Blog 10 – 12/5/2021

Initially, I was looking forward to learning more intercultural competence. I wanted to learn more about other cultures and be able to respectfully interact with them. I do feel like I have seen considerable growth in that. This course, along with another human services course, has helped me learn so much about working with other cultures that I feel much more prepared to work as a professional with culturally diverse people. My critical thinking skills have improved dramatically over this semester, as well. As for what I think I would do differently if I were to take this class again, I would probably spend much more time digesting the material and working with it to apply it to my own life.

Included the picture above because I feel like it really summarizes the way I have learned this semester. I’ve had to read so much material, but I feel like it has overhauled my perspectives on culture and diversity. Through the reading, I’ve grown so much in critical thinking and my understandings of the world.

Blog 8 – 11/14/2021

I work in a cafe, so I have experienced many diverse individuals expressing different emotions. In my experience, Americans are far more verbally and physically expressive with their anger or frustration. They are more likely to be verbally aggressive with workers and freely express their irritation through rolling their eyes, loudly sighing, or glaring.

Japanese and Chinese customers who I have interacted with are usually way more reserved about emotions. Whether they are laughing or expressing frustration, they tend to remain kind of expressionless. There are a few customers who I have learned to pick up their expression from looking at their eyes. Which I find interesting is apparently a cultural trend, according to the article we read for this blog.

I have a few European customers, British and Irish, who, in my opinion, kind of follow in line with the way the Japanese and Chinese seem to express their emotions. They tend to remain almost expressionless, except for some expression in their eyes.

Americans act the way I expect them to. I’m familiar with the way Americans express their happiness or anger, so it fits in line with what I expect. I was less familiar with Japanese, Chinese, Irish, and British expressions of emotion so I was pretty surprised over how they express themselves. I tend to expect most people to emit most of their emotions through their face, as loudly and obviously as Americans.

Obtained the above image from an article titled, “Perception of Facial Expressions Differs Across Cultures” in which research was done on emotional expression in 15 Chinese individuals and 15 white individuals living in Glasgow. The image shows the typical facial expression for each emotion.

Blog 7 – 11/7/2021

I think fairytales definitely do display a shared set of cultural norms and values, for when they were written. Just like books written currently portray our current culture and values, I think fairytales tend to portray the traditions or values for the time they were written. Obviously times change, which is why I think it was great to adapt Beauty & the Beast to be more modern and fit in with the values we are trying to model today.

Movies, along with other popular media, are important portrayals of what is accepted and valued in our culture. In the retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Belle’s re-vamped character is much more opinionated, vocal, and sure of herself. She is intelligent. She is creative. When we place her in this position and have younger children watch her, they begin to want to imitate her because she is this magical princess-like figure living a dream-like life. In turn, it makes her qualities more sought-after. Young girls begin to want to be like Belle.

For me, I had a pretty profound moment like this happen when I first watched Love, Simon. That movie was the first romantic comedy completely focused on a teenager who identified as gay. As someone who grew up with romantic comedies always being about heterosexual couples, it was revolutionary. For the first time, I watched a movie that portrayed a relationship similar to the one I was in. Because of the movie, I felt more comfortable expressing who I was. I watched the movie with my mom, who cried, and immediately became more accepting of me being bisexual. The movie was, in its own way, normalizing LGBTQ+ romance.

I included the image above because I think it illustrates inclusiveness. This was an image from Old Navy’s launch of their more inclusive plus-size clothing. In the ad, they actually include plus-size models and models of different color.

Blog 6 – 10/31/2021

Self-determination theory states that people are motivated to grow and change through autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When it comes to academics, I definitely feel motivated through each of these. I feel a deep sense of motivation to do well and grow academically because I myself feel pride in having good grades and progressing through school. For example, I’m in a position to not have to go to graduate school or pursue another degree, but I feel called to because I find happiness and success in pursuing a higher degree.

As for competence, I really love learning new things and having knowledge. Academically speaking, this is the perfect realm to achieve this. I have a lot of motivation to be the kind of person that holds a lot of knowledge, which pushes me to absorb more from the readings I complete and the lectures I attend.

I also feel motivated to do well in school and grow academically because of the people around me. I have a lot of friends in college or with college degrees, which motivates me to achieve the same. For me, it’s important to be on the same level academically as those closest to me in life, so I want to achieve the same sorts of successes as them.

Below I included a picture inside of the Library of Congress. For me, this is the epitome of competence. Libraries have been a huge part of my life and the key to me seeking competence in a multitude of areas. The Library of Congress, specifically, is such a huge symbol of knowledge for me.

Blog 5 – 10/24/2021

I would say that the traits I listed for 3, 4, 5, and 6 are interdependent, because these are mainly traits I use in interacting with others. The rest of the statements (1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10) are independent. Each of these traits reflect something internal, like a personality trait or personal ability. These are, of course, things I share with others in my life, but first and foremost, they are part of me, independent of interaction with others. The traits in 3, 4, 5, and 6 are traits I built through my social interaction with family and friends, which is why I consider them interdependent.

