Session 1:
In the first session we began to introduce ourselves and each one of us said his name, age, and his university and in which major. Then the facilitators Wren and Sena introduced themselves and we discussed what does dialogue mean and I said that it is between 2 or more people we can see a dialogue in a film or a play. We differentiated between what is dialogue and debate. The difference is that in the debate we have to prove our side and make it stronger. We also mentioned the qualities of a dialogue and it is how we respect each other opinions.
The facilitators also asked what sort of norms and expectations we would have from the dialogue. We said that before you disagree you must hear first others opinions and if you disagree with other person we have to do it in a polite way. we talked also about people who can’t engage in a dialogue in a society. It depends on the age level. It has to be on a similar level. I said that in Egyptian society we have limits, to what you talk about. Support individuals within a group in understanding their common objectives.Help people collectively move through a process.Structure conversations and apply appropriate group facilitation techniques to keep discussions effective.
Wren and Sena our facilitators asked us about aspects of identity and I said Egyptian because I am proud to be from Egyptians Student I am a student at AUC Political scientist because I like to be engaged in political conversations. Leadership skills: I like to take the lead in group project. Brother as I have to sisters older than me. Hard worker because I like to work hard in everything that I have to do like assignments and things like that. Well organized as I am always keen to organize my room and keep it clean and tidy. At the beginning of my semester at AUC I did the same activity of aspects of identity with my Professor Maha Bali.
Wren and Sena asked what do you do you expect to learn from Soliya. I said that “we must take the opportunity to learn things about different cultures.” However, my colleague Melissa agreed with me and said “I agree. It would be a boring conversation if we were the same. Better we have different perspectives on things.” They also asked “Do you think you might approach a topic differently if you are looking at it through your gender, as opposed through your nationality, for example.” I answered “It depends on the topic.” Melissa said” On some topics, one aspect of my identity might be the most relevant.”
We also talked about if the offline and online identities are the same. My colleague Ricardo said “This isn’t the same as an offline conversation. My type of humor is formed by my Italian background. I’m used to touch people, use my hands. Not the same through a camera.” Additionally, I said that “Some people can express themselves more freely online / offline.”
Session 2:
This session was with my Dr. Maha Bali my professor at the University. We talked about well-being and what does well being mean. I said that well-being is theexperience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and ability to manage stress. More generally, well-being is just feeling well. Additionally, well-being has many components, such as mental, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual.
We also discussed how people can manage stress during the COVID-19 Crisis, as everyone around the world stayed at home. This would be effecting people badly, so we talked about how people can get over it and live they healthy life and how to be productive at work, university or school. I really enjoyed this session because we had a very interesting conversation and I learnt form it a lot such as how to manage stress.
Session 3:
In this session I experienced a very bad internet connection, but hopefully I managed to read the chat. Sena and wren Asked us a question at the beginning of our session which was “If you have access to a time machine where and when would you want to go.” I said that I would want to go back to the school senior year, because it was so much fun. However, Ricardo said” that he would love to go back to the 90’s pop culture.
Then we were also asked to draw what the facilitators say, we followed wren instructions. I thought that I was drawing an elephant because when he said that the creature has a long tube trunk. I learned from this activity that each and every one can take this description and can translate it according to his or her perception. We also talked about abortion and how every country that we live in responds to it.
Session 4:
This was our last session and I entered the discussion at 6:45 as I was having iftar. This session was very interesting as our facilitators asked us “what is one thing you’ve found to do that has made you happy during the coronavirus quarantine? (If you feel comfortable) What is something that you have been worrying about during this uncertain time? If was there I could say “the most thing that made me happy that I had an opportunity to sit with my family and give them more time. However, the most thing that I was worried about was the online classes and how would I adapt to this change.”
Another question was “How do you choose what information you want to share or produce on social media?” I said “I like to post pictures on my own or with my family.” However, Ricardo and Melissa said that they hardly post anything.
Then finally we had a free flowing discussion about Corona lockdown and how it affects. I mentioned that in Egypt we normally had a curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM every day. I also mentioned that I was using different type of applications to talk with my friends video call such as Facebook messenger and house party. They also asked us What motivates you to believe the government’s recommendations? Why do you follow these guidelines / rules?” I said that the government transparency should motivate me to follow its guidelines. Following the government guidelines is a must because I belong to this country and I must respect what the government say because it will protect me from catching the virus. I added also that the government is doing a great effort to protect people from catching the virus.
Conclusion:
Finally, I think that the dialogue in Soliya is different from any other dialogues I had before. In Soliya I met different people from different cultures and I gained a new experience which was we all talked freely expressing their opinions which was based on their cultural differences. This platform was different because every session we choose to have an open discussion about a topic that we chose. However, other platforms that I use in university is based in the professor lecturing on zoom meetings.
I think that I enjoyed these sessions because they were very engaging and I knew new people from different countries. From these sessions I knew that I am a sociable person and I was able to interact with the facilitators and my colleagues and this would be shown from the reflection that I had done for the 4 sessions above.
What I can do to foster my communication skills online that I should try to lead the discussion and I am thinking about taking training to be one of the facilitators in one day hopefully. However, what I should do regarding the face to face interaction I can be contacting people on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and snapchat etc. all in all I think that I gained a lot from this experience and I think that I benefited a lot from this opportunity.
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