Soliya Reflection

Soliya Reflection

The first time my professor told me that we were doing something called soliya, I didn’t know what it was, then after she explained it, I was really excited to meet different people from the around the world. However there was one thing I didn't really like at the start and that’s when I knew the it is going to be for 2 hours, at first I thought that that it was a long time and I would normally have either midterms or assignments on that day, so I got a bit worried.

My first session then came and I really liked the way we introduced ourselves, and I got to know everyone in the group and everyone friendly and there were a lot of similarities between us even though we came from different cultures and countries. Some  people had different technical difficulties, which didn’t make the first session very smooth. Then the other sessions were very smooth and all of us were able communicate very well, i really enjoyed the sessions in which we had the freedom to talk a topic of our choice, as I would ask a lot of questions to people from other cultures to know more about that specific culture, and the same thing would happen to me. I also found that a lot of us really think alike and have the same opinions and ideas, this helped make the conversations a lot more easier and more exciting as we started to understand each other better. Then the mindset of 2 hours too long, changed as it just went by, because the sessions were fun, and I considered as change from always studying for exams and doing assignments.

I’ve learned a lot from soliya and from the sessions we had, which have affected the way in which I would conduct intercultural dialogue. Soliya gave me a lot more confidence when I get to speak, I know that my english is fluent but I didn’t really speak a lot with people from a different background, at first I wouldn’t really speak a lot, as I thought a lot of what I had to say before I speak, now I would just say on mind and I would listen and see others reactions and their comments on what I have to say. The most important lessons that I have learnt, where that I have to be patient when listening to others and that it doesn’t matter where we all come from, our backgrounds and culture build our characteristics and personality and ideals and beliefs but at the end we are all the same, we are all humans.