Posted: February 5th, 2016

The world is getting so homogenous that the unique charm of a foreign country is disappearing fast.

Would you want to work for a foreign firm? Why or why not.

I need a response to my professor’s answer to the question above.

This is what my professor wrote:

The world is getting so internationalized that living abroad hardly feels like living abroad anymore.

It was far different when I first went to Japan when I was a college junior. It was alien. There was no American TV, no Internet, very few foreigners and only one or two places in Tokyo that sold U.S. food. McDonalds had not yet arrived although Coke was there (but too expensive). I discovered instant ramen years before the rest of American did and developed a taste for sushi which shocked my friends back home (“you mean you eat RAW fish???)

It’s truly a breeze to live overseas nowadays. I take some Hogan students to China every summer. Last summer, in Shanghai, the students could cross the street to Starbucks in the morning for their favorite blends, take themselves out for pizza and Big Macs for lunch or dinner and then watch American TV at night in the hotel. I even saw Bambi in Chinese one night! Then, of course, the Internet let me keep up with my online MBA courses; e-mail and Skype kept me right in touch with my family and my friends

When I can, I try to go out of my way to avoid the foreign-type places whenever I could and to look for the “real China” but it’s increasingly hard to find in the big cities since big cities around the world are getting to be more and more alike.

The world is getting so homogenous that the unique charm of a foreign country is disappearing fast.