The reason I decided to take this class is because after my brief J-Term trip to Saint Petersburg last year, I realized there were some global competencies that I hadn’t realized I had, but that there are many more that I have yet to acquire. One course objective, to “become more aware of your own cultural values and the influence of those values upon your attitudes towards difference,” particularly struck a chord with me because of a brief encounter at a Russian supermarket. Before the trip, our supervising professor had warned us that gender roles were more traditional in Russia than they are in the States. However, it wasn’t until after I held the door open for the man walking behind me and gotten a puzzled look in response that I realized that it is different to “recognize that gender…can determine one’s role in a family, school, and the workplace” than to change your behavior to imitate those of the country you’re in. In class, we discussed how one indicator of intercultural competence is not being ignorant of your own culture. After that incident in the grocery store, I think that I became more observant as to how people behaved in different situations so that I could better imitate their behavior.