Culture Shock / Information Design

Professor Stoner's study of culture shock is something that I could strongly relate to. The evidence she presented holds true to some of the things I have been through myself, specifically when I came to UIC.

The "Honeymoon" phase was the days before classes started and everyone was moving in. It was exciting and I was meeting a lot of people. Time went by and classes started. After a couple weeks, classes began getting tougher; and then months, friendships both at school and from back home started falling apart. This lead to my culture shock.

I went through a period where I just didn't like college period. Asher Roth's song "I Love College" came out the summer before the semester started and school was nothing like the song or the video. I wasn't talking much, to my roommate or anyone else. It was a stressful period that lasted the rest of my freshman year.

I didn't adjust until my sophomore year. By now I had accepted that the school I chose wasn't anywhere near the cliche college experience I expected. I now knew to focus on class and just go with the flow socially. Since UIC is in Chicago, I realized that I didn't have to limit myself to one area socially or professionally, which made things a lot better.

I still haven't mastered the concept of college yet. Things are always changing and there is always something shocking me that I need to adjust to. Since campus housing is no longer affordable (it never was really) I have to adjust to commuting. Commuting I'm sure will be much easier to master.

Professor Steele's lecture on the Internet and Information Design was very confusing. The only parts I understood was the first part on theory and practice and the Social Capital Theory. I have encountered both these principles in life through growing up and through being in college working towards a career.

The idea that theory informs practice, practice refines theory is logical in how humans approach life lessons. The saying "an ounce of experience is more than a pint of advice" is the first thing this principle reminded me of. Humans form theories on things in life, but the practice that these theories apply to causes us to refine these theories because of how situations change due to the many individual circumstances that affect them.

Social Capital Theory is the principle that is most important to me. I believe that a strong network is more important than a GPA. For a career, it isn't always about what you know, but who you know. Building a strong network of important and trusted individuals enables you to also be trusted by the people in positions of power. It can be the difference between you getting the job or not getting the job you desired.