Semester 2, Assignment 1 : Are you what you wear /Buy /Sit on /Sleep in /Talk to?

 Over the Christmas Holidays we were to read '' Snoop : What your stuff says about you'' by Sam Gosling in order to have an idea of how to snoop and do complete assignment 1 of the second semester. This book is about what the way you organize your personal belongings, office, bookshelf etc. reveals about you. Gosling talks about how people display things they want other people to notice in a visible and outstanding way or perhaps change their personality by organizing their personal spaces differently. He believes that some elements of our daily lives can say more about our character than our most intimate conversations.



For assignment 1 we were paired up by our lecturer with somebody we had never met before and had to exchange photographs of us growing up and doing activities or of our house, rooms etc. Once we received each others photos  we started snooping and finding/ assuming things about the other persons life. My snooping partner was Andrew Leitch from Graphics Design. Andrew sent me some photos of himself while i sent him photos of my room. I didn't trust my mother in choosing photographs of me growing up for this assingment as all my old photos are back home in Kos.

1 of Andrews photos!

After analysing the pictures, we arranged to meet up and discuss what we discovered about each other and note what we got wrong and what we got right. We never met for our first ''date'' and I thought I got stood up, but it turned out he didn't receive my last e-mail about where exactly to meet and we missed each other in the library. We arranged a second date later on the same day though and finally went through our notes.

I was a little reluctant about reading my notes out because I thought I would be wrong about a lot of things, but surprisingly enough I didn't do too bad. Judging from his photographs I could actually imagine what kind of person he could be. Most of the photos were of him on holiday and doing activities, so I assumed he must be open to learning about different cultures and having new experiences. It looked like he were a nature person and enjoyed outdoor activities with his family, as one of his pictures is of him on a fishing boat, possibly with his father or another member of family. In one of Andrews photos, he is wearing huge traditional Swedish shoes which tells me that he has been to Sweden. The photo is funny but you can tell he used to be (possibly still is) a shy person by the way he has his arms hidden behind his back. There is a picture of him in a big store in Sweden and although the shop looks cluttered with a lot of different products, games and clothes, he is looking at leather belts. I thought that revealed that he was sensible from a young age and acted mature. he has also got a brother but I couldn't work out which one of them was Andrew cause they are so identical but I guessed he was the oldest of the two. His taste in clothes is casual and sporty so that gives me another reason to believe he is an active person. I also noted that his favorite color  might be red because he is wearing red in three different photos. Overall I thought he is a n adventurous, cultured, easy going/ kind person ( kind face), family orientated, sensible and funny person. Andrew pretty much agreed with all my findings apart from the fact that his favorite color is red (that might have changed over the years) and he never really thought of himself as being shy.

1 of the photos I sent him!

His turn to tell me about myself came and I was curious to see what my room in Dundee says about me. Andrew noticed my Rosary beads and a couple of cards I've got on my wall by my desk and came to the conclusion that I am religious, more specifically Catholic and that I seek guidance which is true. Judging by my books he said that I am dedicated to the subject I am studying , he also spotted one of my Greek books and made out that English isn't my first language. he was right about that too, English isn't my first language, i was brought up with three, firstly Greek then English and Turkish. He thought I have photos of my family on my wall to remind me of them cause they are so far away and that I enjoy dressing up, partying and having fun. Also, he said I'm open to new experiences and I love traveling. The only things he got wrong was that I've got a younger sister cause he saw drawings from a young person on my wall, he wasn't too wrong really cause they are from my little cousin. Another thing he wasn't right about was that I've been to Australia. Unfortunately, I haven't been yet but I really want to visit my uncle. He thought that I had been cause he saw an instrument by my desk that looks like it's got Aboriginal Art on it, but I actually bought it on a market stool in Dundee last Spring.

In order to be able to do this assignment and see what facts Andrew said about me I knew of or didn't know of I used the Johari window. It has four boxes in which you have to fill each one with appropriate words  that best describe your personality.




Snooping was fun to do and I definitely notice other peoples stuff and try and figure out their personality after reading that book. I was really interested in finding out what other peoples impression of me is by not even meeting me. So that is the end of assignment 1, bring on assignment 2. :)