s.postolovska – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 LC06

Small talk is a BIG deal

On November 8 I was able to attend the workshop Small Talk: It’s a BIG Deal presented by Ellen Stein. This topic seemed very interesting for me, because every day I encounter hundreds of people, but often I find myself being silent for days. Now, everyone is so tied with technology, especially phones, that this is getting on the way of communicating with other people. So, I wanted to change this situation at least for myself. And this workshop became very useful in doing so.

In the very beginning Ellen personally greeted every person in the room and introduced herself, which was unexpected for me. I understand the meaning behind this gesture of her, but for some reason it felt too theatrical. During the workshop we were able to discuss topics like body language, memorizing techniques as well as appropriate topics to use in the conversation. Ellen engaged with the audience by improvising the work meeting conversation with one of the students. I liked that she showed us what she was talking about. Even though this information was not new, I refreshed my memories and got some inspiration to have more conversations with people.

Because of this inspiration I decided to challenge myself: every day for five days talk to someone I have never talked to (not including “hello” and “bye”). And I did complete this challenge, which was ton of fun. Not only I met cool people, but also it opened my eyes on how much opportunities are out there. Every person you meet has so much to offer: friendship, love, support, or at least a piece of gum. The only thing that is needed from us is to say hi to new people. Amazing life truly starts from the small talk.

Martial arts and Karate are all about repetition and purpose

My first try to attend health and wellness event was not successful since the Yoga class was cancelled. However, I had one more event in my schedule as a plan B – Karate/Martial Arts/Self Defense.

I was hesitating whether to go there or not, because I knew absolutely no one there and had no clue what the event will be like. But my feet just kept going and led me to the room with a few people in it. When I first peaked inside the room I found sensei, Peter Flores, and his assistants among other students, and I liked that so much. This was not kind of class where teachers would just stand in front of the room and just explaining the material. They were involved in the process deeply and had a desire to teach us their knowledge.

The first thing we did was we split up in pairs and slowly practiced the moves sensei was showing us. While we were doing these steps, he explained the purpose behind them and insisted on mindfulness. Fun fact: sensei was counting in Japanese, what confused me first, but then it was okay.

Repetition, repetition, repetition… That’s what we did when we encountered new maneuvers. Peter would fight with his assistant for a bit, showing the ways we can implement our new knowledge and different combinations of the moves. It was interesting to imagine that someday I can be also fighting like that!

During this class we learned how to escape from someone’s hand, how to escape from someone’s attempts to choke you and we also learned basic karate moves. We learned that the amount of moves we make should be minimal, but with maximum purpose.

After the class I went home with the idea of learning more about Karate and Martial Arts.

Whitney Museum, my experience

Since all student go to museums for free, I could not miss this great opportunity. During my visits to various museums I have seen many different exhibitions, some of which were shocking, while others were definitely pleasant to my taste. And this time I’ve decided to visit Whitney Museum, where I’ve been a few times before. The most memorable exhibition I have seen was the placement of red cubes on the balcony. And the reason why I like it so much is that each next cube becomes more and more transparent. Plus, these cubes really stand out on the pictures. The new exhibition of beach and straw fences that they have displayed, reminded me of my home country. I have used to go to vacations, where beaches would have very similar structure. There my nostalgia devoured me completely. What was also fun to see is that they had a pool table right near the beach. What an interesting decision!

What I liked there is that on the upper floors they have vast array of different pictures. And I found some of my favorite painters like J. Pollock and E. Hopper. I was wandering around and found so many great artists that inspired me and in some cases made me change my ideas on art.

Even though Whitney museum does have a variety of pleasant and light presentations, it is also very scary and alarming place. Bitten and bloody parts of human body are displayed near the main staircase, empty dark rooms with disturbing content, and the whole atmosphere seems very heavy even though the space is light and spacious.

Despite this, I really enjoyed my experience at Whitney museum and will definitely visit it again in the future.