But What Did You Learn

We all have that mentor in our life who makes us think and keeps us on our toes. For me that has always been my Uncle Matt. His "engineer-type" thought process has always intrigued me and I always look forward to our conversations. Growing up he made algorithms for finding the perfect husband for all of us girl cousins, flow charts and graphs on the age a niece finds her uncle embarrassing, in addition to explaining the soap theory. One might say it is ironic that I am marrying an engineer who daily stretches my thought processor.

Back in May, while I was gearing up to leave for Europe, I had a conversation with my Uncle Matt. He himself has traveled Europe, and has even lived abroad in Germany while newly married. He gave me the typical advice like sleeping with your passport in a fanny pack on your body, the typical travel tips and tricks, and told me some of his fun travel stories. Then he asked an important question "How will you explain your trip to an employer someday in an interview?"

At his previous job he helped hiring new employees and interns and was part of the whole process. This question really stumped me. Yes traveling and seeing beautiful sights is personally fulfilling, but how can it showcase my professional skills? Well, this is different for everyone. Here is my take on it.

In an interview I can talk about how I problem solved.

Traveling is all about problem solving. When the trains are flooded, you miss a flight, your phone gets stolen, you have no wifi and can't find your friend at the airport, your luggage is lost by the airport, etc. Throughout my trip I learned how to pause, take a deep breath, and handle these situations with grace and authority. Before I would have just curled up in a ball in the corner and cried. Instead, I learned to ask workers questions and direction. I learned to fight for what I needed to fix the problem. When a train wasn't working, I talked to a worker who found a coach to take us to our destination instead. When I missed my flight because of a delay causing me to miss two connecting flights, I talked to Delta customer service and they put me on a new flight and even rerouted all of my luggage. Okay, I will be honest about that chapter in my story. On my way back to the US I was in the Toronto Airport and I missed my connecting flight from Toronto to Minneapolis, and then Minneapolis to Des Moines. I had been traveling for over 24 hours and was already fed up with the day. I missed my boarding time by 5 minutes. Leading up to this disappointment I had to make it through customs, baggage claim, had to recheck my bags, go through TSA, and find my gate. No one seemed to want to help me. So I took matters into my own hands. I started to cry and become vulnerable. Once I opened up the flood gates, I received help and was transferred to a different flight and was on my way. Now I"m not saying you should cry to get what you want, but I am saying that you need to be vulnerable and stray away from coming off as demanding.

I can talk about how customer service is important.

Customer service is everything. When Vueling cheated my friends out of $200, SwissAir refused to take ownership of losing our luggage, and Great Western Railway promised us that they had coaches on their way to pick us up when in reality they weren't, my views and their reputation were diminished in my eyes. Yet when Delta put me on a flight last minute to get me home that night, I learned how important it is to show love and care on the front line to customers. In Brussels Belgium I got to meet the owner of a world renowned chocolate company. Seeing the care he puts into every customer he encounters was very inspiring. He even offered some of his body guards who have a background in the army to my friend and I if we didn't feel safe at night. Now that is customer service.

I can talk about a time where I failed and I learned how to fix it.

When I missed my first flight, I had to learn the hard way to double check boarding times. My boarding time was displayed using the 24 hour clock which always seems to confuse me and trip me up. Well, because of it, I missed a flight. I was very hard on myself about it and wouldn't let it go. I realized that everyone makes mistakes, and this is one I could fix and move on from. The next day I rode the bus back to the city of Bristol, and got on the next airplane. I fixed my mistake even though I lost some money along the way, but at least I learned a lesson out of it.

I can talk about all of the trips I organized and planned.

While I was in Europe I didn't have any events to plan (besides my wedding which is over a year out). I felt very deprived of everything color coded, in spread sheet form, or anything I could analyze and organize. Thus, my energy was channeled into planning excursions. It is not as easy as it sounds. Once we picked a destination we needed to book plane tickets, transportation to and from the airport in both the arrival and departure cities, hostels, currency exchanges, sights and activities we wanted to do and if we needed pre-booked tickets, and anything else that required preplanning.

Even my engagement pictures required a lot of planning. Coordinating with my photographer on locations, outfits, and schedule. I spent a lot of time picking all of my outfits as well as Lucas' which was a challenge since I was overseas. I also spent time researching photo locations as well as asking friends who have traveled to London for their advice. I spent time matching up locations with outfits for the perfect mood/atmosphere, I made a route for us to follow for locations which also had color coded which outfit went with which location as well as which public transportation we needed to take. It was a lot of work, but so fun and so worth it. I love styling and coordinating photo shoots so this was truly an experience of a life time.

I can talk about what I love doing.

Through my time blogging for the Iowa State Study Abroad Center I have found a love and passion in blogging as well as video journeys. I always loved writing growing up. It probably helped that my grandfather spent over 30 years as a high school English and Speech teacher, and my mom started her college career as an English major. Public speaking and communicating always seemed to come easy to me and I loved sharing my thoughts and words in creative ways.

My freshman year of college I took my final general education English course. My instructor was extremely harsh on me and gave me unfair marks. He really rattled the self esteem of my inner voice. I no longer wanted to share my thoughts and ideas for fear of failure, embarrassment or rejection. After talking with a classmate of the same class two years later she reaffirmed that I am a strong speaker and writer, and that our teacher just had a personal problem with me. I have since found my voice. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me in my writing and for sharing my journey along with me. I am excited to announce that I have accepted a position as a blog intern for The Yes Girls for this upcoming year. Writing about love, proposals, and brainstorming with other event planning enthusiasts is honestly a life long dream of mine. The Yes Girls team is made up of women all over the country: San Diego, Orange County, Dallas, Massachusetts, and Kansas just to name a few. I am excited to add Iowa to that mix starting in January.

So once again, thank you for walking alongside this journey of mine. It truly has been a pleasure. The next chapter of my life: inspiring others in their every day life instead of only in magnificent far off places.

xoxo,

Leah Joy