Category: Personal Experience

Underage drinking is a form of social harm as it encourages young people to carry out unlawful sexual behaviors that cause disturbance to the surrounding public areas. Alcohol also enhances and distorts a person’s emotions often causing aggressive behavior which usually leads to serious injury and panic within a community.

On an everyday basis, I witness many accounts of underage drinking that it has become commonplace to see many young people going out and becoming intoxicated. However, having this sort of behavior late at night in public areas causes a sense of discomfort for the community.

One of the experiences I have had, that included the act of underage drinking, started as a picnic. I noticed many people were judging us because we were teenagers. They had categorized us and instantly viewed us as ‘delinquents’. It was assumed we were dangerous or there to cause trouble, especially due to our relatively large group. One of the people attending managed to get ahold of some alcohol for us to have alongside the food, which was surprising as the majority of us wouldn’t have been served and we would have been unsure about how to go about obtaining it otherwise. The action of buying alcohol is becoming increasingly easier to carry out, meaning the risk to themselves and others around them has increased alongside it. This is devastating, young people now have such a wide exposure to alcohol through TV, film, games and the media are not being as thoroughly warned about the dangers, which is particularly disappointing. In this situation, without a responsible adult to supervise, many of those who were drinking had unknowingly exceeded the recommended limits. This resulted in a lot of uncontrollable behavior, illness and social disturbance. Eventually, an ambulance was needed and we were forced to disperse, making our way home. for many of us, this caused a feeling of overwhelming guilt as we were wasting the emergency services time with our naiveness.

Situations like these prove that teenagers shouldn’t be allowed or able to access drink at all, yet they are. It’s appalling to think that kids as young as 15 are being admitted into nightclubs, bars and other late-night functions without the correct, legal identification and acting completely ignorant to the dangers of alcohol. I always feel particularly conflicted about who is responsible for ensuring this doesn’t happen. Especially during my own experience, the blame can be dished out amongst many – our parents, the institutions, teachers, police, but most importantly – ourselves. Most of the time, the behavior exhibited goes unpunished or even encouraged by adults, which is upsetting and enraging. Young people should not be developing bad habits before the legal age to do so and it should certainly not be encouraged by parents.

I’ve heard this saying that giving an incredible chance to others is the best blessing one can give. Life is short and we overall kick the pail, so time is of the pith. Time can be seen, by specific people, as being more noteworthy than everything else. This thought loosens up to volunteering for an affiliation, or anything, without being paid. People volunteer from various perspectives – in their adolescent schools, at their close-by chapel, at nursing and retirement homes, in facilities, at system events, and show corridors and libraries. The entire path over the heap up, people offer their chance to others in different habits – and in different structures and methodologies, as well. But the request ‘For what reason do people volunteer? Additionally, what do they get consequently?’ are unquestionably of worth. A couple of individuals are required to volunteer.

It may be a bit of their academic instructive arrangement; a couple of judges anticipate that liable gatherings should organize organization as a significant part of their sentence, and a couple of individuals volunteer since it helps their occupations having genuine contribution with doing a trade or being in a particular setting. In one way or another, a section-level position is fairly like volunteering – the work is done for free, yet the tradeoff is an experience. Nonetheless, people are helping other individuals on any occasion, when they don’t have to. They do it since it is basic to them to empower an explanation, to credit some help, or to reinforce a relationship stuck between a rock and a hard place. There is such an incredible add-up to get consequently. For one, it never feels horrendous to volunteer. Volunteering, achieving something thinking about someone else, draw out this assumption of thriving and satisfaction. While the essential motivation regularly isn’t to feel much improved, it has that effect.

It’s very exciting to volunteer, to maybe contribute vitality to speaking with more established people at a nursing or retirement home. You make them feel significantly better, and give them love and thought – since everything considered, one’s is the most noteworthy thing one can give another – and it makes that individual volunteering feel better as well. Volunteering benefits a person for another critical clarification, too: it empowers the volunteer to dismiss their one-of-a-kind issues for quite a while since they have to concentrate on someone else’s issues. It’s incredibly animating, the exhibit of volunteering. Also, because volunteering incorporates people, it invigorates blending, frameworks organization, and partner-making. People who help other individuals are most likely going to meet an assortment of people they may have not for the most part met despite allowing their chance to an affiliation, individual, or cause. This helps with calling sorting out, too, or meeting different people who know other individuals who have business openings, open entryways for specialists, or with interests in cooperating or building affiliations. Volunteering joins outlandish people, similarly as likely people together, also. Some nearest sidekicks and mates have likely even been joined through volunteering.

It’s not hard to refrain from volunteering. It’s not hard to ensure such an enormous number of obligations and time confinements, work, stress, and various responsibilities. Nonetheless, volunteering is for everyone, and everybody can give 20 or 30 minutes to an hour of their time two or three days per month. Volunteering is stimulating to such a degree, that offering time to another person seems to give the volunteer an estimation of encouragement, a supposition of doing extraordinary, that it restarts their imperativeness clock, extending their great confidence and notion of benefit.

