When Book-sharing Invades Your Campus, Light Your Passion for Reading and Sharing!

It is no longer a secret that on Nov 1st, Emma Watson, the actress best known for playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, dropped 100 copies of books “accidently” around the London tube station for passengers to find, pick up, and read.

The reaction to her “book-throwing” action has turned into a rife phenomenon, which has generated a new type of relationship among strangers, book-sharing relationship. This ‘virtual’ relationship in real life is about peeling back the layers, involves a bit of mystery along with the interpersonal interaction.

If you are depressed about not being able to engage in the book-sharing activity in London, here is a great chance for you! Join in our activity “Interpersonal Relationship Books on Campus” and share your amazing books about interpersonal relationships with your schoolmates in the US.

Are you suffering from not getting involved enough on campus? Are you experiencing homesickness and “culture shock”? Are you trying to figure out ways to better deal with interpersonal relationships? Are you feeling isolated and hoping to meet more schoolmates?

“Interpersonal Relationship Books on Campus” is a great opportunity for you to walk around campus, read useful books, meet new schoolmates, and form a book-sharing community. Get involved in this meaningful activity, become the giver and receiver of books, and you are going to get more than you expect.

Reading is interesting, inspiring, thought-provoking, and empowering. Sharing is caring, helping you become better communicators and strengthen your social ties. If you are a book lover or intend to recover your long-lost enthusiasm for books, do not hesitate to participate in this exciting activity to meet other book readers sharing similar interests as you do.

How to participate:

We would like you to join us and leave some of the books about interpersonal relationships on your school campus. We would like you to look for and find these hiding copies of books and enjoy the reading. We would like you to leave notes and messages in the books to share your thoughts with other readers and get to know more mates.

If you want, you can even send us a picture where you have left the book; you can share with us your review and reflection after reading a book; you can bring your schoolmates and friends to join in this activity together. Drop us a line at  www.relationshipsabroad.wordpress.com

We have already gone out and left some of our favorite books about interpersonal relationships on USC and UW campus. They are there to be taken, read, shared, and enjoyed. Trojans and Huskies, now it’s time for you to look for these hidden surprises.

Recommended book list:

Here are some great books about interpersonal relationships for you to check and get started:

1. The Interpersonal Problems Workbook: ACT to END Painful Relationship Patterns
2. People Smart: Developing Your Interpersonal Intelligence 
3. How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships
4. Relationships 101
5. People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts

How to Ace Professor-Student Relationships?

This week, the tragic death of esteemed Professor Bosco Tjan who was stabbed by his graduate student is heartbreaking for everyone at USC. Even though nobody tends to relate professor-student relationship with a criminal act or a tragedy, negative relationships between professors and students can be distressing.

To international students in American universities, their professors, who are mostly native Americans, are not just their teachers, but also people who share different cultural norms with them. Therefore, I hope that my summary from interviews with 6 professors at USC can help you if you have ever been confused about how to improve professor-student relationships.