Intercultural Competency

Although I have been to a new country before, I still had places to stay with the people that I already knew up in England.  I had met people online prior to going and got the hang of things pretty fast.  This will be different.  I will be going into a place where I do not know anyone, and living there rather than just visiting with friends.  When I get to Rome, I will be picked up at the airport with the group of students who also chose to get airport pick up.  From there, the first thing we do is go to a restaurant where we sit down and get a taste of the Italian food everyone goes gaga over.  From there, we kind of do a meet and greet and get to know who we will be spending the next six weeks with.  Luckily with the American University of Rome, there is a lot of student activities.  There are festivals listed on their page and places to attend.  I also am provided with the opportunity to go on already paid for excursions, therefore I will get to enjoy part of Italy with my fellow students and hopefully new friends.  Before I go, like my past trip, my adviser has given us the opportunity to leave a contact number and information about ourselves and it will be shared with other traveling students going to Rome the same time I am through CISabroad.  This will give me the opportunity to meet the people I will be staying with, maybe come connected on social media so we all won't be as nerve wrecked as we were.  Living like a local means actually taking the time to embrace the country I am in.  Here in Tennessee, I like to spend my days with my family, working, and playing with my dogs.  I know, lame.  But when I get a chance to take a nap throughout the day, just like every other college student, I will.  But in Italy, when I get the chance to nap, I will want to go out and explore, because I know it will be awhile before I get the opportunity to go back there, which I know I will.  Living like a local also means checking out the food places.  I want to steer away from the expensive tourist places and go to some locally owned restaurants that serve the best tasting Italian food I have will ever experience.  I want to be aware of the events going on, which are listed on AUR's website, and go to these festivals and/or events.  In the community, it will help to steer away from the tourists places because they remain busy from what I have researched.  I want to interact with locals and learn about the ways they live differently than I do, and to do that I feel as if I should explore outside the city of Rome and go to smaller cities surrounding there.  I know I get nervous when going to a place I have never been, but I know in order to get the full experience, I need to take chances and get myself out there.  I have looked up local bars and clubs, which I can go to with the friends I make from my school or maybe my roommates.  When going to these new places, I can meet new people and that is an opportunity that comes with putting yourself out there, of course safely.  I know that going there, I can going to have stomach problems.  This happens in every country that I go to, and that I just need to take it easy.  My best friend, Henry, is actually in Ireland right now studying abroad and he gave me some great tips.  He says to save money ,the first thing I need to do is grocery shop with my roommate.  He says that will help us bond and it will save the money of going out to eat all the time, which of course gets expensive.  That way each night we can make dinner together and become closer, and give us the opportunity to hang out.  Also, he said that the first couple days before my classes start, get rest.  I know I will want to go around and explore everything in the city, but in order to do that with the time change, I must get rest and adjust to the time difference, which they are five hours ahead of us.  Going there, I will just have to take the time and set time aside to sleep off my long plane trip and adjust the culture, if needed.  Hopefully everything will go smoothly, but I know I just need to think smart, stay safe, eat healthy, and most importantly put myself out there.