Hello, My name is Carrie Nelson and this will be my blog for the Intercultural Communications class that I am currently taking. I look forward to sharing my experiences as I progress through this course. I am hoping this course will give me new insight in how to most effectively communicate with people from all different cultures and backgrounds in my job and day to day life. I currently work in the health care field and come in constant contact with people from many different cultures and ethnic backgrounds and sometimes feel that I am not communicating with them completely effectively. This may be due to a language barrier, cultural differences or possibly in the form of communication being used. Communicating effectively with others in my neighborhood and community is also important. I have children and they play with the other children in the neighborhood, some of which are from different cultures. My family and I have discovered that something as simple as playing with a friend from down the street can be impacted depending on the cultural background of the other child and their family. The level of parental supervision, whether to ring the doorbell or just walk in, and asking versus just doing are all things that can be different. I am excited to gain new knowledge and skills to help open the doors to more effective communication with all the different people I come in contact with both professionally and personally.