For this conversation partner meeting, I met with Turki. Normally I tutor Turki, for he is a very serious and studious student, but today we decided to just chat rather than work on English assignments. We met at Starbucks, our usual spot, and dove into a pretty deep conversation pretty fast. Turki has a pretty advanced level of conversational English and kept up with the advanced topics of conversation well. We talked a lot about the trials and tribulations that come with living abroad, as well as the benefits of it. He said he has travelled to a number of different places before coming to the US and felt his numerous experiences have helped open his mind beyond the cultural norms that exist in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is obviously known for its conservative culture, and Turki said he sometimes struggles to agree with those around him when it comes to the enforcement of such conservative laws. He believes he is more Western-minded than even his mom, as well as other family members and friends, and that he blames his exposure to other cultures though traveling for it. Although he doesn't agree with everything that goes on in Saudi Arabia, he did say he plans on going back eventually and working for a business similar to his dad's.
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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