glad that you you took the initiative to want to actually work even though you didn't have to. I think that's a good thing. So what are now what are some of the things that you would consider that are not good about living in a foreign land?

Well, America in particular because this is where you are. I would say the idea of family is something very important, and I'm talking about how close you are to your family. Mhmm. So I honestly started appreciating my parents way much more, when I started moving here. Not because I missed them more, but more particularly to how much I realized I was taking things for granted.

Mhmm. Okay. I always face this, awkward conversations when I would be talking about how my childhood was and then automatically two or three people that I'm having a conversation with, they would mention that they have divorced parents. And it became so frequent in conversations that I started thinking that this is a a sensitive topic. For some people, it is.

And, I do understand where you're coming from because in in the in the cultures that you come from, divorce is not a not a not a thing. It's not it's extremely it's it happens, but it's extremely uncommon. Whereas America, it's actually extremely common. So the breakup, the breakdown, I would say, of the family is very common in America. And you're you're not the only person from a foreign land who recognizes that.

I hear that from foreigners all the time from all different parts of the world. It is an issue. And it's an it's yeah. It's an issue in America. And you do you're right.

You take it for granted because you're just like, well, parents stay together and, you know, this is just the way it is. You don't have to work. It's just the way it is. And, I I think as Americans, there's certain things that we have and we take for granted. You know?

What other things would you say are maybe some bad things about living in America? I wouldn't say there's a lot of bad things. I would say definitely something that I haven't, or I would see as a problem is the, like, the idea of of alcohol consumption as as a getaway. So I really don't back home in Egypt, there's a lot of homeless people by the way. There's four poor people.

However, they you a % know that they're on the street trying to find a job or trying to wash a car or begging to wash a car or begging to help you out with groceries to get some money out of your help you park so you can give them anything. So they're not really standard in the street just because they, are misguided, but more because just of how a poor, economy it is. However, here, you can really notice that, I would say more of addiction mentality. When you have a lot of accessible bad things that are easily accessible to you, there's going to be a lot of people that really get misguided. You said it.

Because it's accessible. Yeah. Because it's everywhere, and it's common, and it's not socially bad. That's the key thing. It's not socially bad, and that is the difference between here and a lot of other other places in the world.

We're not the only place, but, yeah, you you said a lot right there. It is not socially acceptable definitely where you are in a few other places in the world, well, where you're from rather. And what are some what are some good things about, that you like in particular about US that you haven't already said? Oh, oh, I love I love the mentality of how people here are very, hungry. So Mhmm.

They have very strong endurance. What I mean by endurance is the idea that, let's say the working thing. Let's say students are would be working or studying all year long, and then in summer, instead of just having a summer break, they take the opportunity to to find a job and to try to work more. And I kinda appreciate that. That raises the sense of responsibility from a really young age.

No. Good point. Very good. Many many people that I would that I would have known personally myself, if I if I didn't come here, I see myself doing the exact same things as I would be doing if I lived back home from, from an endurance standpoint. What I mean by, you have to be multi multi dimensional.

Multi dimension means you you are above average in many, characteristics about your life. School and work isn't the main two aren't the only two things you're good at. You have to really be dedicated to finding, a a a strong social environment. You're not I was never the type of person that would be studying for twelve hours at home. I would find that very, to some degree, unnecessary time.

You could be investing that time in something else. For example, like, as I said, having a very strong social circle means you have opportunities for leadership, joining organizations. Social. Charity organizations. That's not something you really do back home.

That's, I've noticed this so much in in my study here that there are multiple clubs you can organize things with. You you have these fraternities and sororities that do a lot of, philanthropy throughout the years. Mhmm. So these are mainly organized by students. Back home, that's not something you're even you're mostly expected to do.

Internships, that's something as well that that you do here as as as as as that stage. And then the best thing I really loved is the fact that growing up here, alright, for during my school time here, I would see a lot of people that are not typical college students. Okay? What do you mean by that? Respect that so much.

They're What do you mean by that? Oh, like like, not a typical college students that they're not in their twenties anymore. They're people late in their thirties, and they're joining pharmacy school and their moms or fathers. And I kinda respect that because you just you you you develop that idea that, hey. I actually wanna do something better in my life, and I wanna go back to school.

It's not too late for me. I need to go back, and I need to accept that. And you have now you have a family. You have multiple struggles, and you're still being able to to compete. This is something that, hey, you need to be acknowledged for because this is not easy.

No. You're you're a % right. And that's less likely back home. Right? Yes.

Yes. Yeah. I know what it is. Don't accept the idea that you go back you or, like, you you take a gap year. That's something very forbidden, or you're wasting your time.

So the idea of going back to college when you're in your thirties is as if you are doing wasting time. Yeah. You're right. You're you're absolutely right. I hadn't really thought about it that way.

Let me ask you another question. You speak English fluently very well, obviously, but when did you did you learn English while you were in Saudi Arabia? So you were able to speak it when you came here? Well Oh, yeah. This is something people always ask me about how my English is is is fluent to some degree and and I think it's mainly just because of my school.

