A Reflection on My Learnng

I'm back in the quiet section of the library, where I wrote my first learning experience post, and I'm trying to think of what I've learned and how it's changed me over this semester. How have I improved? How have I grown?

Have my study habits gotten better? Well, I'm still logged into my Netflix account and I made it through four seasons of How I Met Your Mother so far despite all the finals I have. I currently have The Little Mermaid playing in the background as I write this, so I'm going to say study habit improvement is a no.
Has my depth of knowledge grown? I have certainly learned a lot of pertinent information towards my major. I've also had a lot of things retaught or elaborated on over the year, and I suppose that counts as growing in knowledge.
Do I have more direction in my life? In a sense, yes. I was able to work as a research assistant in Dr. Petursdottir's lab this semester, and it definitely opened my eyes to the role of a psychologist. I have gotten to experience research, experiment creation, and study presentation all from a first-person perspective. I have also secured a sort of internship at a camp this summer that will be using the play therapy I want to practice to help the types of children I want to work with.

Yet, I still feel like I've learned so much more than these tangible and practical things, especially in this class. It's the little tid-bits of knowledge that don't seem too important which make the biggest impact for me, and I'd like to list a few:

1. Do not use the four-letter-word that doesn't exist. I didn't really understand this rule in the beginning, but as the semester has gone on I completely agree with this ban on the word "very". Even though I slipped up a few times, not being allowed to use this word has taught me to be more descriptive not only in class but in everything I do. We live in a world full of so many rich and pungent experiences it seems to be an injustice to not use every tool we have to describe it. It, among other factors to be discussed, have also helped me reconnect with my creative side, and is something I have been missing. 
2. Use the Comic Toolbox to create a character/write a limerick/ describe the narrator of the poem/etc. This, accompanied with my new found dislike of v***, has brought out the creative side of me that I thought I had lost when it came to anything involving writing. Theatre, improvisation, book analysis, and similar things used to be how I chose to spend my time in high school. Nothing made me happier than being able to compose a scene for my acting class or write a paper discussing the themes of a famous novel, but now that I've entered college all I do is write research papers and read psychological journals on analytical experiments. Completing these creative assignments both in and out of class has forced me to brush the dust off this part of me and bring it back to the surface, and I couldn't be happier! This class has been invaluable to me because it served as a break from the mundane, systematic work I have grown used to.
3. Everything is relative. I am a fairly Type A person. I strive on routine and organization, and if things don't have an A + B = C solution, I have a hard time coming to terms with it. That being said, coming into class and being told that "everything is relative" from the first meeting made me a little nervous as to how the class was going to go. In actuality, this ended up being a benefit. I came into this semester right as I was having an internal dilemma over life being subjective, especially in my own field of study. Looking at one specific topic, in this case humor, as relative and having to study it as such has helped me gain acceptance that it is about one's background, culture, points of view, and so many other factors that shape their opinion. It's okay to not always have all the answers, that's what makes life so fun.

Learning the Basics. As a Twenty-Year-Old. Oops.

I knew I had slacked off a little bit when it came to my blog, or at least my learning experience posts. I have been at a loss for what to write about, and not because I think I am all-knowing and have nothing else to gain from observing society. I simply have not felt I have experienced anything worth writing about. However the semester is coming to a close and I knew I needed to get them done, so today I logged on to get them finished. I got onto my actual blog page to double check and make sure I had all my other posts done, and I had a moment where my stomach dropped.

I was missing almost half of my conversation posts. HALF.

I completely panicked. I probably scrolled through my pages for a solid ten minutes, just hoping that maybe they would magically appear. Maybe I had counted wrong. Sadly, this was not the case. The last few posts I had made about my conversations with Youness were no where to be seen. Now, I am new to blogging, which I  am sure is a shocking fact considering I am immersed in almost every other kind of social media. Yet despite my veteran status I have no idea how Blogger works. That being said, my search to find my missing blog posts was fairly futile for a while. It took me a solid fifteen minutes (as it usually does) to find how to create and edit a post. Once I did, however, there my posts were, sitting all pretty and typed out for the world to read. Yet on my actual blog page they did not appear, and for some reason I could not figure this out. Again, another five minutes probably passed before I finally got my slight panic to subside enough to see the little "Draft" next to the post. 

I had never hit publish, and this is why they were not showing up. 

After this realization I laughed out loud at myself in the middle of the library. I got a few stares, I wasn't ashamed. Not realizing that I had forgot to publish my blog posts made me feel like my 84-year-old grandmother trying to work the DVR. It is such a simple thing to accomplish, especially for someone who is supposed to be "young" and "hip". However, this did serve as a good learning experience. This incident did not just occur because I do not know how to navigate this site, but because I was not being careful enough. I need to more closely proof read and double check when I complete assignments because it would have been so easy for me to lose those posts and have to re-write them, as I had originally feared. For this class it would not have been the end of the world because the blog posts are based on personal opinion. If this would have happened for the twelve-page research paper I had due last week, however, my freak out would have been a little more severe. Yes, I am still learning this as a supposed 'adult', but this is just another reason why this was such a good learning experience for me. It shows we are constantly growing in life knowledge and in how we can be more successful in life. People are truly never done learning.

Anyway, the moral of the story: always double check.

Conversation Partner: Back to the Beginning

Youness and I had our final meeting in the same circumstances that we had our first: we got coffee. I wasn't able to attend his party because the time clashed with my schedule, and I was incredibly disappointed. I apologized over and over for not being able to go but Youness, being his usually kind self, assured me it was okay. We chatted like usual, just having a normal conversation and venting about college student woes. We bonded over how much work we still had left and how excited we were for the summer and getting a long, relaxing, and much needed break. I told Youness how much I was going to miss our meetings. He is an incredibly modest man and does not take flattery well, so I refrained from embarrassing him, but these hang outs and interactions have opened my mind. As I mentioned in my first post, I hate awkward situations despite the fact that I am an absolute professional at creating them. The most uncomfortable of these for me is language barriers, so these conversations seemed like they were doomed from the start for me. I cannot believe how wrong I was.