My name is Jhaela Lawrence 18 years old, and I am a freshman student at Houston Community College. I am interested in pursuing my career as a licensed pediatrician. My mom and grandma have both worked in the health department for years. I am pursuing this dream because I love children. After taking the Clifton Strengths Assessment for Students, my top trait was kindness, this is essential in my career field because you don’t want the patient to feel scared of you that I can’t or won’t be able to do my job, I want all my patients to have a great relationship with me. Being kind will allow for easier communication and better results when taking care of patients. My other 4 traits were communication, learning, empathy, and focus. All are very important to have and utilize in my career, making me the best nurse I can be. (Clifton)

Looking at the annual pay for nurses back in May 2016 was $68,450 and the typical education is a bachelor’s degree. Employment Is projected to grow 15% from 2016 to 2026. Nurses have many responsibilities to perform, such include assisting doctors in an operating room to comforting patients on their deathbeds. Nurses are a very important job in the medical field and also is a well rewarding job. Nurses also diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. These are not easy tasks, but the number of nurses rises each year. The number employed nationally is 146,280 and the typical annual salary is $88,812-$123,070. (Occupational Outlook Handbook 2019).

Houston has the best medical center in the nation, so it would be the ideal place to further your education. An RN makes roughly $87,000 with just a bachelor’s degree, with 2.7 million jobs as of 2014. Although the national average and the local average salary are about the same, you will not find a better medical center than in Houston Texas. This makes Houston the perfect place to study any medical career path you take. Being at the center of medicine would propel my career depending on how I do in my studies. I’ve also had family members get their degrees from schools inside the Houston area, mainly because it’s cheaper than out-of-state tuition on top of medical school tuition. (Career One Stop 2019).

[bookmark: _Hlk509660420]My lifestyle will be above average. I want to be comfortable, but I also want to make more than what I want for myself in my salary and be able to support a family who will never have to worry about where they will sleep or what their next meal may be. I want to know if I will be able to afford annual vacations for my family without having to second guess myself. My total monthly expenses came out is $3,644 and my annual costs were $42,488, with a yearly salary of $80,386. I believe this salary would do justice to the vison I have for my future and my family. (Texas Reality Check 2019).

[bookmark: _Hlk509657034] The first place I would like to live beside Houston, TX is Dallas Texas with an annual salary of $56,644. Utilities are 7% less, and housing is 18% more. The reason why I would live there is because I always wanted to visit Dallas and see how it compares to living in Houston, Dallas has many tourist attractions and is a very good place to build a family or career. The second place I would like to live is Toronto Canada and the salary is $67,951. The housing is 27% more, and groceries are 11% more, groceries are expensive. The reason I wanted to go to Canada is because Canada is such a nice place to live and it’s very peaceful, people usually tend to leave the doors unlocked because it’s so safe to live there. The last place I would like to live is in San Diego, CA and the salary would be $81,941. The housing is 97% more, and transportation is 49% more. House and gas are expensive. I want to move here because San Diego has the best weather in all of California not to mention its diversity due to it bordering Mexico. (CNN Money 2019)

I would volunteer with the Red Cross. The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as The American National Red Cross, is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the designated US affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United States movement to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. I chose the Red Cross because I want to put my abilities to the test in a first responder situation and see if the skills I learned could potentially save lives. (Volunteer Match 2019)

My long-term goal is to obtain a BS in nursing, (a registered, licensed nurse) and participate in a master’s education program in this field. I want to graduate med school in the top 10% of my class and get hired at a great hospital. I also want to have a family and own a house before I’m 30. To achieve this goal, I must start small and that starts with doing my work on time and meeting the requirements in my prerequisites so I can get into a good medical school.

Cited Work

1. Definition and Qualifications: Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2019). Healthcare Registered Nurses. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.
2. Description of Career: Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2019). Healthcare, a registered nurse. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm
3. Salary: Occupational Outlook Handbook, (2019). Quick Facts: Healthcare the registered nurse. Retrieved https://www.bls.gov/ooh/heathcare/registered-nurses.htm
4. Career Stop: Career One Stop. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/Occupations/Occupationprofile.aspx?keyword=Registered Nurses&onetcode=29114100&location=HOUSTON, TX
5. Texas Reality Check: Texas Reality Check. (2019). Total Expenses. Retrieved from https://texasrealitycheck.com/TotalExpenses / https://texasrealitycheck.com/OccupationProfile/Index/291141
6. Median Salary and Job Outlook: Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2019). Healthcare/registered nurses. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.
7. CNN Money Cost of Living: CNN Money (2019). Cost of living: How far will my salary go in another city? Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html
8. Volunteer Organizations: Volunteer Match. (2019). Find an organization, in Houston, TX. Retrieved from https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org1098192.jsp/bigsisterlittersister.org

Community service and volunteering improves society and a person’s general wellbeing. Volunteering builds strong communities and ties a various group of people together. I started volunteering once I entered high school to satisfy my schools requirements of forty-eight volunteer hours per year. initially, I saw volunteering as a hassle despite my mom’s dedication to community service and selflessness. Most of the activities I had been participating in held little significance to me. I babysat and helped my neighbors to earn my hours of community service. It wasn’t until I reached eleventh grade that volunteering became real to me. I started directly helping people in need. This opened my eyes to how privileged I used to be, and exactly what quantity I had taken without any consideration.

