TTC POST-EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What kind of expectations did you have prior to the start of the project?

When I was first approached to participate in this project, I was extremely excited, because I felt it was an excellent opportunity to practice my English. I was also eager to see what it was like to talk to another teenager from a different country and a different culture. Mostly, I wanted to learn from her and for her to learn from me. In my mind, I was hoping it was a balanced exchange of experiences and life lessons. 



2. Were you satisfied in every aspect? Was there anything you found disappointing?

I’m afraid I wasn’t completely satisfied with the exchange. At first I felt the connection between me and my e-buddy, but then, the exchange in which we were involved became uneven and that’s what I found most disappointing. Initially, there was a mutual interest in getting to know one another. However, when we surpassed the early stages of introducing ourselves, our communication turned in her direction and what she needed from me in order to pass her assignment. I felt as if there had never been a real interest in myself, as a person, but as a source of information that she could use for her paper. I’m not asking to be friends for life, but it’s almost too rude to disappear as soon as you get from the other person all the information that you need.  And she didn’t even tried to obtain that information in a subtle way… she just asked, in one e-mail, if I could answer every question she had… like a sort of poll that I had to answer for her to do well in her paper. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I felt used. I would never do such thing. Now, when I see her online, once in a blue moon, I start to wonder in search of an explanation… and then I remember she is British. 


3. Was communication with your e-buddy mostly transactional or interpersonal? Why?

As I said before, our communication was, at first, interpersonal. We exchanged pictures of ourselves, our families, even our boyfriends. We used to e-mail on a daily basis, as well as chat through the Messenger. However, the minute we became acquainted, the focus of the relationship switched to a strictly transactional mode. Basically, I became her source of information. And to me, that’s neither a relationship nor a communication: it’s a favour that I had to do for her, because she directly asked me to. 

4. Did you feel comfortable during both transactional and interpersonal exchanges? To what extent?

I felt extremely comfortable with the interpersonal exchange. Not so with the transactional. I personally think that you can obtain the information for the assignment through an interpersonal exchange. For example, you can ask the other person, while talking to her, to tell you about the type of government her country has, the way of life that is characteristic of her country, the educational system her country has and so on. My e-buddy chose, instead, the strictly transactional exchange. That, to me, is not only rude but also a bit dumb, because you can get a lot more information from another person if you, at least, pretend you actually care and that you’re not only doing it for an academic purpose. I wish the exchange could have continued being interpersonal.

5. What sort of relationship did you expect to form with your e-buddy? How did your original expectations differ from what actually happened?

I thought I would find in my e-buddy an acquaintance, someone I could call up when in England to say: “Hey, I’m here, let’s get together”. My expectations were far from accomplished. After I provided her with everything she needed to know (and I did so with the utmost detail and dedication), all I got was a “Thank you, I won’t be in touch for a while, I am very busy with school”. I felt like saying: “FYI, I was and am very busy too. Nonetheless, I took the time to answer every question you had as if it were my own paper”. 

6. What do you think were your e-buddy’s expectations about the project?

All she wanted was to do her paper and to do it well. She couldn’t care less about Uruguay, our culture or our lifestyle. I felt she was doing it just for the sake of doing it, not because she had a genuine interest in it. I thought that if she was studying something related to communication, maybe she would be a little bit more open-minded than the people that live in fancy countries. But she turned out to be exactly like the vast majority of them: living in their own bubbles, not even knowing if Uruguay is a country or the name of a disease. In that way I felt extremely disappointed, because I actually wanted to learn from her. But I guess she just wanted to learn from her books and not from real life. 




	TTC CMIC post-experience questionnaire 2007