The shock of moving from one culture to another is felt by many students who relocate to St. George to attend school.
Students at Dixie State University voiced their opinions on some of the major cultural differences they experienced.
Bud Pope, a sophomore nursing major from Buffalo, Missouri, said how different everything is here, from the landscape to the people.
“The people here are all so nice and ready to help, and that was one of the biggest differences for me,” Pope said. “People care about me and what I do. Also, the beauty here is in the rocks, and the lack of plants was weird for me for a while.”
Brandon Turner, a sophomore criminal justice major from Los Angeles also thought that the people were all very nice, but he noted that it was because there is a large population of senior citizens.
“It’s cool how St. George is so safe, but I wish that there were less old people because they make the city kind of boring,” Turner said. “St. George just kind of shuts down early every night, and that never happens where I’m from, and I’m not used to that at all.”
Students Miguel Ramirez and Yonas Desta share Turner’s point of view.
Ramirez, a freshman exercise science major from Las Vegas said, “I find it really hard to leave my dorm. I haven’t really adjusted to the slow pace of this city.”
Desta, a junior business administration major from San Diego, said there was a lack of diversity in the city, and that he kept running into the same people all the time.
“It’s crazy trying to find something to do here, because it seems all that people want to to is hike around the desert, and that is so weird to me that anybody would want to do that,” Desta said.
Not everybody thought that St. George lacked diversity. Evangelene Hurling, an african-american freshman Criminal Justice major from Clearfield, Utah, said she loved the diversity on campus, and that at least the student population was an even mix of races.
“It all depends on where you’re from,” Hurling said. “St. George has a lot more diversity than my home city, and it is nice to see other people of color. One thing though about people from St. George that I thought was weird is just how much they always seem to want to stare.”
Pope explained why he would continue to live in St. George after graduating from DSU.
“Even though it is super different here, I feel like I really fit in, and that the people were super accepting,” he said. “I was able to meet my wife here and I have grown in so many ways for the better. I love it here.”
