As I am focusing on communication as part of my project, I have been paying more attention to my interactions with my professors at BYU. Therefore, this journal will mainly focus on observations so that I may later draw comparisons for international contacts.
Encounters: I am most certainly an introvert. The first few times I first meet someone, especially an authoritative person, I find I clam up. This often leads to confusion on my part because I do not ask questions when given an assignment or task. My professors, assuming I understand, do not prod me to make sure I have a general idea of what is expected of me. First meeting graduate students is naturally at little different, but first encounters are a little stiff and unbalanced. However, a stereotype for the English is that they are quiet and also introverted. For my project, I need to make sure I am aware of the initial encounters with Dr. Woods and the other graduate students.
Groups & cliques: At BYU, we are already grouped by religion. How will that factor into the group dynamic at the University of Southampton?
Organization/Roles: How will my role as a student be different at the University of Southampton? At BYU, certain things, like talking to professors outside of class and office hours, are perfectly acceptable for a student to do. However, other things, such as interrupting, are not. How will the acceptability of different actions change as an international student in Southampton? How will professor-student relationships change? How is the organization of the school different from BYU? Unfortunately, it will be difficult to draw comparisons about the organization because BYU is a religious school, and thus the religious aspect may be a confounding variable.
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