Cultural Immersion Project Report Sample

Last month I had the privilege to dine at the Front Room coffee shop, baker center 4th floor located in Ohio State. It is a campus coffee shop offering a wide variety of American drinks and hot beverages such as coffee, tea and chocolates that I have not served before. I chose this coffee house because of its serene and cool environment. Secondly my best choice of this place was based on the fact that I rarely go to coffee shops and that I am also not a coffee-drinker and lastly, my friends have always described it as serene and cool place which offers variety of beverages; I definitely had to second their statement by visiting the place. However, my visit to this joint was not to my expectations; the joint is a good place with welcoming atmosphere and the walls are perfectly painted with décor which made me feel like I was in Paris. From the time I walked through the door of the coffee shop, the service and reception were great.
This happens to be my most memorable dining experience I have had particularly because it surprisingly happened on a Friday evening. Walking through the dining room, I saw spectacular shelves on the counter filled with exclusive spices and additives while right opposite it featured serene lily pond. I then decided to explore the Chef’s beverage bar, another pearl of this restaurant. It was located right in front of the kitchen. It is basically the place where all the action took place and really couldn’t be a better choice for me.
As I sat admiring the beautiful place and people, I noted a very distinct smell of strong spices. There were brass and silver decorations around the room and to sum up the well done décor, the roof was colored in sky blue. As I was admiring the exquisite place, I ordered a cup of coffee and dark roast which I had craved for long. So I picked the menu and scrolled all through to identify their prices. The long list caught my eye; there were categories of beverages mostly varieties of coffee ranging from tea, chocolate as well as other healthy items available at all meals. My reason for going to the coffee shop was to take a cup of coffee with my choice of dark roast I so much craved for, and amazingly its price was only $1.85 and $ 2.10 for the dark roast. In a few minutes, I had my cup of coffee and dark roast and there I was enjoying every single bit of it.
While enjoying my cup of coffee and the dark roast, I keenly observed activities on the premises. From people’s body language, you could easily tell that the place is very conducive, friendly and serene. People in there were smartly dressed and talked calmly, though majority of them were university students, the manner in which they carried themselves was so appealing. They discussed and exchanged ideas pretty well in an admirable way. On the other hand, all workers ‘outfits were very well done in spectacular designs, these outfits created an impression that lasted for the rest of the evening. Sometimes dining in a place like Front room coffee shop is quite an overwhelming experience for a person like me who has had no experience of a coffee shop in my entire life. Frankly, being confronted with a menu filled with drinks that needed translation and also been overwhelmed with a variety of hot and soft drinks that I had no idea was quite striking. This was my start to an awesome meal in a foreign land. I loved the reception and the calm environment with friendly people.
Though a simple coffee shop, there is much I can give credit for, the short time I was there: to start with, their menu was well detailed and straight forward with numerous pictures that accompanied the description of the hot beverages. Additionally, there was a small section dedicated to food items and the specials such as bagels, muffins, cookies and croissants. Though I wasn’t familiar with the majority of the items on the menu, it wasn’t an uphill task for me to identify what I actually wanted to serve as I had in mind the ideal meal I wanted (Coffee and dark roast). The coffee and the dark roast were exceptional and what I literally came away from the meal with was the extraordinary experience which was not just a meal. I enjoyed every bit of the dark roast and the hot spiced coffee.
Coming from a different community, I would say that the experience is one of a kind seemingly because I am an Asian and having no taste for coffee wraps the whole encounter splendidly. Unlike my home town, I realized that Americans have a very distinct way of life especially while serving meals. They were relaxed as they had their meals smiling and laughing at each other as they talked. It wasn’t any different for the few little kids there; they were allowed to play around though with limited measures. I noticed that the staffs in this place were all friendly and relaxed too, the short time I was there made me realize the diversity of culture among communities. People talked in low tones that did not disrupt other customers. As a common place for a section of the students, you could tell by their body language, I noticed some of them smile and giggle at each other. This suggests that a majority of them are familiar with the place and are regular customers.
Most people in that restaurant served American beverages: coffee, tea or chocolate of their choice and soft drinks. The most common meal was coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks. Unlike the Asian community and culture which is much into traditional Asian foods and drinks, Americans have embraced so much diversity and modern style in their livelihoods. To back this up, I noticed that most customers were busy browsing, chatting or making calls. This is an unfamiliar habit among Asians who have dedicated time specifically for meals.
Notably, workers in this restaurant were very disciplined and friendly, I noticed that they all correlated and engaged frequently. Amazingly, I heard no complaints from any customer since all appeared to be comfortable with what they had been served. Similarly, it is of paramount importance to note that these employees observed all rules, regulations and guidelines for all routines in the restaurant. All workers seemed to enjoy their respective jobs such as the chefs and cooks who remained in the kitchen preparing meals and the rest of the staff designated in management areas were busy monitoring the premises’ operations. Ostensibly, coordination in this place was great and outstanding, from reception to serving to collect bills. You definitely could notice the harmony among these staff precisely in the manner in which customers were served in a friendly way. In my case, I enjoyed the way in people everyone appeared happy and cheered up in the Front coffee shop. This impression told a lot about the kind of environment it was.
Arguably, the Front room coffee house is a reflection of the American hotel culture of the modern society. It struck me that Americans prefer coffee shops for business meetings and discussion as compared to other places. This is because at that time of the day (at around 7 PM), most people in the premises had come from their places of work to meet with associates and colleagues for discussions as they had a cup of coffee. The wide range of beverage offered in the restaurant suggests that it accommodates people from all walks of life and of different cultures, people in the corporate world to be precise. As I browsed the internet with my phone, I noticed that there was free Wi-Fi which was very convenient to the students and other persons as well. Some cool classic music was played which was so sensational complementing everything.
Front room coffee house created a matching poster with great etiquette. The manager tactfully greeted people especially non-regular folks, who clearly were conducting some business. However, there was another category that played chess ‘chess school’ as they had their cup of coffee. Most discussions in this place are group discussions where the students exchanged ideas and discussed poetry, political science and philosophy. Ideally, I would suggest that their discussions were pretty much lively especially from the fact that the free WI-FI cheered them up. It hit my mind that coffee shop conversations are supposed to conform to a certain manner. The language in the premises was polite and the conversations were civil. While others held discussions, some read newspapers as they listed to the cool music. This suggests that coffee houses are basically for the elites who go there to have a cup of tea of coffee as they exchange ideas.
Like most restaurants which are within a school environment, the Front room coffee house is no exception as most people who dined there were both students and a few business people who did business for hours. This was a great experience to a coffee house especially from the fact that I am not a coffee-drinker and that this place was very unfamiliar to me. From my own point of view, I would posit that coffee shop in The United States particularly Front room coffee house, coffee shops are fast and simple joints put up to draw business people whose aim is to hold short discussions as they take a cup of coffee or a drink of their preference.
I would suppose that in most cases, coffee shops play a big role in coalescing people due to their serene environment and the friendly reception by the staff. Secondly from the experience of this place, I would suggest that coffee shops in most cases are meeting places for couples, associates and mostly business people who choose to do their business in this kind of environment because it is friendly and convenient. Aside the money making business, coffee shops represent a section of the elite in the society, civilized in its own unique way.