The Paperbag speeches that we had in Professor *** Speech 103 class a few weeks ago were a great experience for me; it is my first speech class but I enjoyed doing my speech in a comfortable environment. I got to experience the great diversity in cultures from all over the world and got the chance to know a little something about each and every student in my class, which I wouldn’t have done otherwise. I noticed that every person has some unique characteristic, whether it’s their hobbies or talents. It is great to know about people’s interests and lifestyle, along with their personal background.

When Ms. first announced our assignment the first day, I had a feeling of excitement. Even though I’m not the best at giving speeches, I still wanted my fellow classmates to know the real me. Because I came from a different background from everyone else, I had a little something to share with everyone about my culture, lifestyle, interests, hobbies, and of course, my all-time favorite sport, Cricket. I went home that day with a million questions for my parents. They told me about my home country and the Indian Punjabi lifestyle that I was unaware of for 18 years; I was extremely fascinated when I found out where I came from and how I would have lived if I was back in India. The dressing style, the music and dance, art, food, rituals and even the daily lives of Punjabis was pretty impressive. My mother showed me old pictures of me when I was small wearing the traditional Punjabi dress but I didn’t want to bring those pictures to class because I thought it would be slightly embarrassing but now I regret; I think it would have been a little more interesting if would! I gathered all my old pictures with my parents and my relatives from India when I was small, along with some from my high school years, and all my cricket gear. It was great looking at old pictures and remembering the past years of my life. However, I was more excited to share my interest for Cricket because it is my favorite sport, and it’s something people from the United States might not have heard of.

On the day of the presentation, nervousness came over me. As I said before, I’m not the best at speeches, but the friendly environment in the classroom and the excitement that I had for several days helped me speak up and present my paperbag project comfortably. Looking at my classmates’ presentations, I felt as if my project wasn’t good enough. Despite that, I told myself that everyone is different and not everyone can do everything perfectly. Listening to my classmates talk about their hobbies and goals in life was pretty interesting. In fact, there were some people that had the same hobbies and goals as I had. Normally, I barely communicate with any of them, so there was no way to know these people if it wasn’t for this paperbag project. It was a great experience, and I look forward to having great projects like these in the near future.