How have others cultures affected me?

How globalized am I? Looking from a solely introspective view on the question, it is really hard to actually decide how globalized I truly am. While I feel that I have been greatly influenced by the cultures of others, I have never spent an extended period of time in another culture, nor are many of my close friends from a culture very different from my own.

I feel that the way I look at water usage, food waste, etc. has really been influenced by other cultures. The major thing that made me think more about this was when I was in the 12th grade, I was at a conference and Craig Kielberger was one of the keynote speakers. Craig was a fantastic speaker, and his experience with poverty is incredible. While he was not poor himself, he created the organization Free the Children at the age of twelve. During his speech he really discussed the conditions in many emergent cultures, and really was motivational talking about how one person can truly make a large difference.

Also, I feel that the exposure to other cultures (no matter how minor) gives us an interesting way to look at ourselves. When I was a child, I thought the North American way of life was the same as it was for all people. I had a very hard time understanding why people didn't think the same way as my family and culture. After socializing with many other people, I was able to get a further perspective on how North American thought is very different from other cultures though.  Since I was able to learn this at a fairly young age, combined with my mom's teaching of treating everyone as equals, I have been able to gain incredible insight on daily activities, life, religion and death.

While my daily life hasn't been completely changed based on my interactions with other cultures , it has certainly given me valuable insight and allowed me to really meet some great people who I would of potentially had problems getting along with had I been so set in my ways. I feel that it's important to allow other cultures to afect you, but if it doesn't seem to be a fit in your life, you will at least be able to gain great insight on the thoughts of other people, and gain a much deeper understanding of different people.