I believe that the course objectives can serve many purposes later in my life, whether or not I go on to conduct cross-cultural research. The importance of understanding cultural contexts will be crucial in successfully communicating with people from other cultures, and I hope to have the chance to meet an communicate with many different people from many different cultural backgrounds. I particularly hope to study different cultural attitudes towards trauma and PTSD, which will demand a great deal of intercultural competence.
It is also my belief that a certain degree of intercultural awareness is necessary to best understand global politics, a subject I try to keep current on.
My strategy for success in this course is not to give up when my executive functioning skills fail me when it comes to navigating the technological challenges I come up against. Instead of accepting that I “can’t” figure something out, I plan to reach out to as many resources as I can for guidance.
I have also developed a fascination with the Chinese language, and I hope to travel there some day. Increasing my intercultural awareness and sensitivity will be critical to such a trip.