My First Fit of Unrestrained Laughter

Breaking out in fits of unrestrained laughter for me is most often associated with my friends from home. I went to high school with all of them and have known the majority of them since I was in grade school. My closest friends from home are the people that have shaped my life and watched me grow into the person I am today. When I was home for Easter, the majority of us got together one night and spent hours watching movies and getting caught up on one another’s lives. We began to discuss funny memories from high school and I remember laughing until my stomach hurt. Our senior year of high school we had open campus so we could leave whenever we had free time to go get food or just spend time off campus. My friend Nicole and I left one day during our study hall to go get ice cream before physics class. We drove around for thirty minutes, trying three different restaurants that all ironically had broken ice cream machines. Time was running out before class started and we eventually had to get out of the ice cream line and head back to school so that we would not miss physics. I remember sprinting from the parking lot to the third floor of the building and realizing we had not made it in time. We got to the door of the physics classroom and our teacher had already begun lecturing. We spent at least five minutes arguing outside of the classroom about what we should do and who had to enter the classroom first. Eventually we slowly opened the door, attempting to walk to our seats as quietly as possible. Our whole class erupted into laughter as our teacher said “Where’s my ice cream?” One of our close friends had told the whole class that we were late due to an ice cream run. We were both so embarrassed but joined in the laughter with the class. Reflecting back on this moment almost a year later, we both laughed uncontrollably about it. We had both changed so much since then and could not help but laugh looking back at how nervous we were to walk into class late. All of the rules that we had in high school are completely gone now with the freedoms of college and it was hilarious to think back at how strictly we adhered to the rules of our high school. Being with close friends, especially those from high school that experienced the day to day life you experienced always brings unrestrained laughter for me. We all know each other so well and share many of the same memories. Reflecting back on our high school days and even earlier always brings laughter. The clothes we wore that we thought were stylish that look ridiculous now or the things we did to goof around in high school provides great entertainment. Being with my high school friends always brings unrestrained laughter as well as a smile to my face.

My Fourth Meeting With Angela

In my fourth meeting with Angela we talked a lot about her adjustment to the United States and the transition she experienced from Colombia to the United States when first moving here. She discussed the difficult transition between the cultural norms and the communication barrier she experienced at first. She said when she first moved here she barely knew any English so it was difficult for her to go shopping, go to restaurants, etc. She had a lot of trouble communicating with people which made her avoid going to public places. Now that she knows more English she said it is still difficult sometimes because people cannot understand her due to her accent but she has a much easier time then she did when she first moved to the United States. I had traveled to France in the past and though I knew a small amount of French, I could definitely sympathize with Angela’s situation. It was so frustrating to try and communicate with people because due to the language barrier there was no way to get your point across. I remember being discouraged by this, so I understand what Angela went through when she first moved to the United States. I also asked her about the differences between how people in the United States and Colombia interact with one another. She said they interact pretty similarly except she thinks people in Colombia are more loving and show their affection more easily. She talked about how in Colombia people greet each other by hugging or kissing on the cheek while she has noticed in the United States people shake hands much more. She said people do handshake if they are meeting a new person or if it is in a professional environment but for the most part people in Colombia show their affection much more freely then people do in the United States. We also talked about the cultural norms and values that are promoted by society. She said what she has loved about living in the United States is though she has been given the opportunity to experience a completely different culture and her eyes have been opened to things they may never have been if she had lived in Colombia her whole life, the values and beliefs are the same. In her experience she said she has met many friends and classmates who are similar to her and they share many of the same values. She said it has been an impactful experience to broaden her horizons and gain new experiences while continuing to surround herself with people that share her same value system. Listening to Angela talk about how similar people in the United States are to people in Colombia has been a reminder to me that though we may come from extremely different backgrounds, you can still have a lot in common with someone. It has been really fun for me and Angela to discover how much we have in common while also learning new things about one another’s family, friends and cultures.

My Second Learning Experience

This semester I have learned so much about myself and the path I want to go down in my career. When I originally applied to TCU I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to major in. I knew my strength was my writing skills but other than that I had no tangible future career path. I was so jealous of the students that knew they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher. Their paths seemed so clear while I was constantly stressed about figuring my future out. I decided to leave my major undecided and take a wide variety of core classes, hoping that something would peak my interest. My older sister who is a finance and accounting major at TCU suggested that I take an economics course. Though I did not think originally that I was interested in the business field, she said it would fulfill a few credits that I needed and I would at least know for sure that I wanted to cross business off my list of potential majors. Well, quite the opposite ended up happening and I absolutely loved my economics course. I started to consider business but still wanted to find a way to incorporate my writing skills. When I was home for Christmas break my mom suggested I go shadow someone in the marketing field, telling me that marketing gives you the opportunity to experience the business field while also using my strengths.  I ended up shadowing at Boys Town, a nonprofit in Omaha that provides a new life for teenagers that have either been in trouble with the law or need to be removed from their homes for various reasons. After a full day at Boys Town, talking to people that worked in many different facets of the marketing world, I knew what path I wanted to go down. When I got back to TCU I started going through the process of switching my major to business and learning more about the marketing program. I even ended up applying for the BNSF Next Generation Leadership Program, a leadership and service based program within the business school. I learned from this journey that though you might not know your destination right away, figuring out what you want to do is a vital part of the process. I learned so much about myself and my strengths and weaknesses throughout this process. I now know that I want to go into the marketing field and work for a nonprofit after I graduate. Though this is what I think I want to do now, I am excited by the thought that this might change. Before it terrified me that I did not have a set plan but now I love the idea that I can do anything I want. The world offers us so many opportunities especially when it comes to our career, so why not take advantage of them. I am now so happy that I did not know what I wanted to do when I got to college, because figuring it out has been an impactful journey.

