Ambassador

I never realized just how much representing one person can do until just the other night. People always say things like, "remember when in another country you represent the whole US, or RIT, or whatever." That seems ridiculous because you can't judge a culture based on one person from it. In our heads everyone knows that, but in practice we easily judge groups based on one individual. Example:

The other night my German roommates talked about the American who lived in my room last year. She was quite the party animal. Regularly out till 7am, at parties, and hosting parties here. Her wild 21st birthday party ended up with cake and footprints all over the wall, requiring a new paint job. She made life miserable for the rest of the people living here.

When my roommates heard that this semester they were getting another American, they all dreaded that they were in for round 2. They just knew one American and she was crazy, so they all must be crazy... It's the same representing Christ, or longboarders, or white people, or engineers. If you're the only person in a category that people know, then you have a huge influence over their perception of that group.

Be careful.

Represent well.