My meetings with Youness have completely changed my outlook on these supposed "awkward situations", because they do not have to be awkward at all. I always try to embrace the idea that "it's only awkward if you make it awkward". It's awkward that I've used the word 'awkward' six times in the past two and a half sentences, but I'm choosing to ignore it and BAM! no more awkward (in theory). My point is that it is the outlook that each person brings into a situation that determines how the conversation is going to go. Youness and I, from our first encounter, had a very positive disposition for how our meetings would progress, and I believe this is why we have become such good friends. What started out as an intimidating assignment has turned into a true friendship that has helped me grow as a person. I feel more ready to approach intimidating situations knowing that the best outcome is always possible, and I have a new respect for those who are brave enough to take on the challenge that people like Youness have.

At the end of our talk Youness informed me he is moving to New Jersey with his brother. Despite my disappointment, I am excited for him and again so proud at his bravery to branch out and see so many different parts of an unfamiliar country. We promised to stay in touch via text and email, and I sincerely hope this is true because I know Youness will do so many amazing things in his life in America and I would love to be a part of that.

Conversation Partner: My Commercial Debut

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 will be a day known in history as the day I got my big commercial break as a commercial star. I met Youness in the basement of the rec again to record his project assignment. There I was able to meet his partner, Brendan, who informed me he was originally from China. The boys were incredibly efficient in getting everything set up and in order. They even had a script printed out for me, and had a real video camera with a tripod ready to go. Youness showed me some lines he had added to the script to make more of a sales pitch for his product, and I have to admit I was irrationally proud. All his grammar and wording was correct and flowed naturally, and I couldn't help but have a wave of admiration come over me. The amount of work and effort Youness has put into this semester and into learning such a foreign and complicated language amazes me. I wish I had the tenacity and drive that he possesses for half of the things I apply myself to, because it is truly unrelenting.
Despite some awkward pauses waiting for bystanders to walk through the basement and a few repeated lines, we finished filming my big career-starting piece and had nothing left to do but chat for a few moments. I apologized for my short meetings with him lately due to my insanely busy schedule, and he said he could relate. Despite only being in the IEP program and not actually enrolled in TCU, Youness has quite the heavy work load. I am not sure why I ever thought his assignments and class responsibilities would not be as intensive as mine, but this was obviously my impression considering the shock I felt at hearing of his many papers and assignments. All of this on top of the commercial project he had to do? I couldn't believe how hard the IEP program is, and as I've said before my respect for Youness increased even more.
The most exciting moment of the whole interaction was Youness extending an invitation to a party at his house on Saturday. I told him to email me the details so hopefully my schedule works and I can go! What a better way to interact with people from another country than a night of hanging out!

The Final Project You've All Been Waiting For

Here, making its world debut, is the new hit single of up-and-coming artist Destiny's Parent: Poets and Prose.

Conversation Partner: La Nuit De L'Homme

I received an email from Youness last week with an interesting request. He asked if I could meet with him because he had "a homework about commercial presentation" and was hoping I could help him out. I was not 100% sure what this would entail, but I was humbled Youness was asking for my help and was happy to agree. We planned to meet Thursday in the library to tackle his assignment and I was excited to interact with him in this new situation.

When Youness walked up to me in the loud section the first thing he did was pull out a bottle of cologne from his backpack and set it in front of me. Probably being able to tell I was confused, he then took out some papers and began to explain his project. His class had been assigned to pick a product and gradually do various projects to eventually come up with a commercial to sell it. Youness and his partner had already done all the preliminary projects, such as interviewing people about the product and things like that. They had chosen to do their assignment on the cologne he put in front of me, a men's cologne named La Nuit De L'Homme (which Youness translated for me as "the night of man"). At this point in the project, he and his partner had to make a one to three minute commercial for the product, and Youness was asking for my help to write up the script. My inner high school theatre nerd came to the surface and I was thrilled to help him with this project, so we started brainstorming right away.

Youness came prepared with an idea for the commercial, and it was what we ended up using. The commercial starts with a man and a woman on a date at a bar, with the lady less than interested in being there. The man desperately tries to engage her in conversation, but to no avail. He then escapes to his friend who is also at the bar, asking for some help on how to improve his night. The friend suggests he try La Nuit De L'Homme, and after the man puts it on he heads back to try and connect with the woman again. When he does return the tables have changed, and now the women is the one interested in talking to him.

By the end of our meeting, Youness seemed excited about the script we had prepared. We ran with his idea because all he had needed was help with manifesting his ideas into the proper English words. It was exciting for me to know that I was finally able to contribute something to our friendship. This whole time I have felt like I have only been receiving learning experiences and personal enrichment from this, not contributing much to the relationship other than asking "what?" more than usual. Now I felt like I was about to give something back to Youness after everything he has given me this semester.

Also an exciting piece of news: Youness asked me to be in his commercial video so as of now I will be making my film debut sometime next week. We'll see how that goes.

Funny Situations

From looking up "How to Pronounce..." videos on YouTube to googling the original definition of "biddy", searching for things on the Internet while in class always has the ability to be very funny... or very awkward. Either way, nervous giggles will occur.

The Great American selfie provides a person to completely humiliate themselves by taking a picture in public and contorting their face in ways that were not thought humanly possible. Plus, Superiority Theory kicks in for the person who gets to safe it as black mail.

Odd things tend to happen in college dorm rooms and your friend walking in with a one-piece bathing suit over her clothes in the middle of the day makes Incongruity Theory all too applicable.