I believe volunteering changed the way I once overlooked the only. The experience that drastically changed my perspective was volunteering at CHKD. I volunteered in the transitional care unit every day for 3 weeks during the summer of my junior year. the youngsters lived there, and most were confined to their beds. All the youngsters during this unit were born without the flexibility to breathe independently. Some children had exceeded the percentages and developed the aptitude to speak and almost breathe. the youngsters ranged in age from infants to pre-teens. Despite their constant struggles, a smile was never hard to seek out. This experience showed me that regardless of how big my problems seem I’m truly blessed.

Once a person has found the best opportunity for them, volunteering takes on a deeper meaning. My high school supported the Walk forever. They informed us that it had been a walk that discouraged abortion and encouraged pro-life standards. This interested much of our student body to the purpose that over 1/2 of our faculty participated or raised money for the cause. I had the chance to lift awareness and walk around the Norfolk City Zoo with friends for an excellent cause. Our student body came together for a cause we all shared a belief in. Our high school came together all over again in the city at the new Union Mission. They were in desperate need of volunteers because they had just moved into their new location. They split our year into groups reckoning on our natural talents. the bulk of ladies were inside the women’s shelter putting in rooms, organizing clothes, or packing bags of food. the boys in our group unloaded an awfully large donation of food from a truck while repacking it with the food we had packed. I used to be ready to use my organizational skills to get everyone together and work efficiently. Although the weather was against us, we all made it through and laughed about it after, now that we were ready to feel our extremities. We knew we had fed many families just in time for Thanksgiving. In remembrance of the quantity of your time and energy given towards community service, I firmly believe that it’s directly affected my life and therefore the lives of others.

Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) is based at the center of University of the Philippines-Diliman Campus. DOST-ASTI is tasked to do the research and improvement of the information and communications technology in the country. DOST-ASTI has local and international partners in order for continuous development of its programs.

DOST-ASTI is focuses on, but not limited to, the following areas. Their top priority is research and development on microelectronics and information and communication technology. With these research and development engineers, DOST-ASTI shall be updated or more so advanced, when it comes to the current trends in the field of microelectronics and information and communication technology. DOST-ASTI also covers the field of space technology and technology transfer. DATOS is a remote sensing and Data Science feature of DOST-ASTI to disseminate information during times of calamity. DATOS is related to the DICT feature of mobile satellite and the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) alarms during times of calamity or danger.

During our tour at the DOST-ASTI facility, we went to their control room. The Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation center or called PEDRO. Inside the PEDRO control room, the engineers let us view the outputs and discussed various details. First the satellites, Philippines has 2 satellite of its own, called DIWATA 1 and DIWATA 2. In PEDRO, we saw the location of the satellite and its orbitals. Also, the Philippines is connected to 2 other neighboring Korean satellites. In PEDRO, the engineer said that they have access to view 250 more or less satellites. These satellites produce real time images. A technology severely needed especially in times of disaster. PEDRO used these satellites for government various government projects. Remember the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Project? A satellite was used to see its progress. Deforestation was monitored and somehow solved with the help of a satellite. A satellite is being used for security purposes on maritime and aerial security of our territories. PEDRO also won an award in partnership with the Department of Audit. This is project COARE or Computing and Archiving Research Environment. They used a satellite to monitor the construction of a bridge of a certain province. This helped monitor if corruption or material misuse is done. They used satellite technology for monitoring a government project and auditing it.

After our visit in the control room, we went upstairs to see various satellite receivers. Upstairs we saw a large radome (a radome is a weatherproof construction to protect the satellite antenna of any calamities). This radome is built of fiber glass. We went inside the radome and saw the antenna that was being protected. Inside the radome is hot, but the antennas were kept safe and secured. On the rooftop we saw various antennas that are used for other projects of DOST ASTI.

GMA-7 is a TV network that operates on Channel 7 (very high frequency, analog broadcasting) and Channel 15 (ultra high frequency, digital broadcast). It is located on Quezon City.

During our tour in the network we we’re briefed first. After the briefing we went to the control room of GMA Network. We saw the broadcast of GMA and other broadcasting services connected to GMA. We saw the GMA-7 broadcast (during our tour it is Eat Bulaga, a popular noon time show), the control of GMA-7 has a large tv screen dedicated to GMA-7 broadcasting only. In a different control room, I saw the GMA News TV current broadcasting. GMA also has various local channels nationwide. In another control room, what I saw was the GMA Pinoy TV an international broadcasting of GMA-7. Also, GMA Life TV and GMA News International was being transmitted as well. While on the broadcasting control room, I noticed that the floors are removable, it contains the wires for the different control rooms. We moved to studios. The first studio we went was a news room. The news room was built with high class and modern cameras. Lighting was on point too. Then we proceeded to the GMA old building, a building set to be demolished soon. This building contains the AM and FM stations of GMA. The AM station of GMA is Super Radyo DZBB which operates on 594 kilohertz (KHz) and operates on Metro Manila. Due to limited capacity of the AM room and the sensitivity of AM station we were not allowed to go inside. But we went inside the booth of their FM Station. GMA has an FM station called Barangay LS. It operates at 97.1 megahertz (MHz) here at metro manila. I have an experience in some FM radio stations before and I can say that the FM station of GMA needs improvement. The transmitter is not up to date.

