Magic of listening

Class project to plan, execute and succeed, hopefully, at dropping the egg on the floor without cracking it was a surprisingly interesting exercise. Team work can be smooth and productive but also could be a mess. My team was great-planning process involved everyone and we had fun. It's not about the egg - it's about an importance of a good plan. We  followed all steps in the planning process... except for one. We agreed on what is our goal, how to use available recouces and time, worked on ''egg-saving case'' design, even had our leader who took initiative in his hands. But there was an opinion/proposal that we overlooked.  One guy joined our team later and was trying to suggest alternative strategy how to build safer egg case ( very similar to one that winning team made ). Since we agreed already on a particular model and he missed the instructions for the task, there was no interest in what ''a new guy'' had to say on that part. Just a few minutes later he was on board and cheering for our egg to survive. Finally, as any beginner with some tinny errors, my team did a good job on planning and working together.

Cultural Differences From my point of view

  I come from a small country of north east in Europe that has a pretty conservative attitude towards anyone that is different or anything that is new. Not negative - just conservative. And I love that. But....When I landed a job for a cruise line I discovered the whole new, big, crazy, exiting and so colorful world full of different people. You see, in Lithuania 10 years ago we didn't have too many tourists or people from outside the country, not to mantion different race, religion, orientation etc. I will never forget how sophisticated those french people in Marseille seemed to me, or how handsome were the guys in Marocco, Egypt or Turkey-just because they had dark features(opposite of lithuanians). And how friendly, loud and curious was the behavior of the people in Caribbean Islands, Central America! I was shocked when native panamanians approched me in a very friendly mannier to sell something - they were so little in hight and so talkative that melted my heart. Living in New York is no different from traveling the world when it come to meeting all kinds of people everyday. In my country we don't hug or kiss a person in a cheek everytime we see him, maybe old people do that. We also don't finish a phone conversation with a friend or family member by saying i love you-which is very common here in States ( more for the girls). Americans smile a lot! To everyone-it's a part of communication. We don't do that if we don't know a person or simply don't like somebody.Smile here is a must and I find this more pleasant and efficient way to be. I have to say that Americans are one of the most diplomatic and favorite nation I have met. Because of that this country is open to everyone and changing minds of the people around the world.

First Blog

I would never had created my personal blog if it wasn't for this class! Something new! My name is Inga and I am an Accounting major student. A few years ago I came to New York without any intention to stay here for good, and now I'm in Baruch. I'm from Lithuania, so if there is anyone else in the class from my country-I would love to meet you! I would like to wish everyone a good semester!