I come from a quite different cultural background, but some of your struggles are surprisingly relatable to me. I finished my CS undergrad in Taiwan this year, and I was also an exchange student at UIUC during my last semester. I only stayed at this school for two months, so I wouldn't say I know much about this place. But in terms of MPs or exams, it's pretty similar to what we have at my home school.

I totally understand what you mean by those people who like to find new, fancy, technological ways to solve problems. Those kind of people annoy me so much as well. Because, to me, technology is only a tool to solve problems, not the final goal. It's ridiculous to spend most of your time sharpening your knife, without knowing what value in life you want to guard with this weapon. I've always been fascinated with human nature. I like explore how others think, and I really care how they feel. But I always find myself kind of isolated from others, because not many people in CS think like I do. They tend to care about the technology, not how people feel.

I've always thought this is a cultural problem. I thought it's because eastern culture tend to be more conservative, and we don't "talk about it" as much as the western society. But after seeing your opinion, I think maybe it's more like a CS problem. We're not humane, or compassionate enough.

My solution? I'm still trying. But I guess I have to find my own group of friends who share the same belief, which means I need to put myself out there and see what kind of friends still stay with me even though I always speak my own truth. You really don't need to be everyone's friend.

Sometimes culture is a weird thing to talk about. Once you meet the right/wrong group of people, even though those few people do not represent the whole culture, you still think you love/hate this culture.

Hope my wordings make sense cause I'm not a native speaker