After the tour on the radio stations, we proceeded to the studio. They say it is the best studio in the Philippines. As I see it, it really is a well-funded and well-built studio. No echoes because the wall has sandwiched sound absorbers and the studio is well lit and the technology of the cameras are world class. Then we proceeded to watch a taping of a TV show.

The tour on DOST-ASTI is better compared to the tour in GMA-7 for various reasons. The tour in DOST-ASTI is very educational and very interactive. I, personally, learned a lot in the DOST ASTI tour, the concepts of Satellite based images that were taught inside the room was there and I learned a lot from it. Meanwhile, the tour in GMA-7 was quite boring. I was hoping to see the transmitters and receivers but what I saw was an artist who was trying to cook bacon. I wish that I could see Kim Domingo though. But kidding aside for future fieldtrips, I hope that if the field trip will be on a TV station, they should let them go to the rooftop or on the transmission area itself.

Happiness is a luxury only the powerful can afford but a natural man buys what he can afford. Over time, taking a moment to lose track of time got so easy with my style of vacation. Nowadays, most people love holidays because it is an opportunity to have a break from routine life, as well as they help to refresh one’s mind. After a holiday, we can go back to business or educational activities with full force to buy into a new kind of energy.

I love holidays too, and I usually make the most of them through my activities. Hence, during my vacation, I am free to do what makes me happy. I love my holidays because, for a while, I’m detached away from work. I enjoy myself during the vacation since I usually spend my holidays watching my favorite movies or episodes of soap operas which I missed during my time at work.

Holidays are not always meant to have fun. It is also an opportunity which enhances our personality and to learn new things and customs. My grandparents are walking libraries. They have experienced life from a time when technology was a luxury that every man needs. So, I make it a must to spend my holidays with them in our village. My grandmother teaches me to cook delicious food, while my grandfather usually plays Scrabble or other mind games with me to help me improve my vocabulary and also show me how to make new agricultural products.

Usually, I have long holidays when I visit my hometown. It is usually a fun moment for everyone because I get to see people whom I haven’t seen in years and as well get to meet the extended family. My village is quite a distance from the city where I live and work. It is a five-hour journey by car through village landscapes. My grandparents stay there and my grandfather takes care of the vegetation and produces on our farm.

As a usual visit, I am ever excited to visit my village for enough reasons. The air is clean, and the whole environment is so much relaxed in the village that awakes you immediately into your comfort zone. I spent most of the time, visiting fields and farms with my grandfather and learning from him about crops and the seasons they are produced in. I also play ‘Truth and Dare’, where we unveil new ideas and past occurrences with my siblings. It became so normal to listen to my grandma’s tales every night, which gives me reminisce about how much we’ve spent together, and this helps to get better sleep.

On my arrival, I spare no time to meet my old friends and folks. After I have gotten to the village and met my grandparents, I immediately stepped out in a frenzy of uncontrolled excitement to gather old friends. They knew about my arrival though and are expecting me anytime. It was so good to see them after so long time apart. The best part was most of them had a fixed time to visit the village as well, which meant that we could play for as long as we want without being bothered about work. It was really fun to play with old friends. As it was the holiday season, some of my friends’ cousins were also there, which gave me an opportunity to make new friends and know more about the tribes and customs of the married ones among us. When we got tired of playing games, we chatted about our life and occurrences at work and our society. These conversations helped me a lot in understanding the problems faced by each person and how I could defeat my problems too. I hope that someday I will be able to help them and be a true friend. I also met the parents of my friends and was overwhelmed by the love that I got. Also, I am a lover of nature and I usually plan outings with friends to visit nature parks or spend a day at the seaside near my village with a form of boot camp. We come with our own camping tents and we are always ready for more adventures. My friends and I usually go fishing and we bring along the wood to make a fire to cook the fish.

Furthermore, holidays are the most refreshing awaited moment in everybody’s life. We can relax and spend time enjoying ourselves. After all, life is meant to be enjoyed not to work under stress and pressure at every time. We all deserve a cool-off time since we all work hard. Visiting my village to spend my summer holidays was the best decision that I made, and I am glad that I took it. It was a great experience and I finally felt satisfied.

Living in this modern life, we barely have free time for ourselves, our family, and our friends. It causes problems in relationships. As we prioritize our work and responsibility more, we couldn’t get enough time for recreation. It also takes us far away from the attachment to nature. Life becomes more complex and robotics. We have confined ourselves within the working boundaries. That’s the reason why we are not able to feel the taste of life. Stress and anxiety are getting common phenomena for most people. Do we really want that? Nobody wants that. We want to lead our life with our beloved ones, and our life should be full of happiness and pleasant experiences.

We have the ability to create good moments by taking initiative. To get a good quality time with family and friends, a vacation should be our first choice. It is the thing that turns our regular days into special days. Who does not love to have a good time with his or her beloved ones? It is probably a need that all human beings must fulfill. Your family members will also appreciate it. It is the best way to create relationship bonding. Going outside and staying in a lovely place is always fun and interesting. Even a short trip can work to boost your relationship.

