Who You Are Matters Assignment One Giovanni Riad

Who You Are Matters

Assignment One Blog

My name is Giovanni Riad, and I am from San Francisco California. San Francisco is an incredibly beautiful city that has achieved a bad reputation, due to many wild criticisms, some of which are definitely valid. My family owns a small coffee shop in the Outer Richmond District. 


The way that I see San Francisco is through the lens of having worked at our family business my whole life. It is a city with interesting and kind people, which is tolerant to people of any background. People who live in San Francisco have diverse experiences and have a deep love for their city. 


While I have a deep love for the city I grew up in I have aspirations to live in the Middle East and specifically in Egypt. As an International Relations and Global Business Major I have an interest in global politics and specifically regional politics in the middle east. I hope to be accepted to one of the two intensive year long language programs located in the Middle East that I have applied to in order to achieve my goal of living in Egypt. 


Personality wise, I am eerily similar to my father. My mother has incredible emotional intelligence and has a deep rooted value for family. I would like to think that I have some of those same qualities. I think that many of the differences that I have noticed about my self and my parents, stem from the differences in our upbringings, whether that be cultural or temporal. The world is a different place today compared to when they grew up. Also my father grew up in a completely different culture which is that of Cairo. My mother also had a different cultural context for her childhood. While I was raised closely with the Italian side of my family, my mother grew up in Bensonhurst Brooklyn, which was a nearly entirely Sicilian neighborhood. 
 

I would say that I have developed my own expectations for myself. I am committed to building a life that is interesting and allows me to be happy. I think my parents have also given me expectations for myself in terms of developing a successful career. But, I think that ultimately I live to meet my own expectations.  

I have a friend who is involved in many social causes and protests, and when the fires erupted she immediately went to volunteer at an evacuee shelter. She runs towards issues and figures out how she can help and how she can get involved. I admire these qualities about her. 

I feel connected to tuna. I like that they are fast and that they stick together.


A significant encounter I had with a tree when I was younger was a tree in this trail that I would go to with my friends. We would climb the tree and spend hours there talking. 

Sun sign: Libra
Moon sign: Leo
Rising Sign: Aquarius

Comments

  1. Max YoungJanuary 17, 2025 at 5:32 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Nikita Mei WRIT340January 17, 2025 at 8:02 PM

    Hi Giovanni, I really liked how you mentioned how the world is a different place today compared to when our parents grew up. I definitely agree with you and notice both the positives and negatives that coexist with this fact.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ryan KozlowskiJanuary 18, 2025 at 8:04 AM

    I had an internship this summer in San Francisco, and I agree that it is somewhat of a misunderstood city. As an outsider, I can see how some of the criticisms are correct but that those criticisms limit the full picture. Overall, I enjoyed my time there and I am excited to move there after graduation!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM

    Hi Giovanni, I think the way you laid out this assignment is very fascinating. I'd love to know more about your desire to live in Egypt, as I also find the Middle East very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jack CherrymanJanuary 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM

    Gio, I really agree on the fact that the middle east, Egypt specifically, is a hugely interesting place in the world, and will only become more important in the future. I also want to live in the middle east and I tried to learn Arabic too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Grace's BlogJanuary 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM

    Hi Giovanni, it’s clear how much love you have for San Francisco and your unique upbringing! Your aspirations to live in Egypt and your passion for global politics are inspiring.

    ReplyDelete

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