Part 1: I have experiences culture exchange once 5 years ago in Thailand.

It was just a trip for

7 days with my family but I found that different people have different perspectives. What
amazing about Thailand is great food, a beautiful scene, and everything here is so cheap. For
me, tasting different ways of cooking and seasoning in another country is also a cultural
exchange. Thailand was always famous for its food. They eat very spicy things and a lot of
chilies too. I was able to eat Pad Thai and many other kinds of dishes. I also have the
opportunity to use the Thai currency and speak to people whenever I want to buy souvenirs. I
can meet people and see how they behave and what’s their characteristics like in Thailand.
Moreover, I bought tickets to see a show that properly found only in Thailand which is the
transgender show. They made a huge surprising impact on me on their comedy shows with
unique presentations and colorful clothes. While many different cultures are noticeable, there
are also things that Thailand is similar to Vietnam like crowed markets, traffic jams, etc. It
was a really fun experience!

After the trip, I have learned to respect my culture and other country’s culture too. I could
point out are more important things to preserve in my culture. I can see what point that my
culture could develop further. And I have experienced culture bias because seeing something
that is unusual in my country is hard to take. For example, the transgender cannot be seen in
Vietnam neither do the transgender show even for entertaining purpose. But in Thailand,
these things are normal, and Thailand accepts it.

Part 2: After reading about intercultural communication from the book, I found 3 points
which should be looked into whenever it comes to culture.

1. 1. Boundary Conditions of Culture: One of the most important principles of

intercultural communication is defining “culture” focusing on the subjective culture at
varying levels of abstraction. We must be careful and know traveling to any other country.
Because something normal here doesn’t mean that it also appropriate there. Like in India,
holding hands or making any kind of physical interactions between two different sex is
considered indecent, and you might get arrested for that action.

2. 2. Generalizations and Stereotypes: Before anyone travels to another country, they often
search for that country’s information online. What they found on the Internet might affect
their perception of some types of people. For example, the Chinese can be trusted because
they sell fake products. It is wrong to stereotype all Chinese are cheats because not everyone
is like that. All possible behavior is available to all human beings at all times.

3. 3. Cultural Self-Awareness and Identity: We need to be particularly aware of our own

cultural identity, both affiliated and ascribed. This is cultural self-awareness, and it is the
necessary beginning point for any analysis of cultural interaction. If we are not aware of our
own culture, we cannot distinguish between projecting our categories of perception and
accessing the alternate categories of a different culture. And even if we do attempt to
understand others, by understanding ourselves in cultural terms we are less likely to behave
in unconsciously ethnocentric ways.