I was so busy working at my office. I hardly give time to my family and that made a bad situation for my family. I realized that and I wanted to fix this problem in a good way. I decided to go on a beach vacation with my family. I selected Manzanita Beach as our vacation spot because it’s a natural place that offers good surroundings which are completely suitable for our family vacation. So, I booked cabins in the Manzanita Beach Rentals for us. I surprised my family members by saying this one day before the tour. I saw how happy they were after hearing this. They were all excited about the vacation, which made me feel excited too. Manzanita Restaurants are just enough to fall in love with the taste of their special dishes. Local recipes were so delicious and all the visitors found that totally irresistible. We ate a lot as finding these kinds of fresh and unique food is hard to get.

Staying in this rental, we enjoyed ourselves a lot as the cabins were fully equipped with modern facilities like comfortable beds, an Internet connection, cable TV, a well-furnished bathroom, and others. The view of the sea from the front-facing cabins of the Manzanita Beach Rentals was incredible.

Finally, I will say, this vacation was just necessary for me as I was totally bored with continuous work. It also worked so well to bring happiness to my family. We spend the whole week together doing many fun things like visiting interesting places, hiking, swimming, etc. That was an utterly a pleasant experience for me and my family.

My imaginative piece, ‘The Girl on the Train’, is an analysis of the Gothic features and themes and the impact they have on the readers. The ambition of my piece of writing was to intrigue my readers through the use of a mysterious unknown environment. My goal was not only to engage my readers but also to entertain them through the use of descriptive language and visual imagery. A horror genre was created throughout the text.

Throughout the process of writing my creative writing piece, I was heavily inspired by the Gothic piece ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe. The inspiration of Edgar Allan Poe can be seen throughout my creative writing piece as it provided me with the initial idea to explore the concept of Gothic literature. It provided me with a strong basis to work off. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ also assisted me with the idea to incorporate highly extensive use of descriptive language and visual imagery.

The use of descriptive language in both my creative writing piece and Edgar Allan Poe’s provided structure and meaning to the writing. The huge emphasis on Gothic literature yet again inspired my creative writing piece. The structure also played a vital role in the process of writing my creative piece. I used a structure of 3 paragraphs, allowing new content or a new idea to be introduced into each paragraph. This paragraph structure helped in achieving one of my main goals, which was to keep the readers intrigued and entertained. I used multiple different sentence lengths, none of which were extremely long. This allowed me to continuously keep my readers engaged. My creative writing piece is also written in third person, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. The utilization of third person aided me to incorporate visual imagery, and descriptive language in a Gothic sense throughout the entire text. The application of all my structural techniques played an essential role in achieving my ambition of engaging and entertaining my readers.

Within my creative writing piece ‘The Girl on the Train’, multiple language techniques can be easily observed. Two major techniques are descriptive language and visual imagery. The use of descriptive language allows the reader to feel as if they are almost a part of the story or event being described. This language technique is especially useful as it aids the reader’s engagement within the world of the story, often creating an emotional response. It can help a reader interpret and visualize what a character or a place is like. An example of descriptive language within my creative writing piece can be seen through the quote: “A middle-aged white woman with a thin nose and ocean blue eyes sat in an old rusty train compartment, alone”. Incorporating this technique also assisted in the role of another, visual imagery. This technique builds off descriptive language. Imagery is the means to utilize descriptive language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such ways that it appeals to our physical senses. Customarily visual imagery makes use of certain words that creates a visual representation of ideas, in the readers’ minds. The use of both language techniques allowed me to easily introduce the tone of my creative writing piece. This tone being serious, violent, and threatening correlated with my horror genre of Gothic literature. The use of my language techniques helped me to achieve my main goal of keeping the readers entertained and intrigued.

I feel as if I have effectively developed a fundamental creative meaning and have successfully written an imaginative piece that draws upon the characteristics of Gothic literature. The utilization of elements such as structural and language techniques throughout the process of writing has cleverly been implemented to maintain engagement from the readers to successfully achieve my aim. The tone and genre of the text are effective in powerfully creating a skillfully written short story. The successful portrayal of Gothic literature can be observed within the text, drawing upon the stylistic features utilized by Edgar Allan Poe in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.

Picture this, all around you are fish, water, and sand. You try to look up, but all you see is water. Terrifying, right? Well, that’s how I felt my first time going scuba diving. This all took place about a year ago, in Aqaba, Jordan, when I decided to go scuba diving, and it was one of the scariest and most fun things I’ve ever done.

After deciding I wanted to go scuba diving, I had to go to a place that offered it. Once I arrived there I went to the front desk. Before anything was official, I had to do one of the scariest things ever, signing the waiver. So, when I went to the desk, they had to make sure I understood what the paper said, so in English, not knowing I could speak Arabic, the woman at the desk said with an Arabic accent: “Make sure you read everything on the paper”. “Of course”, I said. “Oh yeah, here’s a paper with a checklist (hands me a paper), check off anything that applies to you”, she said. “Will do”, I replied. After approximately five minutes after finishing the checklist, some guy came up to me and asked in Arabic, “Have you finished the checklist?”, to which I responded with, in Arabic, “Yeah, I’m done with it”. And this was when the desk lady responded with, in Arabic, “You should’ve told me you can speak Arabic, it would have made this a lot easier on me”. All three of us laughed.

Before going scuba diving, I had to learn how to communicate underwater, in case something goes wrong or if I feel uncomfortable, so in a quick ten-minute lesson they taught me all the hand gestures I would need to know underwater. Next, I got suited up in the scuba suit, the rest of the gear would be given later, and got on the bus that was planned to take me to my destination, the Red Sea.

