One Big Lesson
I think that the biggest lesson that I’ve learned while studying abroad is that you must make yourself vulnerable to the culture that you enter. Not vulnerable in the sense that you put yourself in danger, but in the sense that you are willing to experience something new, to put yourself in a potentially uncomfortable situation for the sake of integrating into the culture. Many times it doesn’t matter if you enter a shop and speak the native language improperly. At least you’ve attempted to do so and each time you do so, you will make fewer mistakes and feel more comfortable with speaking. The worst thing that you can do is enter a new environment with the mentality that you already know everything that there is to know about the culture, environment, or even the language. There are many things that will happen that will not be expected, good and bad. However, you must be open to the positive experiences and arm yourself for the bad experience, but face both. Without such vulnerability, you will never fully experience the culture around you, nor will you grow as a person.