Week 2 – I love Excel spreadsheets, lists and this degree!
Hello everyone and welcome back to round 2 of my KIPP Blog posts!
Week 2, Day 10
Right where do I get started? First of all, it was lovely reading other people posts and learning new things about people from my cohort. Not the usual “What’s your name” and “Where are you from”, but it almost seems like this gives us a bit of a deeper insight into peoples thoughts and feelings and at least for my part, it makes me feel more connected and I am glad that some others maybe ask themselves “What am I doing here?” as well 🙂 On that note, how was the rest of Week 1 and Week 2 so far? – a little like being on a sailing boat through yet unknown waters – but by gathering more and more information I am actually falling more and more in love with this degree & excel spreadsheets for that matter.
So last week I very generally elicited my soft and hard skills and briefly talked about how I want to work on them and in what way this programme will help me to do so. However, what I realised after publishing my blog article is that I didn’t really set myself very concrete goals. And since I LOVE a good list, I thought this might be good content for a second blog post. So here I am. I have reflected a little on how my last blog reflections translate into concrete steps, goals, projects and have started a little list (while definitely not exhaustive). I think this might just help me keep on track at times, add new goals to the list and keep me motivated whenever I need it. So here are my lovely two lists:
Soft skills:
- Learn as much as I can about new cultures! Exchange food, traditions, expressions!
I would like to work on my interculturality skills, learning more about the cultures of my cohort and actively challenging the ways in which my cultural background has influenced my way of everyday life such as how I tackle problems, interact with people etc. I specifically want to exchange culture in form of food, traditions and stories, but also critically reflect why I interact with people the way I do and how their responses might be different due to culture, personal characteristics and context. If I am unsure whether something is appropriate in a different cultural context, I want to ask my fellow students to explain it to me 🙂 –> Follow my passion for culture! - Leadership and Team work skills
During my undergraduate I was part of a Business School which involved a fair share of group work (hence nothing new to me). However, in this particular programme I think I will encounter new challenges when it comes to group work but also untapped potential to learn from various insights and disciplines because our cohort is so interdisciplinary! It’s great! - Timemanagement and I need to learn how to say “no”
While my timemanangement is usually very good, this year will pose a new challenge, since I have 2 part-time jobs next to my degree. Juggling these and learning how to say “no” when it’s too much is definitely on my to-do list. This also goes hand in hand with stress management! - Be creative like when I was 15!
During my undergraduate (as I mentioned in my prior blog post) I was usually operating within very tight assignment specifications. However, I always used to LOVE to use creative approaches to problem-solving and work. For instance, after having been on exchange I produced various content for the organisation that sent me abroad and used creative approaches, new methods and mediums through which to express myself. I have done a lot less of that recently, but have always enjoyed it loads. Hence I want to reconnect to my creative side. Start writing more, take more photos and find creative, unexpected ways of solving problems. –> Aim for the sky! Lol
Hard skills:
- Learn how to use data sets with confidence & where to find them
And use Phyton without being all confused and a little scared 🙂 - Understand the ethics behind data science
A lot of the modules I have chosen look at the ethics behind data science, digitalism, digital society – how it shapes our society, fosters and prevents inequalities. Every article I have read so far has inspired me and given me new insights and ideas. I want to keep reading and learning as much as I can to gain a more profound knowledge of the ethics and implications of our modern day world, but also to see what untapped areas of research there are – many of which are going to be super important in the future! - Languages – Languages – Languages
I have spend the past 12 years in education focusing particularly on language learning and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. While for once not being a “language student” feels weird, new and maybe even a little scarry I want to learn how to use my language skills as transferable skills and I want to keep fostering what I now so far. My goal is to keep practising French and Spanish in particular. Maybe go join the French/Spanish society, read books in foreign languages (maybe even course related) and try to read more Italian. Furthermore, if I have the time I would like to take up a new langauge in SEM2. - Marketing skills
Furthermore, I want to add onto my Marketing skills that I have gained during my undergraduate and currently use in my part-time job as a Marketing & Comms. officer. Who knows, maybe I can use them for my final project? - Academic writing skills
Since I would love to pursue a PhD after this programme I want to improve my academic writing skills and maybe seek feedback once I have a first draft for a research proposal.
Right this is all for now. I am sure I have more goals I will come up with over the new couple of weeks, but I will simply add them to my list and read over it itme and again to keep me on track!
Toodles, Kassandra
I havent “met” you yet Kassandra but your enthusiasm is definitely coming through via your blog post. I can totally identify with the difficulty of saying NO. I have noticed it becomes easier with practice 🙂 Excited to get to know you better on this big adventure!
I really hope it gets easier – I think I just get too excited and want do and help everyone but as you said I just gotta practise saying NO 🙂
Loved reading this Kass! I’m always up for museum/gallery/cultural activities when you find a spare hour on your schedule! 🙂
Hi Kassandra, I love love love how intentional your development goals are for this journey! Thank you for sharing them with us!
I went for a morning coffee with someone today and one of the things we spoke about was the importance of learning new languages. In particular I think in England and Scotland, we often fall back on this premise that everyone in the world wants to learn and speak our language. So by virtue of this, we’re good wherever we go! But languages teach you so much about different ways of communication, different cultures and different contexts! For example, the Hausa language doesn’t have many adjectives- instead you have to describe what you mean. This has helped me massively in America, where although they speak English, their English terms are very different to mine and so describing what I mean can get us to the same page quicker than guessing at times. It also allows for richer conversation! Whilst on this tangent, I may swell also add my view that once you start to learn a few different languages, there are also similarities in certain words that can spark great conversation. Anyway, my point is that I feel that learning a new language is a great thing to do (and goes beyond just being able to talk to different people from different places). In my view, this needs to be made clearer in our formative years! On that note, I’m also learning Arabic and would love to hear about your journey learning French and Spanish as it unfolds!
Hi there,
thank you so much for your lovely comment! It was reall good hearing about your insights and I completely agree – Language learning can enrichen you in so many different ways and could definitely be more in Scotland. I don’t know if you are aware of this but since Brexit a lot of language courses at universities across Scotland actually had to shut down – probably the lack of EU students.
Anyway, I would love to hear more about your experience with learning Arabic! And your enthusiasm is renforcing my movation to learn yet a new language. Since I also think it’s very different learning a completely new language than to keep practising one that I’ve learned for many years. Sometimes I forget how familiar I am already with Spanish, French, Italian and a lot of the embedded culture (I did my undergraduate in languages and intercultural communication) so I think learning a completely new language would be a good idea! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