When I arrived, I noticed how blue the sea was. When I first saw it, I felt like a kid who had seen a rainbow for the first time. Before going into the water, I got my oxygen tank, flippers, and goggles. The air tank on my back was very heavy, and because it shifted my balance, it made it hard for me to walk straight. I ploddingly went into the water, feeling the water all around me, and slowly being swallowed by the sea. The more I submerged the air tank, the lighter it felt, to the point where it almost went unnoticeable. After going into the water, my instructor and I headed about ten feet above the seafloor, and this was where we checked to see if the oxygen tank was good by going down about one foot underwater. When I first went under with the mouthpiece on to breathe, I felt as if I was suffocating. This was one of the first times in my life that I was not given the option to breathe in through my nose for a long period. I began to feel as if I was hyperventilating, but as I slowly realized everything was fine, my breathing slowed down, and I was able to relax as I prepared for my descent. But not only did this cause panic, but so did my sudden loss of the capability to speak and hear. After my minor panic attack, my instructor quickly tested me one more time to see if I retained my memory of the hand gestures. After I passed the quick verbal test and we confirmed that the air tank was working, it was time for me to descend into the water and go down to where many could only wish to go.

After dropping to about eight feet below sea level, I had to do the Valsalva maneuver, which is when you squeeze your nose and blow to equalize your pressure and clear your ears because of the greater pressure underwater. If this is not done, barotrauma could occur, this is when your eardrums rupture. I had to do this a few times before going to my lowest depth. After only about three minutes underwater I began to panic; luckily, I remembered the hand gestures and tried to communicate. It was working. My instructor and I were able to communicate. After he patiently walked me through what to do, we continued with our journey. Slowly, my brain went from thinking I need to get out of here to thinking everything is going to be fine.

While underwater it got scarier and scarier the deeper, I got because of the greater biodiversity within the sea. I could also start seeing more coral. After getting down to sixteen feet, I noticed the seafloor beginning to change, and when I looked up, so did the surface of the sea. The floor went from being rocky and sandy to being pure sand, and I went from being able to see the sky through the water, to barely being able to see where the sea began and the sky ended. As I got deeper it became noticeably cooler, but the temperature change was nice, compared to the one hundred-six degrees Fahrenheit temperature above the water. After this, I went down to about twenty-four feet and then to about thirty feet. After sixteen feet, everything began to look the same. While underwater, I was lucky enough to not see any sharks, but I still saw some decent-sized fish, ranging from one inch in length to about two feet. Because this was my first time going scuba diving, I only got to go down to about ten meters. When I got down there, I stayed for only five minutes or so, soaking in the view, taking pictures, and observing the fish. And then, after taking the pictures, I stayed for my final moments and then made my way back up with my guide.

On my way back up to the surface, I had to get back up slowly, because the same concept that applied with descending too fast applied to going up too fast. On my way up, I was reminded of all the things that happened, it felt like it occurred only a couple of minutes before. This was probably because it did occur only a couple of minutes before. As I got higher up, I noticed the water slowly getting warmer and warmer. As a person who enjoys the cold, I didn’t like this. Right before reaching the top, my instructor snapped a few more pictures of me, and then we went back up. While exiting the water, I could feel the surface tension breaking as I emerged on top. A could feel the blazing sun cooking the top of my head. My black hair absorbed the heat quickly, and it felt like you could cook an egg on me. Next, my instructor took his final pictures of me, and we swam out of the water, and once we reached the shallow end of the water, we took off our flippers and goggles. While walking out of the water, I could feel the air tank slowly getting heavier. After reaching the station where I put my air tank and goggles on, I took off my air tank and goggles and handed them to a worker there, not my instructor. Next, I went and showered to clean myself of the scent of the ocean, and changed back into my normal clothing, a tee-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a hat.

If there is anything I learned from this experience, it would be to do things you want but are afraid to, do because I know for a fact that even though I was terrified going into this, I would have felt a lot worse had I not gone in. And even though I had fun and faced my fears of going in, I would not go back because this felt like a one-time thing, and I wouldn’t want to ruin something special by overdoing it.

Introduction

Before starting the course OB & HRM, I expected to develop my proficiency in the understanding of the human factor in organizational structure. On the basis of the lectures, tutorials, and study material, I forecasted that I would have to deal with interesting issues regarding organizational behavior and human resource management. This included –but was not limited to– questions such as “Why do humans change their behavior when entering an organization?” and “What kind of behavior will benefit an organization?”. After this course has been completed, my desire lies in the field of comprehending complex issues regarding OB & HRM, in order to be able to apply the obtained knowledge in circumstances that involves human behavior in organizational structure.

Human behavior has always been an interesting topic for me. Not only in terms of organizational structure, but also in daily life. In my opinion, it is important to develop your understanding of how to behave in situations. Comprehending the strengths and weaknesses of different people makes people more involved in an organizational environment. Human behavior seems to be the glue in order to connecting individuals and teams. Therefore, if I decide to become a manager or director at a company after I have finished my study in International Business Administration, I will need the ability to deal with a variety of complex situations in the work environment. This course will develop my skill concerning self-reflection on personal development and moreover, it will help me recognize the outcomes of my own learning, knowledge, and actions. Hence, this assignment will be a part of the effort I have to execute in order to accomplish my expectations and objectives. In order to bridge the course theory and practice, I will elaborate on two personal learning reflections that I have experienced during the course.