I certainly think I am more independent than interdependent, which largely checks out with my tendency to be introverted. I prefer time alone, so I have put a lot of effort into traits or skills which are controlled and grown on my own.

Proverbs/quotes for independence

1.) A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

2.) As you sow, so shall you reap.

3.) Early bird catches the worm

Proverbs for interdependence

1.) Blood is thicker than water

2.) When in Rome, do as the Romans do

3.) A friend in need is a friend indeed

It was definitely easier to find proverbs which aligned with the independent construal of self, simply because I align more with independence.

I included this picture because I took it on a solo spring break trip to northern VA. It was the first solo trip I had ever taken, but it was something that honestly felt revolutionary to me. After taking this trip, I started to invest more in myself and really put effort into self-care and working on myself. The picture really sums up my personality well, I think. A mug full of tea with an optimistic saying, a stack of books, and a relaxing environment.

Blog 4 – 10/17/21

My study strategy is essentially to take notes while I read the assigned textbook chapters. I try to focus on things that I think are important and will possibly be tested. Then, when any reviews are posted, I go through my notes to see how thorough they are. I always aim to highlight anything coming from the review and go back to the textbook to supplement any items I didn’t cover in my notes. Recently, I’ve also started to use quizlet to build notes that I can actually test myself on. Reviewing the items I missed on the test really just helps me in finding the right answers, so I know for the future (in the case of any final exam).

Here’s a screenshot of Quizlet, which has been super helpful in my studying.

Blog 3 – 10/3/21

This assessment was really interesting to me. I do think it’s pretty spot on for my personality. I scored very high on Openness, high on Agreeableness, high on Conscientiousness, and average on Neuroticism and Extraversion. I do consider myself really open to new experiences. I love to travel and experience things in different places. I like to think I am compassionate and good-natured, so the agreeable scoring makes sense to me. I am a well-organized person and I do have high standards for myself. The neuroticism score is different than what I would expect, just because I have really high anxiety. I’m also surprised on the extraversion score, because I am very much an introvert.

This is my personality word cloud. I included the words I did because these are words I use to describe my personality. I’ve also heard a lot of my friends and family describe my personality this way.

Blog 2 – 9/26/21

Life values that are important to my career pursuits are determination, integrity, being reliable, being supportive, being organized, and creativity. I think these are crucial values to hold, no matter which career I ultimately end up in. However, specifically in a counselor scenario, you would want your counselor to be reliable and supportive. It’s important also to maintain creativity and determination to continue making my practice unique and helpful.

My higher education pursuits have been complicated. I initially attended university when I was 18, right out of high school, mainly because my parents and teachers told me it was what I was supposed to do. I loved school and I wanted to have a decent career, although at that point I had no idea what I wanted to do long term. While there, I experienced a pretty traumatic life event that made me drop out to take some time away from that particular university. I experienced a lot of pressure from my parents to return to college, because they believed it was the only way for me to make something of myself. Ultimately though, it had to be on my terms and when I felt emotionally and financially ready to complete my degree. I decided to return to school because I now have a clearer image of what I expect from school and what I expect from my degree.

Below, for this week, I attached a picture of my weekly assignments list. One value I’m trying my hardest to stay on top of this semester is organization. I’m taking a heavy course load, on top of working and planning a wedding, so I knew somethings might end up falling through the cracks. This list though, with all my assignments written out according to due date, has really saved me so far.

Blog 1 – 9/19/21

Intercultural competence is the biggest course objective I align with. No matter which career I choose to pursue or which graduate program I choose to go into, it is important to have an understanding of people different than me. There is so much diversity in the world, choosing to be a well-educated, conscientious person in interacting with other diverse individuals is, in my opinion, the right thing to do. I did not grow up in a particularly diverse environment, which made me ignorant to a lot of other cultures, however, I have viewed it as my responsibility to widen my horizons and learn more about the many cultures that are outside of my bubble.

The main thing I would love to takeaway from this course is a better understanding of other cultures and how to respectfully interact with them. However, I do also want to expand my critical thinking skills, like the objectives mention. I feel like I have pretty decent critical thinking skills now, but I also know I always have something to learn. I generally have a pretty critical mindset of new things. I don’t take things at face value and always want to do a little more research before I fully accept something, but I also can get lazy about certain things. If it is something I think is already true, I tend to accept new information about it pretty easily, without putting much thought into it. I know that can be harmful and only reinforce bias, so I hope to really learn how to navigate that better in this course.

As for making sure I’m successful in the course, I really just plan to stay on top of the reading assignments and my notes. I’ve set aside specific days for each class to go in and review whatever material I need to before I complete assignments. I also am a huge list maker, so I always make sure to have a list of all assignments due in each class in my notebook, so I can quickly refer to it. Having that list has saved my academic life, because my memory fails me a lot. This semester is also super busy for me, so having a list keeps me on task.

I chose the picture I took below, showing a mural at a brewery in Manassas, VA, because I think art exemplifies a way that students and all others can engage in cultural learning. Art creates an intimate, long-lasting experience for those who are open to it. I think experiencing art from all different cultures really helps people learn about that culture’s values and beliefs.