Location: Starbucks at Strozier Library, FSU campus.
Topic discussed: Favorite types of entertainment, food, classes, driving, Korean dramas.
Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Obtaining a driver's license in America, food culture, socializing, safety.
Ruyi and I hadn't seen each other for two weeks due to the storm, and I was amazed at how fluently she expressed herself now versus at our first meeting. We easily conversed about a variety of topics, and ended up laughing a lot about how similar we are. Ruyi shared her goals for the future, her desire to obtain her driver's license and a car, and how she's doing at CIES. We also bonded over our various dieting attempts. Ruyi confided that she only thinks of meals which contain rice as real meals, so it's easy to consider things like sandwiches mere snacks and then still want rice afterward. It made me think of the German standard of having bread at every meal, and how confusing and incomplete a meal would seem to someone from Germany without bread on the table. We also spent some time discussing culture in China compared to America. Ruyi and I agreed that it's not very safe for female pedestrians here after dark, and that in general the gun-centric ideas of America can be shocking. She sometimes feels like she stands out as a pedestrian, since not many people here walk to get around. Ruyi also expressed a desire to cook for me in order to show me what authentic Chinese food is like, since the restaurants in town are such Americanized version of Chinese cuisine. We plan on having hotpot for lunch at her house this Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to meeting her friend and her roommate over a meal.
Ruyi and I hadn't seen each other for two weeks due to the storm, and I was amazed at how fluently she expressed herself now versus at our first meeting. We easily conversed about a variety of topics, and ended up laughing a lot about how similar we are. Ruyi shared her goals for the future, her desire to obtain her driver's license and a car, and how she's doing at CIES. We also bonded over our various dieting attempts. Ruyi confided that she only thinks of meals which contain rice as real meals, so it's easy to consider things like sandwiches mere snacks and then still want rice afterward. It made me think of the German standard of having bread at every meal, and how confusing and incomplete a meal would seem to someone from Germany without bread on the table. We also spent some time discussing culture in China compared to America. Ruyi and I agreed that it's not very safe for female pedestrians here after dark, and that in general the gun-centric ideas of America can be shocking. She sometimes feels like she stands out as a pedestrian, since not many people here walk to get around. Ruyi also expressed a desire to cook for me in order to show me what authentic Chinese food is like, since the restaurants in town are such Americanized version of Chinese cuisine. We plan on having hotpot for lunch at her house this Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to meeting her friend and her roommate over a meal.
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