Lubna Alli

It’s been a little over a week now here in Siena and I don’t even know where the time has gone. It feels like home already. I may not know the city inside out, but by now I definitely know it well enough to consider myself anything but a tourist. I’m at the point where I almost want to call myself a local and Siena my home away from home. By now, I know what tourist traps near the Piazza to avoid and I can find the best deal on a hot greasy slice of pizza. I also most definitely know the directions to Nannini, a local coffee shop that is a guilty pleasure of my friends and I, and when it comes to a 2am gelato run after a night of dancing at La Pania, I know exactly how to say pistacchio e panna cotta in the perfect Italian accent.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve become so culturally aware within just a matter of a short few days. I’ve now come to realize what it means have cultural intelligence, known as CQ, through drive, action and strategy, and not just through knowledge. Knowledge, as I had come to realize was my strongest result by far when it came to how I develop my CQ, something I’m not entirely proud of. I see it as the equivalent of having the book smarts but not the street smarts. Never a good thing because balance is everything when it comes to succeeding in anything. You must be culturally aware in order to have a good understanding of what a city has to offer. From what I can recollect from today’s lecture, to be culturally aware means to be able to stand back and analyze our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. What it also stresses is becoming critical when we have to interact with people who see, interpret and evaluate things in a different way.

When it comes to being culturally aware, I don’t think I have it all down perfectly yet. This is why I am going to challenge myself to put myself more other there in practical situations that involve interaction with the people of Siena, or even Italy in general. I am going to put myself more out there by challenging myself to strike up more conversations with locals. Back home in Toronto, talking to strangers comes as no problem to me. But, here in Italy, I am frightened at the thought of having a communication barrier with an Italian. I am interested in seeing where this will take me. Here’s to finding new adventures and hearing new and exciting stories!

Taking a leap,

Lubna