Personal Anecdotes: Anxiety, Adventure, and Unexpected Laughter
Overcoming Shyness: My Worst First Day of College
I have been a very shy person for as long as I remember, and my toughest moments are when I am surrounded by people I do not know. It is not until some time has passed and I get to know the other people a bit more that I can truly be myself. Moments like these occurred when I started an activity in a group I did not know, such as French classes in high school or joining a sports team. However, I will never forget my first day of college.
I was beginning a course of studies because I wanted to become an engineer. On the first day, I realized that there were about fifty people who were going to attend the lessons with me, and there was not a single person I knew. Although I was daunted by the number of students in that room, I was relieved that we were not yet asked to talk to anybody else, as teachers usually ask you to do on the first day of class to help everyone get acquainted. Anyway, I knew it was going to happen, sooner or later.
After two hours listening to a professor explaining the course subjects, the student self-introduction time began. When it was my turn to speak, I started to feel sick, and all I could do was say my name before dashing out of the class in great embarrassment. I was not used to speaking to strangers just for the sake of socializing. I was so embarrassed that I immediately left the building and did not come back until after the break. I considered it better to be alone in another place than in the break room with my new classmates.
I was still feeling terrible when I returned after the recess. I thought everybody would be waiting to laugh at me, but it was quite the opposite. A group of people who were chatting invited me to join their conversation, and a guy offered me mate later in the class. My uneasiness quickly disappeared, and I started feeling better. Looking back at that time and having made a lot of great friends in college, I admit that it was never such a terrible situation as I thought then.
A Near-Disaster on the Road Back from Las Vegas
I spent last summer living in the United States, having been offered a temporary winter job. It was an exciting experience because I got to know a lot of new people and places. Whenever I could, I would ask for a couple of days off with some friends and go on a road trip. Although these trips were very fun, I will probably never forget what happened to us on our way back from Las Vegas.
We decided to visit Las Vegas because of all the movies set there and the recommendations we received. Since there were seven of us, we rented a minivan and headed off to the city, which was about five hours from where we lived. Our stay in Las Vegas was incredible. We were overjoyed by it; it looked like a massive amusement park with all its fluorescent lights, the flamboyant casinos and hotels, and we even saw a couple of roller coasters that passed above the streets. On our last day, we checked out from our hotel, went to a gas station to fill up with fuel, and hit the road back home.
After three hours, we started running low on fuel, so we looked online for cheap service stations nearby. The closest one was about 50 km from where we were, and we decided to go there. Although we had to go through a deserted road in a snowy mountain range, it was our only chance of not running out of gas, so we bit the bullet and headed there. The path started becoming snowy, and at one moment, we could no longer pass because there were no other car tracks for us to follow, and the van was not powerful enough for the snow.
The problem was that if we turned back, we would not get anywhere before running out of gas, so our options were limited. We could either try to keep going or call the police for help. Being stuck there was dangerous because the temperatures were frigid cold, and it was very unlikely we could spend the night without suffering from hypothermia, so we were terrified.
Our solution came like a miracle from heaven when an SUV suddenly appeared behind us. The driver kindly offered to wait for and accompany us, so at least we were not alone. Since the SUV was capable of moving forward in the snow, we could follow its tracks and get to the service station safe and sound. Looking back at that situation, I am glad it went well, especially because we were in the middle of nowhere and the outcome could have been much worse.
The Worst Excursion: Lost and Exhausted in the Mountains
Last year, my friends, Bautista, Lorenzo, and I traveled to Bariloche, where there are many breathtaking landscapes with snowy mountains. My buddies had taken the initiative to climb mountains, since we had never done that before. I am not really into excursions or any kind of trips to natural places, and I was unsure if I was going to like it, but I gave it a shot. The first trek we made, named “Angels Landing,” was the worst experience ever.
We had been climbing for a couple of hours, and we still had around three hours left. The views were stunning, but after a while, I got bored because it was always the same landscape. The hill was all rocky, except for some vegetation and snow. In addition to this, I was in terrible shape, so I was really exhausted. At one point, I could barely breathe. I was not feeling well at all, so I sat for two minutes until I recovered. I did not tell anybody about it, so my friends continued their way up. After a moment, I decided it was time to go on. When I stood up, I realized I had no idea where I was, and I was alone.
I had lost track of everybody, so I started to walk in every direction. The more I walked, the less I knew where I was. I started calling my friends, worried that I might not see them again, but nobody answered. I stepped onto the highest rocks I found to try to spot any of them. I was so desperate that I started calculating my chances of surviving. Suddenly, I heard Bautista and sighed with relief. All my friends came running towards me; they all seemed to have been really terrified by what had happened. They started biting my head off, warning me about the dangers of the place.
When we were going down the mountain, they kept advising me not to get distracted, to remember the way, and to tell them if I ever decided to stay behind again. They told me that they did not want me to get lost again if we ever did another excursion. “That will be the day,” I thought to myself. I was moody, exhausted, I had had a terrifying experience, and the landscape had long ago bored me. I knew that I would never do this kind of excursion again.
Workplace Humor: Making My Serious Boss Laugh
Last winter season, I started working in a very prestigious hotel in Bariloche. Although it was a seasonal job, it was great, and I really enjoyed it, mainly because it was very relaxing during the midday lull. Our job was to take the guests’ skis and snowboards from the storage area to one of the main lifts in Cerro Catedral. However, between eleven a.m. and two p.m., we rarely had much to do, so we would spend that time getting to know each other. Without a doubt, the person with whom I liked to spend most of my time was my boss, Leticia.
My first impression when I met her was that she was a very unhappy person; in my first month working there, I had never seen her smile. I guessed that she wanted to look more serious or respectable in front of us, the employees. With the passing of time, she became a more relaxed person, which was a little awkward at first because I was already used to her seriousness. That was the moment I knew I could joke with her, and I decided that I had to make her laugh at least once before coming back home after the end of the winter season.
I started off by telling her bad jokes because these are the ones I usually enjoy the most, and I did not really know what could make her laugh, probably thinking that she might be into this kind of humor. I even tried “knock-knock” jokes, but all my efforts were futile. When she realized what I was trying to do, she started looking at me with her best poker face. I even tried learning cleverer jokes, but then the problem was that I am terrible at telling them, and I ended up looking very dumb.
The season was coming to an end, and after my failed attempts to make my boss laugh, I gave up. However, on my last week working in the hotel, something unexpected happened. I entered the hotel, carrying three pairs of skis, when I stepped onto a puddle of water and slipped, throwing everything and making a terrible noise. I was very surprised when I heard a great burst of laughter behind me and realized that it was Leticia. I can now say that was the first time I had seen my boss truly laughing.