My Day At The Zoo

 

The zoo has always been associated with pleasant memories for me. I am from Omaha, Nebraska where the number one ranked zoo in the country is located, so I spent many days of my childhood at the zoo. I remember how easily my sister and I would laugh at the gorillas coming up to the window and banging on it or the giraffes eating leaves from the trees that they could reach with their long necks. I felt like I was right back to my childhood when I visited the zoo this weekend. I spent lots of time walking around and seeing all of my favorite animals. The giraffes have always been my favorite attraction at the zoo so I spent a long part of the afternoon watching them. I got lucky because just when I was about to leave a couple of the zoo staff members came to the feed the giraffes. The picture I have included depicts a humorous moment that I witnessed. The zoo staff member got up on the ladder to feed the giraffes leaves. Right when the giraffes saw the zoo staff member start to climb the ladder, four of them quickly moved towards the fence. There was another family with three children watching with me and the zoo worker turned to us and said “Apparently food is the best way to get anyone’s attention”. We all chuckled to ourselves because just like humans are pretty easily influenced by food, so are the animals. The need for food is a natural instinct. From this experience the theory that laughter is contagious was not really proven since everyone was laughing in unison, though I do believe that theory to be true. I think the one thing that stood out to me most about humor from my day at the zoo was how amused children are by the animals, just as I was as a child. When walking around since it was the weekend, there were lots of families at the zoo. I saw lots of moments of laughter and smiles from children throughout the day. These moments of humor caused the children’s parents to smile which does prove the theory that laughter is contagious. When people, especially the parent of a child, sees laughter or a smile, it is hard not to join in. The zoo is a great place to enjoy nature and the animals always seem to do something funny that brings a smile to everyone’s face. I had a great time observing the animals and the reactions of the other people enjoying a fun day at the zoo.

My Sixth Meeting With Angela

Angela and I met for the final time and I realized how sad I was to be done meeting with her. We had found many similarities between the two of us and had formed a real friendship through the conversation partner program. I was excited to know though that just because this semester was over, our friendship was not. We talked a lot about both of our plans for the future during our last meeting. Angela wants to return to Colombia and finish her degree after she completes the intensive English program at TCU and then eventually return to the United States and pursue a master’s degree. I have tried to learn a new language before, quite unsuccessfully, and I cannot overstate how much respect I have for what Angela is doing. To leave her family and friends behind, come to a country where she knows no one, and embark on a difficult journey is a pretty courageous thing to do. I told her about my plans to pursue a degree in marketing at TCU and then move back to Omaha and work for a non-profit organization. Eventually though, my real goal is to get married and raise a family. Though I have many career and personal aspirations, family is the most important thing to me and I value being a mom over all of my other goals. Angela and I reflected back on the semester and realized we had learned so much about one another and our different cultures. We had no problem communicating, which was the main fear we both had going into this semester. Talking with one another had given us such a new perspective on our own lives. I think throughout this process the most important thing I learned is that though someone is from a different country or speaks a different language then you, this does not mean that you are different from them. I have found more similarities between me and Angela then I have with some people that I grew up with in Omaha, Nebraska. Angela and I share many of the same values and this is where all of our other similarities stem from. This semester has been a great experience in learning something new about a different culture as well as learning about myself through the process, not to mention making a great new friend.

My Fifth Meeting With Angela

I have always thought that the best way to get to know someone better is to learn about their childhood. People are formed by important role models in their lives such as their parents and siblings and the experiences they have while growing up. I wanted to especially know what Angela’s childhood was like growing up in a country different from the United States. She said she loved growing up in Colombia because everyone is happy there and always has a smile on their face. The community is strong and everyone looks out for one another. She said growing up in such a positive environment made her childhood great and she has many wonderful memories from growing up in Colombia. She said her favorite specific memory is Sundays spent with her family. Every Sunday her whole extended family comes over for lunch that her dad cooks. We had talked about how close Angela was with her family before and how much she loves her dad’s cooking. This was something we had in common because my mom is a great cook and my family had dinner together every night as well as Sunday lunch when I lived a home. Angela said though she misses Colombia she loves it here in the United States. She does want her children to grow up in Colombia though because she loved her childhood and wants the same for her own children. She kept restating how happy the people in Colombia where and she thinks that is a great environment for children to grow up in. This was something we had in common as well because I loved growing up in Omaha and want to raise my family there. I think when you had such a good childhood and memories from growing up somewhere, you want your own children to experience the same thing. Angela and I have found many similarities between the two of us but I think the most important one is our love for our families. We both come from close extended and immediate families that we have created great memories with. It is fun for us to share these stories of growing up and about our families with one another and learn about the experiences that have formed each of us.

