What do we usually notice first when we travel to another country? For most of us the answer will be “culture” or to be more clear “cultural differences”. There are a lot of descriptions about cultural differences but generally it is known as “the various beliefs, behaviors, languages, practices and expressions considered unique to members of a specific ethnicity, race or national origin”.

 Traveling or living abroad for a while gives us opportunity not only to learn another culture but also have a deep look in our own one and see it from other perspective.

Since we are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural boundaries in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more clarity on our cultural traits.

Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when we use our meanings to make sense of your reality. When we step into a foreign culture, suddenly things seem different. We don’t know what to do or say. This is why we need to spend more time with native people in order to have a clear understanding about their nation and culture.

Programs like “European Solidarity Corps” give us a big opportunity to live abroad with people from different part of the world and discover about each other those things which we can’t easily or deeply see anywhere else. Usually we learn more general things about cultures while living with different nations in the same place and share everyday life is totally different from the things that we have heard about them!

If you liked this article and would like to know what kind of discoveries we made about cultural differences stay in tune and I promise to share with you a lot of “secrets” about some nations.