Kayla CP #1

Date/Time: September 9, 2016/3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Location: Starbucks

Topic discussed: Family, Background, Education System/Goals, Hobbies, Education Goals, and Comparing Middle Eastern/American Culture

 

Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: 

Ahmad and I were supposed to meet a week ago, but Hurricane Hermine made sure that didn't happen.  Yesterday wasn't our first time meeting, as I met him in the classes that I have observed; we would have small talk for about five minutes after his class.  I picked to meet at Starbucks because I feel the environment there is positive, uplifting, and respectful.

 

The first thing we talked about was our families.  Ahmad's sister is also in CIES learning English.  He showed me pictures of his sister, then I showed him pictures of my little brother.  He's a very good big brother because he came to the U.S. because his sister wanted to study in America.  He would have went to the U.K. or Canada if he had a choice, but he wanted to stay by his sister.  Although they are 10+ years apart, they have a really close bond.  He also has a wife and two kids; his second was just born!  They are beautiful kids.  He is trying to pursue his education in America, and eventually bring his family in Kuwait over to America as well.

 

 We both talked about our education goals.  I am studying in bio & ag systems engineering, and he is aspiring to finish his undergraduate degree in computer engineering.  He is already well versed in the software, so he wants to learn more about the hardware because you can't have one without the other.  He has realized that the education system in America is one of the most difficult education systems in the world not because of the actual material but the requirements, tests, and fees.  I totally agreed with him.  It sucks that America has many standardized tests because it actually takes away from the true learning.  I told him I am a perfect example of that; I only do what I need to do to earn an A, and I forget everything I learned once I get my grade.  I also suggested him to go visit the e-school and talk to some computer engineers and see if FSU would be a good fit for him (I don't think it will based off my experiences at the e-school).  He also asked me what Atlanta, GA is like because he is also thinking about going to the Georgia Institute of Technology.  I was able to tell him a few things about Atlanta, but it would be better if he saw it with his own eyes.

Ahmad and I both like to travel.  Instead of sitting through the hurricane, he and his sister spent the weekend in New Orleans, LA.  It wasn't his best trip, but it was an okay time.  We both like physical activities.  I play tennis, he likes to bike or go to bodies of water (beach, sea, lake, etc.).  I like board games, and he's an "addict" to video games.  So we have a few similar interests, and we talked about those a little bit more.

I let him know that if he had any questions for me, to don't be afraid to ask.  He was telling me that sometimes he doesn't want to ask people things because he doesn't want to offend anybody.  Back in his home, people speak their minds.  So we talked about why Americans are sensitive.  I kind of explained one aspect of that sensitivity to him: the fact that I'm Black/African American.  So I kind of explained why skin color is a big deal in America, and although he understood, it shocked him.  We had a very in-depth conversation about it, and it was very enlightening for both of us.

The time flew by very fast, but I felt that we talked about a lot of things.  Next meeting, we definitely need to come up with some topics to talk about so we don't run out of anything to say, lol.  There weren't really any big challenges other than finding topics.  He wants to improve his speaking more for the TOEFL test, so we will definitely be talking a lot.