Hello, my name’s Ilka Borbon, my pronouns are she/her, and my intended major is economics.

At first, I was scared of how this course was going to be like, but after the encounter, there are a lot of things I want to share after my first class. First, I’m very excited to engage more in this course; I look forward to learning more as I observe, engage, and understand more other communities. On the other hand, I appreciate very much how the syllabus is done. It includes every unimaginable information, from contacts, to the assignments’ schedules and due date, also amazing descriptions of what and how we need to do the projects, which really helps a lot and gives a better understanding, of literally, everything we’ll do in this class, and the readings we should do before class. At the same time, a very enjoyable class, and environment; and an easy-going and flexible professor, who makes everything easier. Another thing that noticed my attention was that after reading more the materials, I noticed how unique and innovative the course, and projects were. Because, I had the impression of this class being stricter and tiresome; however, it is not like that. It includes various topics and will go beyond of knowing what other cultures do, and focus more on the “why,” and the effects of the culture in a society or group, how they behave, and the influence of a culture in their identity. And, besides learning and understanding backgrounds, we will develop our skills, by becoming good researchers, and redacting more. Which will help us in the future to become better writers.

Through my High School years, I had the opportunity of observing, and even comparing, different groups and their behavior, especially after moving to the United States a year ago.  For example, I learned how different each individual behaved based on where they were from, and even where they were raised. Also, I could see how relationships and bonds are built based on, starting from friendships and family. And, I realized how culture impacts and shapes individuals, like the way they act or express themselves. I can say that my experience with this was new knowledge and a new point of view of the effect of culture, but most important the influence of it, like on the way they live.

Some of the ways that helped me observe and engage more with communities and different from my own, was as I mentioned, through comparing them with presentations and projects, and social media. Through these two ways of learning, I mainly focused on Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean communities; and also learn new ideas I didn’t have an idea of from my own community. I am someone who loves music, and lately I’ve been knowing more of it. For example, other communities use music to share their history, some songs even explain what they went through. Besides appreciating the music and rhythm, I understanded more of ancestors, social, and political problems that other groups faced.

Lastly, what I’m most excited about is the projects where we get to interview and interact with more people. I want to learn more about their perspectives and experiences.