Finally, the experience of connecting with people from a different country and culture has helped me become the type of communicator and community member that I hope to be as a person and as a future physician. Being a guest within a different dominant culture opened my mind in a new way, giving me a level of cultural humility that will make me more aware throughout my life and career. I am grateful to have learned from my mentors in Costa Rica to deepen my value and skills in observation, however I understand that this is just one of many pieces of cultural knowledge that is overlooked by U.S. academic culture. I will maintain cultural humility with future patients, colleagues, and community members who have knowledge and ways of knowing that I have not yet come to understand.
Connecting with people from another country helped me become the type of communicator and community member that I hoped to be as a person and as a future physician. Being a guest in another culture opened my mind in a new way. It gave me cultural humility that will make me more aware throughout my life and career.