What I found especially interesting in the Vande-Berg reading was the section where they talked about how studying abroad does not necessarily equate to having a “transformative” or “life changing” experience. As something I hadn’t thought about before, I found it useful when the authors made the distinction between “transformative” as in one’s personal experience and growth such as “experiences that were deeply meaningful” or “gaining a greater self-reliance”, and transformative as in actually having gained a high level of intercultural competence. I think their critical approach to the common belief that study abroad means having a transformative experience is important because it forces you to really consider the deeper meaning behind such statements, and in turn can help us reach the specific goals we may be setting in studying abroad. One point that stood out to me in the Bennett reading was that “one can know a lot about the history of a culture and still not be able to communicate with a person from that culture…” and that it’s crucial to lean about subjective culture (“the learned and shared patterns of beliefs, behaviors, and values of groups of interacting people”) in addition to objective culture because it is more likely to lead to intercultural competence. I think it’s a good reminder that becoming inter-culturally competent takes time, experience, taking risks, putting yourself out there, and being open minded, and that it’s not something you can expect to gain by being impatient, thinking you know everything, or simply by reading books.

When I read Odrine’s post I found I could relate when she says she finds herself using monocultural communication. I agree that it is hard to break a habit that is so unconscious, and in order to do so you really have to  be aware of the seemingly insignificant choices and actions you make everyday. For example, I notice that here I am, once agin sitting next to my friend in class who is in the same house as I am, who is in the same Major, and so on. Why? Because familiar is comfortable, so after awareness can come action, maybe I will try to sit with someone who is very different from me, and who knows what I will learn? It makes sense that so much more learning comes out of having experiences with people who are different from you.