Before I moved to China, I had only visited the Bahamas on a cruise and saw Niagara Falls from the Canadian side when I was almost too young to remember. In my book, neither of these really counted as having a truly cultural experience.

I worked as a waitress for many years, and I would always wonder why foreigners would ask me, "Do you get free refills?" I thought to myself, "Where do you not get a free refill? What a weird question to ask." I also thought that Asians were cheap when they came in and asked me for hot water, and we would all fight over who had to take the table of foreigners because of course, they don't know how to tip.

Moving abroad has taught me a lot about ethnocentrism. It is okay to have pride in your country and customs, but sometimes that pride turns into ignorance when we can't see things in any other way. I knew things in China would be different, but then I realized that this wasn't just a "China thing."

Since living in China and traveling to other countries, I have realized that I was completely ethnocentric.

When I first arrived, I met some British friends, and I couldn't believe they had not seen all the American movies or TV shows that were so common back home. "Doesn't everyone watch American TV," I thought to myself. I also found that there were terms and slang that other English-speaking countries used, and I had no idea what they were talking about. "If we all speak English, why can't I understand what they are saying," I also wondered.

I began to realize that things I thought were common everywhere were really just things very specific to American culture.

The Asians who visited my restaurant were not being cheap for asking for hot water, it is just a part of their culture. The guy asking if we give free refills wasn't asking a ridiculous question; America is probably one of the few countries who offers this service. Also, the foreigners who don't tip well are not completely at fault because tipping is not the norm in most other countries.

Living abroad teaches me more and more about how close-minded and ethnocentric I used to be. Realizing there is more than one way to do things can help people from all over the world learn and create deeper bonds.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.