For this week's post, I want you to talk to someone new. Think about what we've learned about the cultural, social and psychological levels of interpersonal relationship development. Think about what we've talked about from our non-verbal and listening chapters. Strike up a conversation with someone in the elevator, at work, or behind the deli counter -- someone you don't normally talk to. Write up the conversation in 200-250 words. You'll be graded on form and content as usual. Enjoy this! Connecting is the reason we study communication.
Last Thursday I asked my roommate if I could go to work with her again. She works at Beck hall as a desk receptionist and when I go with her I get a lot of work accomplished. The last time I went with her I had established a friendly relationship with the staff. They all knew my name and we shared some inside jokes together. During this study period I happened to have a great conversation with a resident there, her name is Amber. Amber came to the desk to ask my roommate a question about Heart at KU, which caught my attention because I was thinking about joining myself.
Apparently she had seen my roommate at the meeting and wanted to know if she was joining. My roommate told her that she was and said I was thinking about joining as well. Then Amber asked why we decided to join Heart at KU, which led us into a long conversation about life values and morals. It turned out that we had some of the same viewpoints. Somehow Amber and I started talking about next semester and classes. Ironically a class she asked a teacher to put her in was the same class I was taking as well. That led us into another conversation about how excited we were about the class and what we expected to learn from it. During the whole conversation we shared very good feedback. Each one of us gave the other our undivided attention. We were fully engaged in the topic and gave excellent eye contact. We were both understanding and did not force our viewpoints on one another. Each one of us showed positivity, openness, task sharing, and advice. Though we scrutinized some things about ourselves the conversation was very enlightening.
It is funny how you go in with intentions of learning something out of a book and end up learning a lot more about life and people from one small encounter. Life is full of surprises, though it is made up of good and bad experiences, when you least expect it life allows you to see a glimmer of hope.
Briana -- our interpersonal connections do indeed sustain us. What have you learned this semester about listening, non-verbal communication, or about the way interpersonal relationships develop that might be relevant here? Use your posts to show off your knowledge!
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