My Second Fit of Unrestrained Laughter

Breaking into fits of unrestrained laughter is probably one of my favorite things to experience. There is nothing like spending time with close family and friends and sharing a moment of pure joy with them. I love the feeling of laughing so hard that you can barely catch your breath, your eyes start to water, and your stomach even begins to hurt. You have no control over it and you cannot make the laughter stop. I was recently celebrating the birthday of a close friend at Joe T’s in Fort Worth. All of our close friends were in attendance to help our friend celebrate her birthday. Every one enjoyed dinner and was in high spirits. Birthdays seem to always put people in a good mood. As dinner came to a close, our waitress brought a cupcake with a single candle in it to my friend. The entire group began to sing happy birthday in unison. My friend Abby was particularly enthused about the song and got slightly too excited. She accidentally skipped forward in the sing missing the second “Happy Birthday to you” and jumping forward to the “Happy Birthday dear April.” She was singing incredibly loudly too which just drew even more attention to the fact that she was at the wrong part of the song. The group continued to sing but everyone sitting in Abby’s general area could not help but bust into unrestrained laughter. She was singing so loudly and so enthusiastically making it incredibly noticeable that she was at the wrong part of the song. I barely made it through the rest of the song because I was laughing so uncontrollably. This event sticks out in my head as a moment of unrestrained laughter because it was a time of pure joy for everyone. Plus it was a birthday party which are always fun and bring people together. Everyone was in such high spirits that night, just enjoying each other’s company and laughter was plentiful. It is such a great experience to be able to share positive humor with your closest friends. I think when you are extremely comfortable with the people you are with, laughter flows more freely. People are willing to be themselves, no matter how goofy or silly they are being. The sole purpose of humor and laughter is to bring joy into people’s lives and a smile to someone’s face. There is nothing better than experiencing a moment of unrestrained laughter. These are the moments that you remember with your friends and family and look back on fondly. Laughter is meant to be positive and can brighten someone’s day in so many ways.

My Third Learning Experience

As the semester is coming to a close I think maybe the most important thing I have learned from my freshman year at TCU is how fast time goes. I remember graduating high school, going to Frog Camp, and then eventually moving in to my dorm on the first week of school like it was yesterday. I was filled with excitement and nerves, not knowing anyone and not sure what to expect. I went to my first college class, became involved on campus, and began to form new friendships. Eventually first semester ended and I thought I had become a pro at college life. Second semester began and a whole new set of challenges were faced. New classes, new professors, and new friendships formed, all presenting me with many new excitements as well as many challenges. Now I am facing finals week once again and cannot believe how much I have changed since the day I moved in to TCU. I thought when I was a senior in high school that I was finally “grown up” and knew everything there was to know about the world. I thought I knew how to manage my time, how to eat healthy and exercise, and I had people figured out. After doing bad on my first college test, learning that you actually do have to exercise every day in college, and that not everyone you meet is going to change your life for the better, I knew I needed a serious reality check. I did not know everything there was to know about the world and as much as I wanted to be independent, I still needed a little help from the people most important to me. After spending Christmas Break with my amazing parents and my sister, reflecting on all my successes from first semester and my equally as plentiful failures, I realized that’s life. You will never have it all figured out, that moment just is not going to happen. No matter what stage in life you are at and no matter how many life experiences you have, we are all still human and we all still make mistakes. I returned to second semester with a renewed sense of excitement, now knowing that if I make mistakes, it is okay, as long as I learn from them. Especially during a time in life that is meant for transition, such as freshman year of college, the lessons learned are the most important part. As I finish my second semester of freshman year, I am a completely different person then I was the day I arrived at TCU. I have learned so much about the world but most important I have learned so much about myself. I now know that you have to start studying for a calculus exam prior to the night before the test and that your parents still are really there for you no matter how old you get. As I leave TCU in a couple of days I am now a changed person full of so many great memories and incredible friendships. I will come back to TCU in the fall ready for whatever the world is going to throw at me, knowing that I still have so much to learn, and that is exciting.

Negative Humor

When it pertains to negative humor, there is a large culture of humor used as a weapon rather than to lift people up. Humor’s purpose is to make people laugh and to put a smile on their face yet it is so often used to put someone else down. People try to make others laugh or put an uncomfortable situation at ease by making jokes, but in the end when negative humor is used someone ends up getting hurt. I was recently on a vacation with friends and one of the girls in the group put on a dress before we were headed to dinner. She walked out into the sitting room and another girl on the trip said “Wow can someone say freshman fifteen.” She proceeded to laugh and the girl wearing the dress chuckled as well but you could tell from the look on her face that she was offended. Jokes that pertain to someone’s weight, especially as a freshman college girls who are particularly sensitive to this topic, are never warranted. The girl making the joke was not trying to be blatantly rude or hurtful but she did not realize the impact she was having on the other girl. This was the most eye opening part of this situation for me. The girl making the joke did not even know the impact she was having on the other girl’s emotions. People are sometimes not even aware of the effect of their negative humor. I also realized that though everyone else in the room did not necessarily make the mean joke, they laughed along just to make the situation less uncomfortable. People are hurting others almost as equally as the person who originally made the joke by laughing along. The girl wearing the dress immediately went and changed without saying a word to anyone and we all knew she felt self-conscious about wearing the dress to dinner after the joke that was made. So often in our culture people do not realize the impact their jokes have on other people. They think that if you laugh or say just kidding after saying something blatantly rude that it makes it all okay. I realized in this situation that jokes about someone’s appearance or how they dress is never kind and is extremely hurtful. This applies to many other types of jokes though about people’s ethnicity, religion, intelligence, etc. Whenever a joke is made about the way someone looks or more importantly their emotions and morals, the person receiving the joke always ends up hurt. It is not worth hurting someone else just to get a laugh from the crowd. The point of humor is to make someone’s day better rather than ruin someone’s day. I think in our culture the idea of positive humor needs to be promoted more, encouraging people to use humor for its real purpose, to bring happiness to others.