Intercultural Behavior

It has been one and a half month since i came here as an exchange student.For the past time,i have gone through several times' "culture shock" and deeply experienced the interest and embarrassment because of the "Intercultural Behavior".

The following is one of the scenarios caused by the Intercultural Behaviors.

(Introduction of the main Characters in the scenario:

Ricky:an exchange student from America.
Neus:an exchange student from Spain,who is my best girl friend here.)

Ricky and Neus lived in the same block in PGP,because of Neus,Ricky and I became friends.The week before last week,he threw a "mexican food party" and invited Neus and I to join it.I was quite excited about it and was willing to go to that party.I thought he would just invite several close friends to that party and we could cook together and chat.Because in my past life in China,just when our friendship goes to certain level will we invite each other for that kind of party.

Actually,i have thought about the Intercultural thing,i thought that there might be some hidden traditions like the guests should bring something to that party,such as chips,cookies and drinks.So even though Ricky didn't ask us to do that,we still decided to bring some chips and drinks.

When we went to that party.I was really shocked by how the party turned out to be.

There were almost 20 people in the kitchen,most of them I hadnt met before.So it was not a party for close friends,because many of them was introducing themselves to each other,apparently they were strangers to each other.

When i was trying to help Ricky prepare the food,he was so busy preparing for it that he barely talked to me and taught me how to do.So it was not a party for friends to cook together and chat.
As the party went on,more and more people came,when they got there,they just started getting something to eat then began introducing themselves to each other.But for me,at first i didn't even know if it was proper to eat if not all the people had arrived.

I will skip the details of that party and directly jump to the end of my involving in that party.After about 2 hours,it seemed that all the guests had tasted the food,Ricky began to charge money for that party.Oh,then i knew that was the reason Ricky didn't ask us to bring anything.Actually i quite regretted about bringing the chips and drinks...In my opinion,if someone throws a party,he will definitely not charge money for that party,since asking for money from your friends is kind of awkward.

Hopefully,i had brought enough money with me that night,otherwise that night would be more awkward for me.

So if you want to enjoy yourself better while involving into other intercultural activities,you'd better try to know the hidden rules for those activities.