Today on February 12, 2019 I spoke with DJ for an hour through Skype in my bedroom. We talked about Korean weddings, the Korean Lunar New Year Celebration, hanboks (traditional Korean attire), and online shopping. I learned that Korean weddings can be complex and that they can have multiple parts, such as a ceremony with the white dress and tuxedo, then another celebration with hanbok. In the Korean Lunar Year celebration, people give thanks to their ancestors, kids bow to their elders, and sometimes the elders give the kids money. DJ was explaining the kinds of gifts married couples receive and then I explained how in America, it is popular to sign up with companies to create a wedding registrar online, such as with Target or Amazon. Then going off on that topic, I told him how the CEO of Amazon once said that he knows Amazon will not last forever because companies don't usually last for more than 100 years. He will try his best to keep adapting Amazon to consumer behavior, but he realizes that Amazon can probably not last forever. I asked DJ if he thought those were wise words and then I further explained to him that although it is hard for us to imagine that such a huge and prominent company might one day go bankrupt, that it really isn't that far fetched of a conclusion. For example, Blockbuster used to be huge back in the day, but little did they know that Netflix would one day take over and make them quickly go bankrupt. I explained how emerging technologies can disrupt industries and take over, and he agreed with my opinion and told me I made a good point. I love having these conversations because they are very relevant to the society we live in and make you think about how the world is changing.
My third conversation partner meeting was with Josue, my conversation partner from Paris, France. He suggested that we go to a restaurant for this meeting, and recommended the Colombian restaurant on Tennessee St. called "Super Perros". I had never been to this restaurant before, so it was interesting to not only converse with someone from outside of my culture but also at a cultural restaurant with an atmosphere and menu different than what I am used to. Most of the menu was in Spanish, so we were able to bond over trying to figure out what the menu was saying, and ended up sharing a lot of laughs over it. During our meeting, we caught up on how he was doing at CIES, what he's involved in in Tallahasee, and discussed deeper topics such as the current political affairs going on in France. This led to a grander discussion about American politics, and it turned out we had similar views. It was interesting to connect our ideas across border lines, realizing we all want the ...
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