Communication Strengths & Weaknesses

For this little exercise I chose to interview my mom because she has known me for a long time, needless to say, and also because our personalities tend to clash quite often so I thought it might be interesting to see what she thought about my communication skills. I also interviewed my best friend John who I've known since my freshman year of high school. I thought he would be a good person to ask since I'm very open with him, for the most part.

Strengths: My mom said that I was overall a good communicator. I know how to get my point across without trying to force it too much on someone else. Also, I have a sense of how to talk to people as individuals, I'm very sensitive to different people's personalities. John said that I was funny, that I could liven a conversation up (when appropriate) without overdoing it. He also said that I tend to choose my words carefully and I am very confident in what I say (not to be confused with arrogance)

Weaknesses: My mom said that I tend to roll my eyes a lot when I'm talking to someone else which isn't the first time I've heard that. She said that even if I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful the looks I give could sometimes be misconstrude. She also said that when I don't want to talk I have a snappy tone and I give one word answers. John said that I tend to overdramatize sometimes or blow things a little bit out of proportion. He also said that many times I take everything that people say too much to heart.

How I will try to improve: I know I'm a chronic eye-roller, I get it from my dad. I don't mean to come off rude or disrespectful when I'm talking to people so I'm gonna try to make a concious effort to keep my face pleasant. I'm also learning slowly how to pick my battles. I'm going to continue to try to hear what people have to say and let that sit a little and really break it down instead of being upset or angry and blowing them up on the spot. As for taking things to heart, that's a very tough one for me since I find words to be very powerful (it's all we have left) and I find it hard not to get upset when people I care about throw rude and hurtful words around because you can never take back what was said.

My mom and I when we went away together

"Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity"- Proverb

Cool Blogs

Here are some blogs I found interesting for a variety of reasons...

Alika-Vitrofusion
http://alikavitro.blogspot.com/
Although this blog is in Spanish or something along those lines I got the idea that this person makes their own jewelry which looked like some sort of glass work. I liked it a lot since I'm into different types of glass art, very cool.

Rhode Island Web Log
http://www.quahogs.blogspot.com/
This blog was all about Rhode Island and things that are going on in the area. Since you can basically drive the length of the state in about an hour and half this blog pretty much takes cares of things going on in the entire state.

Poems Wonder
http://poemswonder.blogspot.com/
This blog had poems and snippets from all different poems by different writers. I enjoy things like this since I love to write, especially poetry.

"My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence"- Dame Edith Sitwell

My hopes and aspirations for Vienna, Austria

With traveling and living in a new country comes different concerns, hopes, fears, anticipation, and adventure.

My hopes for the FP students is above all to have fun and to learn to appreciate the culture and way of life in Europe. Our experience is more than text book learning and in class studies, it's about putting ourselves out there and coming out with first hand knowledge of something we didn't know before. I hope we'll meet kids our own age who are willing to befriend us despite the sometimes misinterpretation of Americans. I hope we all learn German cause I know mine is terrible! I also hope we all get along since sometimes that's an issue :(

My hopes for Heather and Tom is similar to that of the students. I hope they learn as much as we do about things they might not have known about before. I also hope while learning and working they enjoy their time in Europe as a couple and as a family; I wish my parents were able to experience Europe like I have the opportunity to. I hope they enjoy spending time and having the opportunity to teach us as students. I hope they enjoy our company and the different personalities each of us will bring to Europe.

My hopes for myself are...hmm...I'm not sure I have an exact word. I hope to obviously learn German (and not sound stupid speaking it). I hope to take back customes and traditions that I will be able to share with my family and friends. I hope to learn about the world around me and what's really going on first hand rather than watching it on the news. I hope that I'll meet other kids my age who I can have a good time with as well as learn different things. I hope to share a piece of my own heritage (Italian) and bring a part of my home (Rhode Island) to people who might know nothing about them. I hope to take lots of pictures since I always go places and NEVER take any pictures to bring home!

I'm nervous about being on a plane for that long. Sometimes I get anxious or motion-sickness...but don't worry, I'll make sure I get some medicine from the doctor before we leave :) Although I hope to try new and different types of food I've very nervous since I'm allergic to fruit, crab, lobster, some nuts, and MSG (monostodium glutimate). I'm nervous that something will happen to one of my family members while I'm away since I won't be close enough to come home. I'm nervous about the drinking water so I'll make sure I stick to bottled. I'm nervous I'm going to forget something at home and not have it available for me to buy in Europe. I'm nervous I won't see everything I want to and more nervous that I won't take pictures of the things I see! I'm more sad than I am nervous that I'll be spending my birthday away from home as well as my grandpa's, dad's, and sister's birthday. I'm just a generally nervous person so I'm gonna try not to be nervous at all and just focus on being excited!!

My kitty Moo who I was I could pack in my suitcase :(

"There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror"- Orson Welles