And We Can't Stop...

 Three things you should know before I begin my story: 

 1) The class is at 8 am (aka everyone is half asleep) 

2) I hadn't slept much that week ( or any other week this semester)   

3) This is a class where we are all friends.  

So we were all sitting in class doing what we normally do...then IT happened.  I accidentally swiped my arm across the desk and it made a noise that sounded a lot like a...uhm...fart.  Haha.  So at this point you are probably thinking "you have got to be kidding me..." and "how old are you again?"  Yes.  I am fully aware that I recently turned 20.  But for some reason this was absolutely hilarious to my friend Kelli and I.  We just lost it.  We couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard we tried.  Our professor continued on with his lecture but kept looking back at us.  Unable to contain our laughter,  we eventually had multiple people in our class laughing with us.  Every time one of us would stop, someone would look at someone else and burst out laughing again.  It got to a point where we didn't even know why we were laughing anymore but we couldn't stop. After about 10 minutes of random outburst of laughter  we were able to contain ourselves for about 5 minutes.  At this point I had tears running down my face because I had been laughing so hard.  It was also extremely awkward because I was trying desperately to contain it.  Our poor professor was soooo confused about why we were laughing and frankly so were we.  

              In this situation, our laughter was obviously uncontrollable.  I don't think we were laughing uncontrollably at the actual sound made but more so at the situation.  If we had all been at a casual dinner and I had swiped my arm on the table causing it to make a weird noise I guarantee no one would have laughed. It was funny because of the situation. First off, it was a stupid immature thing to laugh at in the first place.  I think eventually we started laughing at the fact that 5 20 year-olds were dying laughing over a "farting" noise like a bunch of kindergartens.  That in itself is something to laugh about.  Secondly,  the fact that we weren't "allowed" to laugh made it even funnier.  We didn't want to offend our professor by laughing loudly and disturbing the class.  This caused us to have to suppress the emotion and we all know what happens when you bottle things up...it eventually explodes.  Also I think that fact that we weren't able to talk about what we thought was so funny made the situation even more ideal for hysterics.  It's funny to imagine what someone else is thinking about something especially if you can't get an exact answer.  

Based on what we have learned in class, I think that this incident was funny because of the cognitive shift.  None of us were expecting my arm to make that noise and when it did, it was a shock.  The noise didn't follow the pattern we had set in our mind. This made us laugh.  

I hope you found this story as humorous as we did!

Til next time,
Caroline
           
 

The Importance of Trust

The title of this post obviously ties back to the book we have discussed in class recently.  However, I don't intend to talk about the book. This semester I have learned a lot about the importance of trust.  I know it sounds a little bit juvenile but I feel like trust is something we take for granted very easily these days.

I'm a business major and a member of a business leadership program where we have discussed many topics that pertain to being an effective leader.  One of the most important skills we have learned about is trust.  Of course, it's not like this is a newly developed skill I have learned this year (that would be rather sad, to say the least). No no no.  The type of trust I am talking about is different.

There have been many ethical scandals in the professional world in the past couple of years.  For example, I just learned all about the Madoff scandal.  To keep you from falling asleep I break it down.  Basically, this man lied to people about where he was putting their money and eventually the whole thing fell through.  He got arrested and unfortunately many people lost a ton of money.  He clearly needed a lesson on being trustworthy and making ethical decisions.

As we get older, I've started to realize that we are transitioning from a state of being independent to interdependent.  This means sooner or later we are going to have work together with others to get the job done.  There comes a point in our lives were we have to work with others because we simply don't have the talent or experience to do what needs to be done. It's scary to think that my company's well being may rely on a supplier or on the way our CEO performs.  But I've learned that you just have to trust in people. 

I've also learned how important it is to become trustworthy myself.  To me being trustworthy means that people trust my word.  In order to build your trustworthiness, you have to keep commitments and honor your promises.  This is true for one's professional and personal life.  I've learned how hard it is to gain trust and how easily it can be lost. 

The lesson of trust may seem like a "no brainer" but I think it's important to remember how important it is to our relationships.  I truly believe its the foundation to all of them.  You can't have a relationship with anyone if you are always worried about what they might be doing behind your back.

I'm happy I'm learning how to be able to trust better and how to become more trustworthy.  George MacDonald once said, "To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved." This is a perfect reminder to always be honest and truthful.

Til next time,
Caroline

Just a little behind...

About 2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with my conversation partner from China, Chen. He has only been here for a little while but his English was very good.  I only had to repeat myself a few times and that's my fault, I talk way too fast!

 Hannah went with me because her conversation partner hasn't emailed her back yet. For about 15 minutes we sat alone at a table at McAlisters. I kept telling Hannah "I don't think he's coming!" I had emailed him a couple days before and he had just said yes so I was nervous he wasn't going to show up. Little did we know Chen was sitting right behind us the whole time. We didn't realize this until we were the only 3 people in the place. This made for an awkward introduction as you can imagine.

However once we got the conversation going Hannah and I learned a lot about his life in China and his life here. The first thing that struck me as amazing was the fact that he came here all alone. He didn't know anyone coming to America! Now you tell me, would you be able to do that? Maybe I'm just a baby but I don't think I could. Especially to a country that didn't speak your native language. I was really impressed.

We learned about Chen and China. He told us that he along with most of his friends didn't have any siblings. He also told us that most of the families live in apartments in the city with their extended family.  Can you imagine? I love my grandparents but if I had to live with them in a tiny space, the relationships might be a whole lot different.

My favorite part was when we got to talk about food! I mean who doesn't love a good meal? I thought it was very interesting that his favorite meal so far has been BBQ. It just struck me as strange because BBQ is the complete opposite of Chinese food. When it comes to "American Chinese" food Chen told us that it didn't even come close to the food his parents made at home.

I really enjoyed talking to Chen and I look forward to our next conversation. I admire his courage to come here all alone and I admire his confidence in being able to hold a conversation with us!