This week I have decided to take up a challenge, how can I meet 50 new people within a time limit?
I had this overwhelming urge to make the most out of Segovia and connect with people. At first, I thought it would be easy and fun I basically had nothing to consider given that I would be leaving Segovia soon. Yet I came to realize that it was not going to be essentially natural nor could I possibly remember all 50 people. On the other hand, the idea of leaving the people I have met with a good interesting story to tell was exactly the reason, simple memories.
The task remained easy, go up to people, say hello, and then boom you are the weirdo running around searching for new students.
On the other hand, the task really was a task. I had a safety net to fall into due to the fact that I had a motive which was to write this article.
To achieve this test, I began with maths. I had only 120 minutes to meet fifty people, which gave me two minutes and forty seconds per person. I assumed not everyone would take that much time, while some would definitely be overtime.
I began my search at a fairly easy site, I went to grocery stores, the main subject of the experiment was to meet people and daytime seemed appropriate as I reflected on the amounts of people I have met in pregames or Irish that I know nothing about and will never speak with again. I actually got to sit down with some people in the school cafeteria later and have conversations with many. Inside the grocery store I just started with a random question, for example, Do you know where the iceberg is at?, followed up with “Do you go to IE?”.
This experiment taught me a couple of things firstly, everyone is approachable with a smile on their face, and we are an easy crowd to meet with.
Moreover, the experiment made me aware of a habit of our generation, exchanging Instagram pages. I have exchanged Instagrams so much in this experiment, I personally can’t keep up. I got to see the oxymoron of their profiles versus how they reacted with an unexpected encounter.
In this journey, I have met a multitude of people ranging from all classes and even exchange students that are only here for a few months. At the end of my time limit, I had met 43 people which means I fell short of my initial goal but did not fail incredibly.
Of these 43 people, 27 were first-years, 2 were exchange students, and the remaining were second-years.
Overall the journey made me meet 43 strangers and gain 43 new friends!
(Featured image courtesy of Dribble.com: Making a choice by Petra Sitaru.)
