Traveling and Writing

September 2, 2013

Our day started out with a really interesting morning meeting by Diego. He wanted us to answer a question and then discuss it. The question was: What did I learn during the summer and how did I change? At the beginning it was hard for me to choose something I learned, because my summer was full of new experiences for me and I learned so much. My main lesson of my summer was how much I enjoy my own company and the importance of traveling at least once by yourself. I got to spend a lot of time by my own during the summer, getting to know new places and I learned so much about myself. I believe traveling by yourself is a way in which you get to know yourself more deeply, your likes and dislikes, how you act when you are out of your comfort zone and how you behave in certain situations. 

Another thing I learned during the summer was that I reinforced my view that it is important to get to know other cultures and to try to understand the people from other places. I mean, we all might have different likes, activities, languages, etcetera, but at the end we are all human, and have more than a few things in common. 

Our next activity was with Christopher Phillips. This was the part of the day which I enjoyed the most. We started by talking about voice. We were all trying to figure out what voice meant, but everyone seemed to reach a different conclusion. Some said that voice is a specific trait that makes us unique, others said that it is the way we represent ourselves to others. We then started talking about whether we have the same voice when we speak and write. We later provided to describe ourselves in three adjectives, then answer the question “Is this how I talk?” and to imagine our ideal reader. I really liked the exercise of the question about how we talk. Everyone answered it differently, being a one letter word or a whole sentence. I was amazed at this, because even though it is such a simple question, we all came up with completely different things and subjects; we all gave the question a different context. The same happened with our ideal reader; we had to describe him and write to him. Everyone also took it differently here: some wrote something as of a book, while others wrote to whoever their reader was. It was on this exercise that I realized that I am not so bad at writing. I have never really written anything that doesn’t have to do with school. I mean, sure I have written some short stories and a couple of poems, but they have all been for homework. I have never really written because I like it or because I want to.  So I was surprised when I wrote the paragraph today, as an introduction to a story, and it actually ended up nice. I guess, I am not as bad as I think when it comes to writing, and it is something that I look forward to improve on.  Our last exercise was getting in pairs and describing each other’s voices. Well, my partner was Christopher and I was really amazed and moved at the things he said about my voice. He said that my voice was happy, inquisitive, smiley, that it transcends English, Spanish or any other language that I may speak, that it is deep but on the surface accessible and easy to understand. But the comment that shocked me the most was when he said that my voice is that of someone who wants to get on a boat and travel without knowing where they are going or how long it will take; and specially the travelling on a boat and not on a plane, because they would like to take their time and enjoy it.  I was really surprised by this comment, because as soon as he said it, I felt like if he was actually describing me. I can’t believe that he could tell all of that just by listening to my voice. I enjoyed this exercise so much, that I think I might start applying it more often with the people I speak to.