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[gnitso]

Study Abroad Experience

Overall, my study abroad experience was amazing and I am sad that it ended the way that it had to, but I am happy that everyone is being safe. While studying abroad, I discovered my independence. At home, I was so used to always having the comfort of my parents and older sister giving me their opinion and telling me what I should and should not do. While being abroad, I was the only one making decisions and taking care of myself. For me, I think this was a turning point in my life because I proved to myself that I am a mature, young-adult who is responsible and ready to face the world! Thank you study abroad for making my experiences the best that they could be, and giving me a new outlook on life. 

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Me Encanta, Barcelona

As we wrap up this semester, I am lucky to say I had an amazing experience while studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. While abroad, I was able to connect with so many people from different cultures and backgrounds. In Spain I was able to practice my Spanish language with the local Catalans and immerse myself into the beautiful culture that it is. I was also lucky to get the opportunity to travel to other amazing countries on the weekends. Through this experience I have made life long friends and amazing memories. I am so grateful and lucky for my chance to study abroad, and I encourage anyone thinking about study abroad to do so!

[gnitso]

Finding Your Calling

In today’s online class, we were asked to watch a couple of videos that were based on finding your true calling and finding what you are truly passionate about. I really enjoyed this assignment because, for me, it was very difficult for to decide what I wanted to major in. Having to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life can be very stressful. I thought these videos were very helpful and taught me a lot about the different ways that I can lead myself towards my true calling. 

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Entrepreneurship

In today’s session we were asked to look at powerpoint and a couple of articles on the topic of entrepreneurship. From these articles I learned that if you want to be successful in the business world, than it is important to be a good entrepreneur. In order to be a good entrepreneur its important that you are open-minded and have a creative stream of thought. Some of the best inventions come from the most ridiculous ideas!

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Work life balance

In another online class today, I thought it was interesting to learn that large companies have a larger responsibility for their employees, rather than just their job. It is important for all employees to be able to maintain a healthy work and at home life balance, so that they do not get too stressed out. It is important that young adults know that sometimes you can overwork yourself and you need time to balance out your life for yourself, besides your work. I also learned that it is important for companies to have resources for their employees to help them de-stress.

[gnitso]

Employment Trends

In today’s session we started our online classes. Despite the unfortunate events going on, we must continue! After reading a couple of articles, and watch videos, I learned about the different ways of employment, now especially in the technological world. One new growing employment trend is virtual resumes, where the applicant applies to the company with a short video talking about their achievements, education, past work experience, skills, etc. 

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Francesc Granja

In today’s session we had guest speaker Francesc Granja visit. He came to our class to talk about how he was able to be an established business man and then overcome a very serious car accident that led to permanent damage. After the accident he then began feeling very depressed, angry, and helpless. He felt like he no longer had a purpose. He soon realized that he needed coaching. This made him realize that he also enjoyed coaching others and being able to relate to similar feelings and issues that other people had as well. Through this he found his calling and accepted that his accident led him to find his true calling.

[gnitso]

Culture vs. Values

In today’s session we watched a very inspiring short film about an employee with down-syndrome who was pretending that he was the hiring manager for the company, because he knew that he could be doing more than what they were making him do. HIs boss originally assigned him to make coffee and copy papers, but he proved to him that he is capable of more than that, and that he actually asked some very important questions for the hiring process. Overall, the moral of this video was to not judge a book by its cover because some people are more capable than they seem.

[gnitso]

Interviews

In today’ session we learned about how to behave during an interview, and how you answer certain questions can effect the possibility of you getting that job. It is extremely important when going for an interview, that you have good posture and you are aware of your body language. Body language is a nonverbal way to communicate, so you want to make sure that you communicate that you are strong, hardworking, and interested in the position!

