"The Worlds People" by fardarrig76

One of the hardest things for me to do was to learn about people and put all my opinions and beliefs behind me. Look towards new people with open minds, open to understand them. I feel this is something that you will continually learn to do, because it does not come naturally to all of us.

I grew up in a small town, with very few people from other countries. College really helped me understand people of other cultures, since I had a lot of friends from Turkey, Albania, Italy and Africa.

The easiest thing to do is research books before you travel about customs and ediquette (probably spelt wrong). I find this to be very helpful. There are many things you would feel are common sense but may not realize.

This can be easy for some people to learn and remember and for some it may be near impossible. Especially for people like me who struggle with English, kind of.

I've learned that just learning the key words, will really make your host or citizens of the country your visiting so proud. Just that shows them that you care to learn and you made an effort. So just learning Hello, Thank you. Good Morning, etc. will go along way. In return you will also get more respect and probably more help if needed

Food can be a tough one for many people, especially Americans. We are just prone to waste food and have things fast. Then when you travel and you order chicken, don't be surprised to see the head and feet as part of the meal too, since other countries don't waste like we do.

I have tried many things but the older I get the harder it gets to try new foods. So everyone is different here. At the same time you do not want to insult your guest or local residents. I am allergic to many things, so I must admit, sometimes I use this as a reason not to try new things.

Be very careful how you use English, at least American English. I'm not sure how anyone can actual learn this language. I never gave it much thought until I started doing business with a Korean company. I started to realize we never speak literally and we use expression to say everything. So just be mindful of this when in a non-english speaking country.