Lovely day at the university

Hello all! So our day continued bright and early when we had to meet up at the University of Zurich-Winterthur. In order to make it to our 8am class, we needed to leave the hotel at 7:30am...way too early for those of us up until the wee hours of the night. Today was our first day in a classroom setting where we would all take part in intercultural learning. But as Kate admitted later, no one really had a clue what intercultural learning really entailed. We began the first class with another class of Swiss studentsw at the University who were there to study intercultural management. John Rankins and Sam van der Berg were the facilitators from the University in charge of leading several activities focused on the topic of leadership. Although many of us GIEU-ers expressed some concerns about the notion of teaching what leadership means using a one-fits-all definition. It made for an interesting conversation though as we listened to John's lecture regarding both leaders and managers. After the lecture, we were given a lengthy break to interact with the Swiss students and enjoy the beautiful day outside! I think that we all really loved chatting with the Swiss students. Personally, I was in total awe to listen to the number of places many of the students had traveled as well as the number of languages many can speak (several spokes up to 4!). But with that said, I was also astonished to discover that several of our own GIEU members were multilingual. Once many of the Swiss students left to make it to other classes or work, I was able to sit down for a game of Euchre. I absolutely love this game and was excited to teach others, and it was also really pleasant to play a game that reminds me of my own family back in Michigan. Then we headed over to a smaller classroom where Sam led a fascinating discussion about the differences in communication across cultures. We played this great game where each student was given a card describing a communication style for us to replicate. For example, my card said that I was from a culture that did not like to speak impulsively so I should count to 7 seconds in my head before responding to a question. From this point we were told to mingle and observe how others interacted. Once 5 minutes passed, we tried to guess which culture was represented by the different patterns. So continuing with my card as an example, some people in Asian countries do indeed wait to speak after a question to be deliberate and clear about their answer. Sam also showed slides that illustrating more points to think about during intercultural communication. One quote that seemed to really affect our group was, "You might be right, but you are probably wrong" - meaning that you may draw certain conclusions about a person from the communication style, but these conclusions are based on culture and perception, so you are most likely incorrect about this person. As the university experience came to a close, we debriefed and then headed to dinner where we treated to moundfuls of delicious french fries and chicken with pesto butter. Bon appetito! I got back to the hotel to find Adam and Andrew playing a little futbol so Lucia and I joined in. A perfect way to end a perfect day!

Tot ziens van Switzerland,
-Alex R.