[gnitso]

Juan Carlos

I thought this session was very unique and interesting because I learned a lot from our guest speaker, Juan Carlos. Juan is a successful businessman and came in to speak with our class and answer any questions we had. I thought this was very helpful, especially hearing some of the questions that my classmates had, because some people had questions that were also useful for my future and career path. It is helpful to be able to ask someone who has already been through most of their career, successfully, and be able to take their advice and apply it to your own career goals and objectives. Something that Juan Carlos discussed that I thought was interesting is that some large companies use interim managers, which means they hire someone over qualified to come in for a period of time to complete the necessary work, and then they leave when its complete. I have never heard of this before so I thought this was very interesting and did not know that companies did this to improve their businesses. 

[gnitso]

Self Promotion

In today’s session we discussed the importance of promoting your skills and strengths to a company or organization. When you are in the hiring process, it is important that you provide the employer with all necessary information that looks best on your resume, in order to show off your strengths. When interviewing for a job, you want the employer to understand all of your abilities, as well as your strengths and objectives before entering the company, so that they can place you in a position that you will most likely thrive in. it’s important to remember that when you are interviewing for a job, you are competing with other candidates for the same position, so what makes you stand out?

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Networking

Today’s class session was one that I found very interesting. This session focused on the importance of networking and different job searching channels. Finding a job is not easy, especially one that you can make into a career. Many job opportunities are not always posted publicly for anyone to apply. In this case, it is important that you have networking. These job opportunities can be found through your networking contacts like family, friends, business partners, neighbors, etc. Other forms of job search channels could be: newspapers, websites, recruiting agencies, etc. It is important that you always have a strong reference to support your credibility. 

[gnitso]

Good Shape

In today’s session we completed the “good shape questionnaire.” In this questionnaire it asked questions about life objectives and the process of achieving those objectives. As a class, each student individually completed the questionnaire and then as a class we discussed some of these objectives, how we can achieve them, where, with whom, how, etc. This class was very helpful because it had me thinking a lot about the process of achieving my life goals and objectives, and made me think about the circumstances and obstacles I will have to go through in order to achieve my career and life objectives. 

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Who am I?

In today’s class we did a couple of different activities that concentrated on self-identity, as well as life objectives and goals. To me, it is important to know what your life goals and objectives are so that you have a plan and a path to follow in your life, or career. By having a plan for your career, it makes life a lot easier. Your life goals and objectives should be motivational tools to push you to work hard for the future and the career that you want for yourself. This class session helped me to plan out my career objectives for when I graduate college. We also used these life objectives to create a visionary panel, a mind map, to show the steps and for having successful objectives. 

[gnitso]

Body Map

This class activity was focused on finding things that represent ourselves with our values, what we like, and who we are as a person and our character overall. I enjoyed this activity because it was difficult to find images or words that I thought represents my character. I had to focus on the things that make me who I am, and the values that I have. I value my family, friends, work, school, and positive interactions and attitudes. These things make up my character and what I believe. 

[gnitso]

Story of my Life

In today’s class we listened to a cover of the song, “Story of my Life” by the band One Direction. The video along with the song, was a story of a tree, and a young couple and how they meet. The story in this video is about love, life, and growth. I thought it was very interesting to see someone’s life story played out by a song. This made me think about the story of my life and how I got to where I am right now, and how I am so grateful for all of the things around me. I enjoyed writing about the story of my life and my achievements so far, and being able to put together a timeline of my growth as a person, student, employee, family member, and friend.

[gnitso]

4 Types of Feedback

In today’s class I volunteered for a class activity along with three other students. we were told that we were going to have to close our eyes and throw a tennis ball into a basket, while sitting in a chair. Before this, we were told to wait outside until our we were called back in one at a time. I was the first student called in to participate. When I sat down, closed my eyes and stared to throw the tennis balls into the basket, all the other students in the classroom were cheering me on and clapping for me, but I wasn’t sure if I was even making the shots that I was taking. After the time ran out and the next student came in, I realized he was getting only negative feedback from the rest of the students. For the third volunteer she had no feedback at all from the students, and the fourth volunteer received both positive and negative feedback from the other students. Overall, this demonstrated how performance was affected by the feedback that the rest of the students were giving while we were participating in the game. In reality, you need both positive and negative feedback in order to know what you are doing correctly and what you can improve in order to better yourself as an employee.