Preparations and Definitions

Happy Tuesday everyone!
This was my first "full week" of classes, meaning I had both courses one day after another. Yesterday was my first speech writing class, and despite the fact that public speaking is out of my comfort zone , I think I will really like it. The professor is very laid back and realizes that most people have a natural fear of speaking in front of people. The first class was pretty standard, we did an introductory survey, went over the syllabus, and broke into teams where we had to interview another classmate and stand up in front of the class and introduce them. Today was my second government relations and lobbying class. We went over articles we found over the week that related to the class, had a lecture on ethics of lobbying and did a group activity based on an article we had to read. All in all it was a great week!
Getting to the title of this post, this week, I learned that I need to be more prepared in adjusting to my new schedule. As part of my government relations and lobbying class we had to subscribe to a daily newsletter from Governing.com. I did this a few days ago and received two newsletters, but this morning I had  brain fart and logged onto my email with the intention to access the newsletter and I totally forgot why I checked it. I realized this about an hour before class so luckily I had time to skim an article and make it to the train on time. From now on I will read the newsletters daily as I get them so I don't have to cram before class. Another lesson in preparation I learned today was that I should always assume technology may fail. My train gets me to the area where my school is 30 minutes prior to class, so I figured I had enough time to stop at Starbucks about 2 blocks away from my school building before heading in to print out handouts for class. I got to Starbucks in about 5 minutes after getting off the train and got my drink very quickly so I ended up getting to the building 15 minutes early and figured I would be able to print my handouts and still be punctual with time to spare However, the printing system was very slow and I ended up getting to my classroom 2 or 3 minutes late without my handouts which kind of embarassed me because I am typically extremely punctual and always have my work. Fortunately my professor had enough copies of everything because she realizes that not everyone has access to a printer. Just in case this isn't always the case and I don't have access to a printer at home I am going to have my dad print things for me at his job and give them to me prior to class since his office is close to my campus. In terms of definitions I am referring to how I define myself. My first assignment for speech writing is to create an 8-10 minute presentation about something personal to me. Of course the first thing that came to mind was to talk about my experience living with Spina Bifida and how it has effected me in a positive way. I mentioned this idea to a few family members and they opposed it because they think that by doing this as my first speech I am letting Spina Bifida define who I am. I disagree with this because the assignment is to speak about something personal and my experience with Spina Bifida is very personal and unique to me. I would appreciate feedback from you all on this dilemma and if you think I should choose a different topic let me know why. I will talk to you all next Tuesday.