Global mindset Dave Monteban

1. People see what they wanna see

1.1. I often see Mexicans as party animals who like salsa, music, beaches, instruments and taco's, but getting to know the students online, I see that they are just casual people who are very similar to us in Amsterdam. I am going to broaden my vision of younger Mexican people in this block.

1.2. I also never saw Mexico as a country with high educated people. I thought they were just some nice people who drink, party and eat and have a relaxed minimalistic lifestyle, but now I see how serious, thoughtful and Intellligent Mexican people can come across. I only see them this way because I payed close attention to get to know these new people and not think about what I already thought which was true.

2. accepted & familiar

2.1. People like to get stuck on their habits and are stubborn when it comes to changing them. I am an example of someone who finds this really difficult, if it doesn't benefit me in any way in my perception. I can change my perception, so that I can temporarily learn to change my habits/familiar paterns in order to suit other cultures like the Mexican culture.

2.2. I like to go on holiday in countries were there is a certain amount of familiarity in the culture and behaviour of people. It can be scary when everything is different from what you already know your whole life. I need to change my attitude which I'm used to and be open to new behavioural paterns.

3. curiosity

3.1. I am a very curious person and I have been for all my life. This brought me a lot of knowledge and learning experiences. It also brought me a lot of friends and network opportunities so I am going to present myself as a curious listener to the Mexicans.

3.2. My curiosity sometimes creates problems, because certain people of cultures see this behaviour as rude or intrusive. For this reason, I am going to be carefull and first get to know the Mexican student before I let my curiosity run free.

4. Rules

4.1. I hate rules and I often purposely break them, just because. This can get me in a lot of trouble in certain cultures, but I know who to and where I am doing it at. I am going to try to be more relaxed with the Mexicans.

4.2. I think that rules are necessary for humanity because we would otherwise just be animals. I can already tell that the culture in schools are really different in Mexico, so we need rules to follow in order to succesfully complete an assignment with each other. I also need to follow them in order to keep the respect of the Mexicans.

5. Be calm, tone yourself down

5.1. When i am on holiday, I need to contain myself a lot in order not to offend anyone. because I can be quite rude. From the introduction I can already tell that people are reserved and respectful in Mexico and that there is a lot of authority between student and lecturer. I am going to try to be calm and listen carefully to the other students before speaking my mind.

5.2. Language/communication wise, I can try to make jokes appropriately to not offend anyone in Mexico, because some jokes are accepted in your own country, but could be really disrespectful to foreigners.

6. extending your boarders & creating new ones (key to global mindset)

6.1. A couple of my charateristics are that I am really stubborn, direct, humoristic and extroverted. These characteristics can be a big problem in a lot international environments. I can also transfer these characteristics by applying them to the local culture, by getting to know the culture first and toning the characteristics down of removing aspects of them in my behaviour.

6.2. Another way in which I would like to extend my boarders is to get to know the Mexican culture, so that I can integrate certain aspects of this culture into another culture for when I am going on holiday, work internationally of study abroad.