By Sophia Schindler
Every semester, communication professor Dr. Lara Needham has her students visit international grocery stores as a part of their learning experience for her intercultural communication class.
Needham said her main goal is to teach about culture outside of a book and to get students out of their comfort zone.
“We can all open a textbook and read the highlighted words and do the practice questions at the end and memorize information for an exam… but does that really teach you the value of culture?” Needham said. “The field trip experience is designed to get students to, first off, realize that we have cultural experiences available to us right in our own backyard.”
Needham said the small markets in the community are a “blessing” that give students an out-of-body experience where they learn by doing.
Junior Adam Thomas visited two grocery stores and said it was “cool” to see the differences between American grocery stores and small international stores.
“The interior, while quaint, was strictly about business, and you could tell that about the owners,” Thomas said. “As opposed to local stores here, it’s more about the customers and catering toward the customer, whereas with this it was about business, trying to get things sold and getting items in and out.”
Lotsa Pasta sells many different flavors of ice cream. Photo Courtesy of Adam Thomas.
Thomas said that the refrigeration in the stores were less cold than they usually are in traditional U.S. stores which was a shock to him.
“They were kind of lukewarm, and I felt kind of timid as to ‘Should I be drinking this if it’s this warm, or should I be buying this product if it’s this warm?’” Thomas said. “In the end it was totally fine. I mean it’s still refrigerated, and there were other people getting it, so why should I have any trepidation to do it?”
Sophomore Chloe Northrup said she is used to getting on a plane to experience different cultures, but through this field trip she realized how much culture there is around her.
“I’ve been to Vietnam and Greece, and I would have to get on a plane and be on a plane for like 10 plus hours to experience something that I’m not used to, but it’s really at our backdoor,” Northrup said. “It was really fun, and I enjoyed the experience.”
Northrup said one of the things she wasn’t used to was a butcher in the back of a grocery store and lamb heads being sold.
Dino’s Bakery and Grocery sells butchered lamb heads for customers to buy. Photo Courtesy of Chloe Northrup.
“I went up there and was like, ‘What is this random head of animal?’ and they were like, ‘Oh that’s lamb back there,’” Northrup said.
Needham said her students frequently come back from their field trips wanting to explore more international stores.
“My best moments for the takeaways are when the students say, ‘That was so much fun. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to go and do this more,’” Needham said. “It’s definitely the ‘I want to do more of it’ that brings me the most joy.”
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