However, though, I I never really spoke English with my friends. It would just be something in class or when you're studying. But yeah. Ever since I came here, like communication has to be English all the time. Even with my friends that can speak Arabic, I really communicate to them English all the time and I feel that that just is something better.

That's another point that we should get into is your circle. What type of people you should be going and being friends with when you're in a foreign country. Because I feel that the biggest mistake that I see people here doing is they try to find people with the same background and they stick with them. They never try to to get outside of their comfort zone. That's a really big mistake here because I feel that the biggest the strongest thing in in a group is versatility.

The more versatile a group is, the more unique they are. Mhmm. Because now you have, like, you have a Justice League. You have Batman, Superman, you have this. They're all different now.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So but why I I completely agree with you, and I think it is a valid, it it segues right into what I was gonna ask you next. So it it it's a very valid point.

Our circles are very important, and it's so important to be around people who are not like us. And quite frankly, people have heard I've said this publicly many times. One of the reasons why I loved teaching English as a second language, and you always find me around foreigners, meaning people who weren't born in America, because I have something to learn from you. And I love talking to people from other cultures because they're gonna teach me something I don't know. And I love studying humans.

And it's something I've learned is that no matter what culture you're from, at the end of the day, we're all still human and want some of the same things. And so, yeah, your circle really matters. So what you're saying is that you it's important that you don't just hang around people who came from the same trailer park you grew up in or went to the same country club or whatever absolutely you're going to be speaking the same language that you grew up with you're not gonna enhance your English you're not gonna I I genuinely feel that the strong understanding the strong asset for me of actually understanding the American culture and and how joking goes around and how, people communicate here. Like, you can never learn the slang until you really are able to to communicate to people in that sort of way. This is how you build up a report with others throughout your career.

And if I haven't done so much of this when I was 19 and 20, I wouldn't have been able to to get many, like, successful opportunities in other areas in a career itself just because of based on how you're able to communicate with people. Because you know what's possible? It is so noticeable to see somebody that is not from The US, and you're able to know that they're not from The US just because of how they're able to interact and engage. I can tell you as an American, grew up in America, but has also worked with a lot of foreigners in different capacity in my life. That is a % true.

I can usually pick out the foreigner in a room for many, many reasons and not always physical looks. Most of it's not physical look. It's mostly behavior. It's mostly behavior, and and body body, language and things like that. You can usually pick out.

There's especially certain countries I can pick people out, and sometimes I scare people because I'm able to tell them exactly where they're from without them opening their mouths. And they're just like, how'd you know that? I'm like, I've been around y'all. Yeah. And it's easy to be that person that, oh, he's physically he doesn't look like he's from The US, but he's engaged in sort of way that he probably lived here all his life, which is good enough for me.

I like to be a as long as I live here all of America. Okay. Yeah. That could be true. Yeah.

That that's true too. But you that's a choice that someone has to make to and even if it was an American going over to China or going over to Russia or wherever you're gonna go, we would still need to follow that same principle and engage with, you know, engage with the people around us and learn their nuances and, and how they get along and how can I integrate with these people around me because you're going to gain more you're gonna gain more from people who are not like you than from the people who are like you that's true in every aspect of life I I find I % agree with that having an open mind that even you know what? Even a lot of the things here, I wouldn't have known the bad stuff unless if I surrounded myself with it to some degree. You know what I'm talking about? So I wouldn't have known, addiction and all of that unless I've seen it with my own eyes that happens to people that I that I can see in in front of me.

I'm not just talking about, like, an oh, just noticing, any homeless person on the street. No. No. No. I'm talking about people in the same criteria as I am, friends of mine that somehow lost their way due to to excessive, partying or, excessive direct consumption that they're like they become they lose their track.

This is what I can see where okay. I knew this person from who they are, when they were fine, but now they engaged in so much partying and that affected them and that distracted them from their goals, and they can't take it back to their normal self anymore. So you're trying to this is what I'm saying about just as how accessible it is. You can and you're surrounded with with it. It makes you somehow open minded that Mhmm.

You are able to engage in these certain, like circumstances. And this is where you're able to learn and notice and see where people are different in in these in these situations. But, yes, if people are just around their own same circle, they never learn how to how to adapt. And I feel that to some degree, you are never going to be certain amount of time. Progress is are speaking from my mind.

I think you've been inside my brain, and you just took out the information because you you're really you're speaking my language right there because that's something I teach all the time. Just learn from the people around you. It is so important that you do that because you are going to be a very small minded person if you only keep, you know, your twins around you. You know, people who think just like you were a group in the same background, and that's it. I want you to speak to the audience right now.

Young college students. Just don't even talk to me. Talk directly to them right now. Well, honestly, I if if if you're an international student in general, I want you to be hungry to this new challenge. If you are not excited to come in here when you're still back home, then this might not be appropriate for you.

You have to really be hungry, and you can see that this is a new challenge, but, hey, I can see myself doing it. This is the mindset I need you to be taking. And coming here, it's like genuinely going into Disneyland where you don't know where to start, which game to play, but I wanna play them all. And you're gonna have to figure out a certain desire because now it's not only about school, now it's all about life. I'm gonna start learning how to do laundry on my own and manage food as well and I'm at some point I have to manage finances because I can't be eating out all the time.

