The only thing my professor asked me before I left to study in USA is to learn American culture, which mostly is to speak up. He was right about me because I am like my father who rarely speak up, prefer to listen first, but one thing very important is that, whenever he speaks something, that means he is very serious about it. Thus, we never tried to mess up with our dad when he starts to speak (well, I am not that serious as my dad, at least I speak to my close friend a lot).
I remember after I got back Taiwan from USA, I went to school for arranging my graduation. My professor talked to me for a while and his first comment for me is "wow, look, you speak more now". Well, holy shit, he was right. Before, I mostly comment yes or no or short sentence for others' question, but at that moment, I spoke about five sentences to answer my professor's one question. Hahaha, I guessed I really influenced by American culture somehow.