Iceberg's metaphor

In this past lesson, Catherine, our teacher explained to us the Iceberg's metaphor, she told us that it means when you analise your own country in three parts:

At first you have to define your country by some topics like: Fashion, institutions, gastronomy, lenguage (verbal and no verbal), etc.

At second, you have to do your owns interpretations and meanings about it and to end the metaphor you have to analise or compare the basics and universals humans necessities.

She was tolding us too about the cultural collision with other cultures when you travel to other country different as yours. It's part from acculturation: Process of receiving another culture and adaptation to it , especially with loss of culture.

We're talking about too about the cultural identity: The personal identity; That is everything that defines us as individuals and about the etnial identity; that is our identity relationed with some etnia, for example gipsy etnia.

When we have more or less this concepts affixed we started to worked in a very interesting activity: We had to write our own iceberg talking about our countries; We had to put the cultural aspects that we see about, in my case, Spain and then a classmate comming from other country had to seach about its origins (the part that we can't see). With this excercise we can see the origins about our costumes or topics. It was really interesting, because I learned a lot of things that I didn't know.

In my work, I talk about Catholicism and their parties, our timetable of life, regionals parties, homeless people, night parties, bar's lovers and “siesta” (sleep for 15 or 20 minutes after the luch). My classmate from Belgium searched about this seen aspects and I learned a lot of things that I didn't know before do the activity.

It was interesting because I had to search too about Belgium's life and I learned a lot of things of this country (for me until this moment unknown) and not that's all, I had the chance to learn about its origins, it's more interesting too under my point of view.

I learned that it's the country where borned the beer, the comics and the fried chips. I really like this activity.