It’s been an incredible year since I arrived in the United States. I have many goals to achieve outside of class, and traveling is one of them. There's nothing better than traveling in the fall, and fall vacation will be a great time to take a break and travel. In early September, my friend casually mentioned to me that she had four days of vacation that she planned to use between now and the end of the year, and I knew from the start that, luckily, it would be a great opportunity to plan the trip with the with another person while practicing the negotiation skills I learned in class, as there would be several points to discuss and decide before finalizing the trip, including the no. number of days to travel, destination, places to stay, local mode of transport and travel budget. To start the conversation, we went out to dinner and shared our thoughts. Before our meeting, I spent time thinking about my preferences and determining the three key pieces of negotiation information: aspiration, resistance point, and BATNA. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First, I thought about myself. I wanted to visit Boston because I've never been there, plus it's lobster and crab season which are famous in Boston, and it's convenient to travel between cities on non-stop flights. Public transportation is ideal for me because it's cheaper overall than renting a car and I don't have to worry about parking. Regarding accommodation, I prefer to stay on Airbnb but staying in a hotel is acceptable. Time-wise, I wanted to travel around the end of October, before school started. So my aspiration is to convince her to go to Boston (destination), stay in an Airbnb (accommodation), use public transportation and by the end of October (travel time). Then I found out that accommodation and transportation are more flexible and destination and travel time are both important to me, so that's the minimum I'm willing to accept (my resistance point) throughout the plan. Finally, since I was the perfect travel partner(s) and the only one (or few) she could choose out of all her friends in Pittsburgh, I knew from the start that I had a BATNA stronger – if I'm not happy with the plan or I can't make a deal, I can just stay in Texas with my boyfriend. As dinner began, we chatted randomly about our lives. She talked about her job and her niece's birthday present. She had several options for a birthday gift, so I helped her decide. Then we moved on to the topic of travel. I quickly started the conversation by sharing my thoughts and saying, “Hey, let’s go to Boston for some delicious lobsters and crabs!” » because I learned that there are advantages to first mover and that the first offer is 70% correlated to the final results. I thought she would answer me immediately; however, she neither rejected my idea nor accepted it. Instead, she said she was more interested in West Coast cities like San Francisco or Seattle. This unexpected situation for some unknown reason made me hesitate, and we then spent some time talking among mutual friends. We ended up not reaching an agreement by the end of dinner, and by that evening I knew I had to develop a solid strategy for another round of negotiations. I came back and spent some time thinking about how I could convince her effectively. I have reviewed the planning document and consideredmore to our positions and interests. In addition, I recalled some important negotiation strategies in class: Negotiation should not only focus on interests, but also openly share information about interests and priorities. It's not just about claiming values, but also about creating values ​​and solutions that meet the needs of both parties. After analyzing the first round negotiations, I realized that I was too focused on my interests and ignorant to share the reasons as well as understand her and think from her point of view. Additionally, I started to hesitate and lost momentum when I noticed that she was not interested in my proposed plan. The next day I resumed the conversation, sending him messages and online pages with good food and beautiful photos of Boston. . I then explained that Boston would be a great place to travel for several reasons and strategically incorporated several questions: food, transportation, size of the city, days to travel, and values. In the messages, I said, “we can eat lots of delicious food/seafood (especially lobsters!) in the fall; there are many flights from Pittsburgh to Boston and we don't need to spend a lot of time on the plane. The size of the city is perfect for us to spend three days there and we can get around the city simply by public transport (we can also rent a car if you wish!); you know, the MBTA subway would be a convenient and inexpensive way to get around the city. » I also mentioned that museums and historical places would be interesting to visit, since I assume she likes history. In the second round, I tried to create values ​​for the Boston trip by focusing on things that are beneficial for both of us. Surprisingly, it actually worked. I was very happy when she replied that the blogs and photos I sent were very attractive and that she wanted to accompany me. Considering fairness and long-term friendship, I let her decide where to stay during the trip, because I learned from the course that adding her preference to the plan makes the pie bigger and to create more value. We both feel good about the trip planning process. After three days of discussion (including a face-to-face and several messages), we finally decided to spend 3 days in Boston at the end of October, live in my friend's favorite (luxury) hotel and take transportation in common. We are both pretty happy and looking forward to the trip to Boston. After thinking about the process, I think I did well on some things I learned in class: I tried to share information and photos during the second negotiation round and these actions actually gained his sympathy and trust . I also anchored high and designed a package that was not only beneficial for us but truly favorable for myself. This was a big improvement for me because I used to make a lot of concessions whenever I faced conflict or rejection. I am proud of myself because I care about a long-term relationship, I made only one concession in this negotiation and I am ready to include other contributions in the plan and satisfy everyone in the process. Although I have made good progress in trading applying the skills I have learned, there are still a few areas that I want to address and improve in the future. First, I need to spend more time understanding the reasons behind her thoughts and what motivates her to make these decisions. It is always important.