Applying to the Duke Global Fellows Program, I was looking for an opportunity to meet more international students and learn about their respective cultures. As an international student from India, I felt suddenly too absorbed in the American Cultural at Duke and wanted to learn more about diverse cultures. Through, the Global Fellows Program, I have gotten the opportunity to interact with people of different backgrounds have gotten to learn so much about global perspectives.
We began by reflecting upon our group intercultural development inventory(IDI) and realized that more work was required to break into the final category as a group. We also covered things like the Iceberg theory of culture that made me think more critically about cultural diversity. Furthermore, I got a chance to meet with two language partners through the program which offered me a chance to learn more about different cultures. Through my meetings with Eunhee and Yue anchored by the strong awareness workshops with the International House, I got a chance to be more culturally aware. With this being merely the beginning of my journey with the program, I am eager to learn more both about myself and the complex yet magnificently diverse world around me.
Ling Jin
Hi Shourya, thank you for your sharing your experience in the program so far and your reflections. I’m glad to hear that you have started to apply what we discussed in the first training in your interactions with your language partners. One thing I do want to point out is that although the intercultural development continuum is presented as something linear, in reality, people can go back and forth between different stages (depending on their experiences and life at that particular moment), and it is a lifelong process without an end point. We can always work on our intercultural skills and learn about other people and their cultures.