Interview with jacobJacob is one of my best friends at Emory. We met last September, and became the best of buddies due to having many common interests like music and sports. However, one of the most interesting things between Jacob and I is the fact that we both experienced moving to a different high school. Therefore, when I heard about interviews, I thought about Jacob right away due to his experience as a transfer student in a new high school. In order to really share our common experiences, I have decided to use an Interactive Interview(define it) as a method to interview all of my interviewees. At first I was a bit worried that sharing my own experience would distract my interviewees. However, as I read more about Interactive Interviewing I learned that interviewers sharing their own stories does not interrupt interviewees but promotes better interviews by making interviewees feel more comfortable to open up about their experiences. Therefore, I decided to do an Interactive Interview. As I stared at Jacob in his dorm's lounge, he stared at me, expecting to answer some trivial questions about his past. I started out with a simple question: "So Jacob, you told me before that you moved to Duluth, Georgia from Maryland. When did you move here?" "When I was a Junior in high school," Jacob replied. "Why did you move here?" "It was my parents' decision to move here, because of my dad's business," Jacob answered. At that moment I could already see how Jacob would have reacted when his parents told him that they would move to Georgia. When he said ,"It was my parents' decision," it reminded me when I heard that we would move from Toronto to Seattle. Like Jacob, I didn't have any power against my parents who already made their mind. No matter how loudly and repeatedly I objected, my parents pretended as if they couldn't hear me. Therefore, I decided to open up my story as I prepared for the next question. "How did you feel when you heard that you would move during your junior year of high school? "I just didn't get why I had to move because of my parents' business. Like when I think about it right now, I agree that that was the best choice for them, but at that moment, I was so annoyed about the fact that I would not see my friends in Maryland. I was also afraid of moving to a new school which would be full with unknown people," Jacob replied. "Actually Jacob I can totally understand you right now, because as I told you before I also moved during 9th grade from Toronto to Seattle. Like I wanted to ask my parents why they would arbitrarily decide to change my life. My parents claimed that the reason for us moving was to give my sister and me the better future, by providing opportunity to go to American colleges. However, honestly, I didn't really care about whether I go to colleges in America or Canada. Like I didn't care whether America provided more opportunity than Canada." Jacob seemed very retrospective while listening to my description about the situation when I was forced to move. After pausing for about 10 seconds, Jacob asked me a question. "So did you actually shout out loud and asked your parents why they were deciding to change your life?" Jacob asked. "No I couldn't. I didn't want to hurt my parents' feeling though. Like though I hated the fact that I had to move, but I knew that my parents had a purpose for me." I answered. |
Suddenly I was curious whether Jacob actually protested out loud against the moving. I knew Jacob had not, because he really loves his parents, but I was just curious whether I was the only one who couldn't speak in front of parents. When I was about to ask the same question he asked me, Jacob spoke.
"Same here even though I hated the fact that I had to move, I couldn't shout out loud, because I knew they love me and had to get better business to give more opportunity to me," Jacob answered with sympathetic eyes. I was right. Jacob and I were like the same types. When a situation that we don't prefer happens due to our friends or beloved ones, we always complain, but we never actually refute them. We always believe that our friends and family have reasons. "Now lets talk about after moving. So you transferred to Duluth High School right?" I asked. "Yup Duluth High School. We are the Cougars." Jacob replied. "What was the most difficult thing when you became a transfer student?" "I realized how my outgoing and active personality could suddenly change into inactive and shy one. Like everyone in the new school knew among the others, and I felt like an outsider. I didn't want to talk wrongly or weirdly in front of them, because I was afraid about them judging me. " Jacob thoughtfully answered. "Yeah I totally understand that. I was very outgoing in Canada too, but after moving into a new school called Newport High School, I was really overwhelmed with the new people. I wanted to give a good impression to the new people, so I just remained quiet rather than talking. I didn't want to show true myself. I thought that was a good way to start new relationships." We just stopped talking for a few seconds. We both knew how sad it is to not be ourselves. Believing hiding ourselves was the best way to give a good impression, Jacob and I both struggled. When I was about to speak again due to the awkward silence, Jacob spoke. "That's right. As you said I didn't want to show myself. However, I realized that this was not a great way to make new friends. Rather than giving a good impression to the new people, I was more recognized as unsocial and timid one. In the beginning I was just trying to be quiet temporarily, but as the time passed I just became a timid one who doesn't really open up oneself. Yeah I made some friends, but I couldn't really open up myself to them." Jacob agreed. "Yeah I just became a quiet one. Well, but it got better after some months. Like I started to open up myself gradually, and now I still talk to my high school friends in Seattle." I mentioned. "Of course, well like I gradually opened up myself too as the time passed. However, I think this experience taught me the fact that I can be a shy person even though I am not originally, because of a situation. I learned that people can change because of the changes in their environment. And this is why..." As Jacob continued I interrupted his answer. "And this is why we both today try to be friendly to anyone who are experiencing difficulty adapting into Emory. Like we are all freshman and are new to this place. Though we are friends and we have more friends, we still see people who are very socially inactive. I think we have a better understanding than other people toward these people who still didn't open up their true personality. That's why we try to keep talk to them and eat lunch together whenever they look alone," I concluded. " Yeah right basically movings during high school that we hated so much in the beginning gave us experiences of becoming socially inactive, and gave us better understanding of other people," Jacob mentioned. "Yeah that's right though at that time we felt so difficult, I think moving really gave us precious experiences." As I concluded, I watched the clock and found out it was past 1 am. I told Jacob sorry about interviewing longer than we had promised. I also thanked him for his serious and supportive answers to my questions. (Keep going little bit) |