1. Overall, what was the most exciting and useful learning moment in my collaborative activities with international peers? 

• The most exciting moment to me was working together with the Chilean students and learning more about them. While we were hard at work sometimes, we would take breaks in between to learn about each other's culture. The most useful part of this exchange was the fact that we had to create our own meetings a collaborate on different platforms brought us closer together. During these meetings we realized that even though we are in different parts of the world we all still have similar stresses.  

​

1. What significant learnings did the experience in the project leave me with? 

 

• It helped me gain a skill centered in cultural understanding. This experience helped me realize that different parts of the world have different hobbies and different priorities. At the end of the day, we are all still in college trying to make it with passing grades, whilst trying to live a fun normal life.  

 

1. How can these achieved learnings be useful for my personal development and professional performance? 

 

•  This exchange has helped me achieve cultural competence. When I travel or if I come into contact with someone who is from a different country, I would have a better understanding of their culture and values. Knowing things like these can easily prevent me or someone else from being in an awkward or uncomfortable situation.  

 

1. How did this collaboration affect my understanding and respect for a different culture? What cultural awareness or biases did I realize about myself through his experience, and have I been able to alter them? What felt easy and comfortable? What felt uncomfortable?  

• Knowing that we were so alike almost made me forget we were from different parts of the world. I did not realize it but one bias I had was that for some reason I thought they would not know English. I do not know why I assumed they should speak English because my first language isn’t English either. When we had our zoom, they spoke English so well and they kept apologizing for not pronouncing words right. I kept telling them that they did not need to apologize and that is what changed my bias. Talking about what we like to do felt comfortable because we all share similar hobbies, but nothing felt uncomfortable at all.  

 

1. How has this experience impacted me as a human in a world full of other cultures? It can include reflection on the number of communities I am part of, from a global to a local to a family community (think of the many different cultural communities in our city and on our IU-Indianapolis campus). 

• It has impacted me by showing me that every culture has similarities and differences and there is a way we can all live together in harmony. I am a West African Muslim, and I am apart of multiple communities and one thing I realized is that without any cultural understanding, there will be many complications and misunderstandings which could result in resentment. I would say that IU is a melting pot of different cultures, and this has also allowed many students to learn about other cultures and to become culturally competent.