My Third Meeting With Angela

Angela and I have started to form a great friendship through our meetings. She loves learning more about the culture in the United States and it is interesting for me to learn about her life back in Colombia as well as the cultural differences she has faced since moving to the United States. During our third meeting I wanted to learn more about her family back home. There are five members of her family, herself, her mom and dad, and she has one brother and one sister. Her sister is 23 and her brother is 21. She is extremely close with both of her siblings, her sister especially who is coming to the United States to visit her in two weeks. When she is in Colombia she lives in the capital city with her brother and her sister which is about a half hour from where her parents live and where she grew up. We talked a lot about family traditions as well. Her dad is an amazing cook and so every Sunday she goes home with her siblings and her dad cooks a big meal for everyone. She loves that the Sunday evening meal brings everyone together even though she and her siblings no longer live with her parents. This is a tradition that is similar for me and Angela because my mom is also an awesome cook. When I was growing up my family had a home cooked meal together every night which we treated as a time to get caught up on what had happened at school for my sister and I and at work for my dad. I always loved having that time to relax with my family and share what had happened in our days. Now whenever I go home for break my family still has home cooked meals together every night. Angela and I also talked about holiday traditions our families have. Her favorite holiday is New Year’s Eve because her entire extended family comes to her house and everyone is responsible for bringing a different type of homemade food and then they have a big dinner to celebrate. She said she loves being together with her family and reflecting about the highs and lows of the previous year and sharing their goals for the New Year together. The part she misses most about Colombia is the quality time spent with her family and friends. I shared with her my favorite holiday tradition which is Christmas Eve dinner with my family. Christmas Eve is the only time that my entire extended family is together so it is a great time to get caught up with my cousins, aunts, and uncles. In my opinion, there is no better way to celebrate a holiday then surrounded by your friends and family. Angela and I communicate with one another well and have found many similarities between the two of us. We are both extremely close to our families and are coping with being away from them since she is from Colombia and I am from Nebraska.  It has been really enjoyable to make a new friend that I have so much in common with.

My First Learning Experience

This semester has been filled with many new experiences and learning inside and outside of the classroom. Though I have learned so much from my intelligent professors and the talented students I am surrounded by, the most important lessons I have learned have not come from a textbook. They have come by experiencing many new things in college and making mistakes. Though these mistakes seemed like the end of the world at the time, what I have learned from them has helped me immeasurably. The most notable lesson I have had to learn is the importance of time management, which is a lesson I definitely learned the hard way. About a month into first semester I had my first applied calculus test. Throughout all of high school math was definitely a weakness of mine so I knew I was going to have to put a lot of work into this class from the beginning. My sorority was having a formal on Thursday night and the test was on Friday morning. I knew if I wanted to go to formal with my friends, I would have to make sure to study for the test beforehand and procrastinating was not an option. But as the week went on I got busy with extracurricular commitments and homework in other classes. I kept putting studying off, thinking I had plenty of time. Finally Thursday arrived and though I had studied a decent amount for the exam, I was not as prepared as I needed to be. I had to make the decision between skipping formal to study and make sure I was prepared for my test or going to formal with all my friends. I made the decision to go to formal and try to wake up early to study for my test that was at eleven. When I woke up in the morning, I was filled with a panicked feeling. I knew I had made the wrong decision and did not have nearly enough time to prepare myself for the test. I did my best to learn as much as I could but when I got to the test, it became clear that I was not prepared. The next class we got the test back and I received a grade that was not up to my standards. I knew in that moment that I had made the mistake of procrastinating and choosing a fun night with my friends rather than studying, a mistake that would take me awhile to recover from. Though my grade is where I want it to be now, I spent the next couple of weeks putting all of my free time into studying for calculus, missing a lot of fun times with my friends which was ironic since I was in this position because I put off studying for the original test to spend time with my friends. I learned through this experience that college is all about finding balance. Though it is important to form relationships with new people and have fun with your friends, school is the most important part of college. These fun times should be saved for times when you have already studied and made sure you have prepared yourself for all your classes. It is hard not to procrastinate and to put school first all the time, but in the long run this is the best decision. Though I had to learn this lesson the hard way, I have realized the importance of finding balance in college.