And then if you're somebody that cares about their physical appearance, you have to also inject that, time for sport overall. So now you're you're balancing many things in in in front of you And and the more you balance things, the more successful you are. Every successful person that I've seen has more stress than they had when they were unsuccessful. The more the more stress you have, the more successful you are. And that shouldn't be the case, but it often is.

There there are ways of changing that, but I do think that that it generally tends to be true because the more responsibility you have, the more likely you are to be stressed. The more important to you are. And if I have one phrase to say to people that come here is think about what what story am I going to tell to my to the future to the people I talk to in the future. I want this to be a great story. And for it to be a great story, there had to be a bigger dragon to slay.

That's a pretty powerful statement, and you are exactly right. I'm gonna ask you to do something a little unusual. I want you right now to give very quick, short advice to people who are just arriving in this country, grad students like yourself. Hold on. But they are from a Middle Eastern country, and I want you to do it in Arabic and then tell us what you said in English.

I want you to talk directly to them. In Arabic? Mhmm. They're just learning English, so Arabic is better for them right now. I'll go with some Egyptian Egyptian dialect.

Okay. Alright. Yeah. These are I I think I gave, like, three important factors, but I, initially said that you should really focus on your studies and then broaden your networks by engaging social activities wherever it is. However, you should never really forget who who you were raised back home, and that connects to your family values and your religious values.

Great advice. I wanna piggyback on the last thing you just said because I think it's something that sometimes I've seen, where people try to overstimulate into the culture they're coming into, and they completely just leave behind every single thing they were ever taught. And I don't think that that's a good idea. I think cultural differences are, in fact, absolutely beautiful. We should not all be the same.

And so no matter what country people are from, I love to see them stay connected in some kind of way, you know, some kind of way, at least, to their original culture, but especially language. Don't forget your original language. I don't care where in the world you're from. Don't care where you're from, what color you are. Don't forget your language.

It's so important. I get disappointed when I see people who are from other countries, and they've been here for a while, and they're like, I don't remember how to speak Czech anymore. I don't remember how to speak Spanish anymore, whatever language. And I just find it so just disheartening. No.

I agree with you. I I feel like, the more confident I've become here when I've built some more social connections and actual genuine fadgets, the more I was able to speak with them in my own language and share with them a little bit more of my culture. Why? Because now I noticed that they're very curious and you know what's so funny? They were always very curious.

I was just a little bit shy to share that part and I just came here. Yeah. Yeah. It's understandable. Everybody's curious here.

You live in a very you live in a country where it's it's global within itself. Good point. The US is very global. The US has people from all around the world and it influences people all around the world. And I love the fact that I know this is not very common to say, but I am real like, when when people think I ever get any mistreatment just because of where I'm from or if I'm not American or anything Mhmm.

I honestly I always say, and this is some justice to say, I've never really been any, misjudged or any sort of racism against me in some sort of way. Maybe I'm too much of an open minded person, but I always felt that it was just because of my attitude and my vibe that I give out to people that I'm giving you so much respect that you can't even think of one thing negative to say about me. I'm gonna say I'm surprised if you say you haven't experienced racism, but I'm not surprised because of the second half of what said. You are right. When we carry ourselves in certain ways, it tends to override that sort of ignorance.

Because they're like, okay. Because I've dealt with people like that too, who you you just know that they're racist. But then when it comes to me, they don't behave that way because I very quickly show that, you know, I have class. I'm articulate that I, you know, I I'm not about the BS. And, and it does make a difference.

But so, Omar, thank you for coming on. It has been a joy to talk to you. I I love having these conversations because I always learn something new. And I learned a couple thing new things from you today, and I I hate I love that. So, once again, Oh, of course.

Thank you. Thank you, Fatima. It's my pleasure talking to you. And, if there's anything your audience ever wants, I'm more than glad that they can contact me, and and I'm really excited for for for this episode. It's been a very pleasure to talk to you overall.

Thank you. Thank you. And now for a mind shifting moment. I wanna take you back to something we were talking about earlier in this episode, who you surround yourself with. It is critical to your failure or your success.

You heard Omar say it earlier, surround yourself with people who are different than yourself. The best way to keep your mind really small, really tiny and very imbalanced and more likely to be extreme is to only keep people around you who are just like you. If you want to grow, if you want to expand your thinking and expand your mind, you need to have people around you who are not just like you, who can offer a different perspective than what you already have. That is how may, how you maintain a balanced mindset. So just wanted to plant that thought seed today.

Who's around you? Are they all replicas of the same type of person? Or do you have enough of a variety that you can grow around them? Just something to think about. Thank you for listening to mind shift power podcast, please like, and subscribe to my YouTube channel at the mind shifter.

If you have any comments, topic suggestions, or would like to be a guest on the show, please visit FatimaBay.com/podcast. Remember, there's power in shifting your thinking. Tune in for next week.