Jump on a plane. Fly alone to a foreign country. Perhaps a country you’ve only seen in the movies. But in this country, 99 percent of the people don’t know a single word of your language.

Now live there for a while.

Have you thought yet about the kinds of difficulties you would encounter?

I was hit with many of these challenges when I traveled by myself in Europe visiting friends this summer. There were several times when I found myself lost in some city, alone, and all I wanted was for someone, English-speaking or not, to just make a small effort in aiding me.

My time overseas was infinitely more enjoyable due to my friends acting as part-time tour guides for me. I would have been floundering the entire time, had they not showed me the hottest clubs, cooked me the tastiest dishes, helped me with the language and introduced me to their friends.

Most Americans will have the luxury of never really needing to know another language or even to adjust to a different culture. There’s nothing innately wrong with that. We can even be proud of the fact that so many countries have taken such interest in our ways.

It’s up to each individual, however, whether to use this asset to justify their obliviousness to the many subcultures of internationals in their midst, or to see it as an opportunity to better their experiences in this country.

We can do all of those same things to the many international students we see and walk past every day on campus. We have the opportunity to do more than merely live alongside them in peace and indifference like we do with rabbits and squirrels. They are not rabbits and squirrels.

As one of my Chinese roommates put it, we ought make them “an essential part of American culture.” As it stands now, they exist for the most part as an isolated subculture.

Until recently, I often wondered why most international people I knew seemed to deprive themselves so much of all that American culture has to offer. For example, many Americans might enjoy a meal from four different countries in one week. So why do most Asians eat primarily at Asian restaurants instead of experiencing a more diverse cuisine? Well, it turns out, they probably feel lost in most other restaurants. After all, everything on the menus is spelled out for us locals.

I’ve found all it takes is inviting an international friend or two to a restaurant even Arby’s, and ordering for them. They might be pleasantly surprised and you can introduce them to new worlds. Or the next time you’re in a lecture hall thinking about weekend plans, why not ask one of the international students from your class to join you?

Many international students haven’t been fully exposed to the movies, music, bars or party scenes that we might take for granted during college. Would it kill you to bring a foreign student out with your pals on Friday, then go do some Asian-style karaoke the next night? It works both ways.

Granted, it can be downright frustrating at times, trying to communicate with those who don’t speak fluent English. It takes patience and open-mindedness to make it work. But if you were in their shoes, how meaningful would it be to have a native speaker befriend you and make some attempts at showing you the ropes of his or her country?

I’m definitely not talking about trying to Americanize foreigners. Just think about how much we can learn from one another by going a little out of our way into treating them as we would want to be treated. It’s the “Golden Rule,” and it works wonders for both parties.