"Who Am I"

I love that we have so much freedom in expressing our thoughts and ideas in this blog. I decided to make this a post a little background information about myself as well as the importance of good communication in our daily lives. As I read through chapter four in our textbook I discovered more insight about the meaning of identity and communication.

Identity in the textbook is referred to as, “a compilation of your experiences as influenced by social, political, and cultural factors that frame and mark those experiences.” Culturally I am Japanese and Caucasian, with my mother being Japanese and my father being White. I am an only child and my parents divorced when I was young. I have always lived with my mom but still kept in close touch with my dad. I have never really been the scholarly type but I have always been interested in fashion, music, traveling and staying active. Even though I am only twenty-one, my perception of the world has changed since I started college four years ago.

I never really thought about communication (in general) until I came to college in 2008. I remember coming to SJSU for orientation and picking up the big book filled with class listings. I was so young and didn't have a clue as to what field I wanted to look into. I chose to sign up for classes as a business management major and after my freshman year decided to change to public relations. After hating all of my classes in the business department it was a nice fresh start getting involved in something I was interested in.

I got my first job when I was a freshman in college as a styles consultant at a store in Valley Fair mall called Metropark. Sadly, the store went out of business about a year ago so I said my good-byes and moved on to another part-time job. I currently work as a hostess at a French restaurant in Santana Row. Between working in two very different fields and going to a university for almost four years I have grown as a person and learned things about myself that I would have never discovered before. Learning about communication is amazing because there is never a point you plateau in your knowledge experience. I hope to grow in this course and learn as much as possible in the few months we have left of school.  

Communication struggles in my life

There are a few struggles in communication I have personally and professionally that link together in different aspects of my life. I have always been a rather shy person and sometimes it’s hard for me to communicate to my friends and family as well as my colleges at work. As I’ve become older I have improved many of my communication skills but I still sometimes struggle with a few things that I continue to try and improve on as I get older.

One of the skills I have struggled with in my life is being able to tell a person how I really feel about a situation that is bothering me. I am not confrontational at all and I tend to hold things in and that is never really the right solution to use. I have kept things inside for too long before and ended up getting in huge blow out fights with some of my best friends and also one of my colleges at my old job. Now that I have experienced those fights it has made me realize how important clear communication is, no matter what the circumstance may be.

Lately, I have done much better telling people how I feel (obviously in a nice manor) and it has really helped me to better myself as a person. I feel much more at peace with my life. Being a part of the communication department adds to that growth in my communication skills. I have taken a few different types of communication courses and they have all helped me improve my skills in one way or another. I am thankful to be a part of the department and classes even though I am a public relations major. 

Communication

Although I am a public relations major I have been interested in communication studies ever since I started at San Jose State four years ago.  The study of communication is so broad that it can really be anything you want it to be. I see communication as a means of interacting between people through norms, actions, feelings and many other unique ways human beings relate. I am currently in an intercultural communications class and I love learning about different cultures around the world. It’s nice to see things from a broader scope rather than most of my classes that only involve the United States and our popular culture. Communication opens your eyes to things that you would never even realize and I always learn something new about one culture or another. I hope to learn more about communication through this introductory class as well.

I think having a degree in communication in great because you have so many possible options for jobs. Every career choice involves relating and communicating with people so I think it would be hard to go wrong being a communications major. With my public relations degree my ultimate goal would be to do PR in the fashion industry. Fashion, design and decorating are my favorite hobbies and it would be amazing to be able to find a job in one of those fields. I also love to plan events and wouldn't mind having a job in the event planning industry. I cannot wait to graduate and get into the real world with an amazing career that I love.