So here we are....

This semester has been a pretty busy one for me. Taking 18 credit hours, being involved in a student organization and having a social life is a lot to juggle. But that mix gets even more crazy when group meetings and projects are going on. I really don't think that I have had so many group activities to juggle ever! But now being apart of 3 groups, I have room to compare them. My first group is the group that I worked with over the weekend, I guess my temporary group for this class on the Family Mart crisis. We worked really well together, brainstormed efficiently and did the powerpoint together and got it done in about a hour and a half. I was actually impressed by how well we worked together. Well I guess we all have had practice, after all the class is small group communication and we all have other small groups we have worked with. But something was lacking from my temporary group, we worked well but I don't know if I would say that we bonded well together. We didn't really participate in any "small talk" and I still don't really know anything about those guys, except that we worked well together and I know their first names. But thats about it. I've heard about the fantasy chain reaction theory before in other com classes but it's really cool to reflect about it in regards to the groups that I am apart of. In terms of my Japan Crisis group, we didn't really have time to share stories about ourselves and really relate to each other on any level.

Another group that I am apart of is for my com 303 Intercultural Communication class. In that class, it was mandatory that we go out to dinner with our group first before beginning work on our final project. I thought that this was a great idea to break the ice and be forced to know a little bit about each other on a somewhat personal level. Though I like the people in my group, we haven't really started to meet consistently which really disrupts the flow of getting familiar with the people in the group. We have our first group meeting tomorrow so hopefully it will be organized and hopefully we will get to know each other better and become more relaxed with each other. But I really liked the idea of getting to go out socially first to establish some information about who we were as a group and it just makes the dynamics more comfortable. 

But it does take time for groups to form and establish a type of culture in a group. And now I come to this group, the Faithful Hodgepodge. First off, I feel like having a group name has some how helped us to identify with each other as being apart of something. In a way we are branded with our title and stand behind it. I thought that it was really interesting when Jasmine pointed out in class that while we got put into completely different groups last Friday, we came to class today and sat in our usual spots in our original groups. I never knew how comfortable I was sitting with my group. Even if I came to class late and had to sit somewhere else, even a row behind them I would feel out of place. It's strange how I have bonded with these guys. 

During our group meeting Sunday it was really relaxed and we are able to speak our opinions and give each other honest feedback. This is in contrast to my other com 320 group, where we didn't really talk about anything else other than the task at hand. Its really cool to see the change in dynamics. I am trying to think to the beginning of class, before I got placed into this group what I thought of these guys if anything. And I honestly can't really remember. Like Jason and I go to the same church and I knew Andrew before this class but even then we were just acquaintances. It's kind of funny how much influence a group can have in attracting you to the idea of getting to know the people that comprise it. Because it could really be all business, like it was for my Family Mart group but then again it isn't all play either like it is with my close friends. It's definitely different, and even special. We will always be the Faithful Hodgepodge, we all probably won't have any classes together again, or maybe talk to each other as frequently or if even at all in the future. But regardless of that, we still made the effort to make this group work. We have brainstormed, we are going through the process of completing a task, have shared fantasies (or stories for a better word) about ourselves and trust each other to put effort into making this group work. I've learned that through this process, it is important to have some what of a level of self-disclosure present when working with a group for a period of time. It just relaxes the environment and having some vulnerability helps us to be able to be honest with each other when it comes to discussing things regarding this service learning project. The Faithful Hodgepodge is as affective as we are because we are comfortable and have confidence in each other.

Peace. Love. Boiler up!

Dayna