I believe that for purposes of cultivating intercultural competency, the most powerful weapon at my disposal is my state of mind. Traveling to Sweden with the frame of mind that I will hold everyone I meet and everything I see to my standards and schema of home would be a mistake. To do that would be to close myself off from this new place- and deny myself opportunity for growth and personal development.
Instead, I will seek to make myself open to this new land. Importantly, this is not analogous to allowing my fundamental character to be washed out by new experience. I do not think that is a genuine concern. Rather, I should embrace as best I am able the host country and host people. I should seek to live like them, see society and culture through their lens, and be not afraid of how this might impact my values. We human beings are, after all, consistently dynamic and fluid beings.
I think that by keeping this open-minded, non-judgmental attitude, I can dramatically improve my intercultural competency. I believe it will be key to integrate and succeed in the host culture.
I am a valuable person and bring value to my host country just as my host country has a wealth of value for me to discover if only I would allow myself to receive it.
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