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Cultural intelligence does not simply mean visiting a country and taste testing their famous cuisine or merely mastering how to get around a town or even viewing the beautiful scenery. Cultural intelligence is mastering “their” way of life, making oneself flexible and functional in any environment. A person should embrace any culture with open arms and be prepared to live how “they” live. I personally did not realize the extent to which I should immerse myself in the Italian culture. Being merely a “vistor” lost in someone else’s culture is not my goal or what I intend to accomplish during my summer abroad. My teacher, Ellen, pointed out a helpful hint when visiting to not just take a quick photograph of several buildings that will forgotten as soon as you return home. You should stop and absorb what you are seeing and really take in what this place means to you so you can remember the significance of that place whenever you look through your pictures of the trip. What I also came to realize after this course is how being open and flexible to a different culture and gaining cultural intelligence is helpful in the business world too. Becoming culturally intelligent does not only apply to travelers who go abroad, but what people forget are foreign cultures can also come to us. As an employee in a very diverse business world, it is crucial to be able to respect, understand, and communicate effectively with people from foreign cultures. This summer abroad will not only enable me to make life long friends and bring back great pictures to share with my family, it will help to me to become culturally intelligent as a person as well as in the business world. 
Cultural intelligence does not simply mean visiting a country and taste testing their famous cuisine or merely mastering how to get around a town or even viewing the beautiful scenery. Cultural intelligence is mastering “their” way of life, making oneself flexible and functional in any environment. A person should embrace any culture with open arms and be prepared to live how “they” live. I personally did not realize the extent to which I should immerse myself in the Italian culture. Being merely a “vistor” lost in someone else’s culture is not my goal or what I intend to accomplish during my summer abroad. My teacher, Ellen, pointed out a helpful hint when visiting to not just take a quick photograph of several buildings that will forgotten as soon as you return home. You should stop and absorb what you are seeing and really take in what this place means to you so you can remember the significance of that place whenever you look through your pictures of the trip. What I also came to realize after this course is how being open and flexible to a different culture and gaining cultural intelligence is helpful in the business world too. Becoming culturally intelligent does not only apply to travelers who go abroad, but what people forget are foreign cultures can also come to us. As an employee in a very diverse business world, it is crucial to be able to respect, understand, and communicate effectively with people from foreign cultures. This summer abroad will not only enable me to make life long friends and bring back great pictures to share with my family, it will help to me to become culturally intelligent as a person as well as in the business world. 