My first learning experience is based on tutorial five and lecture six of this course. During this tutorial, I practiced a negotiation exercise based on a conflicting florist, grocer, and baker. Key topics such as human behavior and personality came across in this game. My fellow negotiators and I interacted in a negotiation setting whereas the bottom line was that teamwork would lead to the highest collective result, at the expense of the individual benefit. In this case, I was faced with the question of whether I had to determine either confrontation or negotiation. The lecture has provided me with essential knowledge in regards to several concepts and theories about teams, conflicts, and negotiations, with the aim that I could apply the expertise during the negotiation game.

My second learning experience is based on the debate session that had been held in tutorial four. The session contained two debates in total, but during the first debate I was supposed to be in favor of my own statement, and in the latter, I pretended to be against a statement. Not only the debate session was graded, but also the quality of the provided feedback as part of the gradation. Therefore, it was important to observe well during the debates, because the observations could contribute as input for this assignment. The learning objective of the debate session was to practice my social skills in terms of being able to master several roles in a cross-cultural setting.

First Learning Experience: Confrontation or Negotiation?

Factual Description

During tutorial five, I wielded a negotiation exercise in which participants were informed that they would enter a negotiation with two other parties. Participants were led to expect that they would face an integrative negotiation where mutual benefit could arise from teamwork. It was insisted that in this negotiation they could not only look after the interests of their own business (a baker, florist, or grocer) but also need to attend to the collective interest of their fellow negotiators (as tenants of a shopping center). Thus, the multi-party negotiation focused on decision making, in which the objective, in particular, was to make it possible for customers to shop in a pleasant and convenient way to increase sales of all parties involved. This established the foundation for the appropriate measurement of prosocial value orientations, which clearly has a link between OB & HRM.

Personal Experience

Beforehand the negotiation, I set priority on my individual interest, even though I did not assimilate the negotiation exercise thoroughly. I participated as a florist, who was having a competition with two other retail businesses –a bakery and a grocery– regarding the design, rent, and store temperature for their brand new store in a shopping center. However, I always had been supposing that bargaining was not my best skill, but the outcomes of the surveys –that I had to fill in ahead of the tutorial related to personality traits– made me feel more comfortable. These surveys, in conjunction with the scope of the learning goals, actually helped me to become more aware of my own strengths and weaknesses during negotiations and other team activities. Therefore, I was looking forward with much more confidence to the negotiation than I normally would.

At the moment of reading the instructions of the game, I observed that respectively the baker, grocer, and florist all had different positions on each of the three negotiable factors that they would prefer. Therefore, I assumed that the occurrence of teaming up would be more obvious. Nonetheless, I still persisted in my individual strategy in order to establish an initial negotiation room, which subsequently was a mistake on my side. After hardly five minutes, I observed that my fellow ‘competitors’ also adopted the same individualistic intention. From that moment, I realized that the negotiation outcome would probably not arise in optimized results if all negotiators –including me– would continue with their individual attitudes and actions. For instance, the hostile-acting grocer initially attempted to bluff, by wielding ultimatums. From my point of view, the application of such concessions often seemed to be a relatively threatening development during the negotiation. As a result, I instantly changed my attitude in order to lighten the ambiance. As a result, I noticed that the formal vibe changed into a more personal one, which clearly was appreciated among all negotiators. At this point, we realized that collaboration would be the best solution for this game. Under the veil of “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”, we rapidly came to a mutual solution with which we all agreed with. I was feeling really satisfied with this result.

Naive and Theoretical Reflection

At first, I realized at the beginning of the negotiation game that if I would set out an initial negotiation framework by using power, I possibly could gain the trust of my fellow negotiators. This is a concept that links with one outcome of the study of Mooijman et al. (2019), which states that using power during a negotiation will enhance trust. However, during the game, I observed that I was not the only one that wanted to force power. Therefore, I unconsciously became insecure, which I revealed by being less individualistic. This circumstance has also a connection with Mooijman et al. (2019) that concludes that the use of ‘uncertain’ power reduces trust among the participating negotiators because the situation causes concerns about losing power to others. In consideration of emotions, I didn’t plan to change my personality due to the negotiation game. By smiling a lot, I thought that I could create some goodwill. This evidently corresponds with a study by Pietroni et al. (2008), which specifies that showing happiness in negotiations will increase integrative behavior. Moreover, during the game, I also came across a situation that I perceived as a threat. During the negotiation, the situation occurred that baker attempted to do a concession in terms of “take it or leave it”. My perception of that was that it could negatively affect the negotiation outcome. However, according to a study by Ma et al. (2019) about ‘final offers’ in negotiations, the role of a choice mindset will subsequently arise in a mediation to improve persistence and moreover, enlarge the bargaining outcomes. Actually, this claim has been proven in this negotiation game, since the outcome was the best outcome regarding mutual benefit. In regards to cultural values, I clearly perceived differences in negotiation styles. This had to do with my fellow negotiators, who both were international students. However, I did not take into account the presence of cultural differences, the study by Caputo et al. (2019) about the relationship between cultural values, cultural intelligence, and negotiation styles proves that the first two aspects both have a direct and indirect influence on negotiation styles.

Second Learning Experience: the Debate Session

Factual Description

In tutorial five, we exercised a debate session in which I debated twice. During the debate session, each debate consisted of two ‘conflicting’ teams: 1 in favor of the statement and 1 against the statement. Furthermore, a third team was participating as the judge of the debate. Their responsibility was to provide quality feedback by observing the debate. Each debate was divided into six rounds: the introduction round, the starting rounds, the strategizing moment, the defending round, the concluding round, and the feedback round. The general rules of the game were that each team was not permitted to interrupt the other team during their round. Also, the time had strictly to be respected, so when the time was over, no new arguments could be made. Lastly, everyone in each team had to contribute to the debate, so it was not possible to let only 1 or 2 persons of a certain team debate. The debate session focussed on the practice of social skills in terms of being able to master several roles in a cross-cultural setting.

Personal Experience

Before the debate, all teams were required to prepare themselves for the session. I tried to prepare myself for the debate by doing a lot of research to use information that I could use during the debate session. I always have been a control freak, so it is not strange that I wanted to prepare myself to the fullest: a good start is half the work. I was really nervous due to the fear of failure, so I tried to calm down. Once I kicked off our first debate in which we were in favor of our own statement, I immediately felt more comfortable than before the session. This gave me a lot of faith, so I was not afraid anymore to fail. As a result, I was able to tell my part with complete confidence, and moreover, by exuding confidence, I also directly boosted my team members’ confidence. During the first debate, I felt that we were the best team. As a result, we did what we actually expected: to set a good performance by using well-reasoned arguments. Moreover, I insisted to my team members that they all have to contribute during the debate if the situation permits it. I was happy that that also actually happened because it is hard to do that while having to perform under pressure. In the second debate, my team and I felt that we had nothing to lose since we already had put down a good performance. Therefore, we were also feeling accomplished when the second session was finished. The most interesting part of the debate session for me was clearly being the judge. I realized that I listened to the debate between the two other teams in a more different and difficult way. I discovered that physical aspects such as body language and persuasiveness actually were more important than the information. I was convinced that a confident expression will lead to a better performance than only good information with an insecure attitude. Moreover, I was lucky due to the fact that my opponents were actually friends of mine. Therefore, giving feedback was a relatively easy and effective process when it came to my classmates. Lastly, I perceived that the way of communicating feedback is also significant in order to hand over feedback. Starting the feedback conversion with the goods points, continuing possible future improvements, and thereafter, ending with positive words makes me feel more appreciated.

Naive and Theoretical Reflection

At first, I was acting very nervous. This had to do with the fact that I am a perfectionist. According to a study by Ståhlberg et al. (2019), perfectionist among students will achieve their objectives the most, since they are more secure in setting goals and are more willing to achieve them, in comparison to students with low concerns and low strivings. It seems that my nervosity actually helped me to perform well during the debate session. This correlates with the study of Fransen et al. (2017), which states that team confidence can transform within a single sports game, due to the circumstance of having to perform under pressure. However, it is not investigated yet whether this is also applied to students’ performance, I can perceive similarities between my debate performance and the outcome of the study regarding team confidence. I also needed to perform under pressure, since the debate was graded, and moreover, the amount of team confidence changed within the debate. Another theory that possibly clarifies my behavior during the debate session, is the study of Cochran et al. (2019). During the debate of the two other teams, I had to fill in the role of the judge and I found out that It was easy to give critical feedback, especially to my classmates that I already knew. This links with the outcome of Cochran et al. (2019), which states that personal judgment accuracy becomes better if people already have allocated more time with each other. In my opinion, the debate has helped me with achieving one of my expectations, namely to become more proficient in different situations regarding behavior.

Conclusion and Integration

To conclude, both of the learning experiences will contribute to my personal and professional development. My most useful learning experience is the negotiation game, in which I learned to look through the strategy of other negotiators. This experience helped me to develop my skills relating to my new sales job, where I will need to negotiate often. Another expertise that I have obtained due to this reflection, is the study of Ståhlberg et al. (2019), which specifies that perfectionists really do perform better. Thus, I obtained the knowledge that perfectionism not necessarily is a weak point. Moreover, the study of Mooijman et al. (2019) regarding power and trust has given me a new insight into the field of negotiating. In particular, the outcome of the study shows that power leads to trust, but ‘forced’ power will reduce trust. This may also correspond with the second learning reflection in consideration of the debate. During this session, I perceived a positive modification in my amount of confidence, which had let me force power with more confidence.

Before this course, my desire lay in the area of comprehending complex issues regarding OB & HRM, in order to be able to apply the obtained knowledge in circumstances that involves human behavior in organizational structure. A critical note and therefore, improvement is that in future negotiations I need to adopt a ‘choice mindset’ in which I provide ultimatums. It is proven by Ma et al. (2019) that doing concessions during negotiations will enhance persistence and moreover, the bargaining outcomes. If I am willing to improve my negotiation ability, then this useful outcome can assist me.

Due to this assignment, I created more awareness of my behavioral decisions. Becoming more aware of your own behavior is more important than ever since in this cross-cultural era I have to face a lot of different situations, in different contexts.

Reference list

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