Convo with Chris: Part 3

I met with Chris twice last week to finish off our meetings.  For the first meeting we met at our normal spot, the bookstore.  There we got our free drinks to keep us quenched for our conversation. We began talking about our week and how we were doing that day. Chris revealed he was a little stressed about his psychology final and IEP exam.  He explained his desire to graduate from IEP so that he could begin taking more classes for his major, business.  To accelerate the schooling process, he is taking two classes during the summer. It is encouraging to see someone so eager to learn.  So many times college students complain about classes, especially summer school, yet Chris was excited.  Chris went on to explain that after he finished a month of summer school, he would return to China for some much needed family and friend time.  Although we were both exhausted from the week, Chris and I agreed that it is necessary to cherish each moment we have left of this semester.     Our conversation then progressed to the topic of music.  Chris explained that he enjoyed all types of music, and has even attended a few concerts in Texas.  Although he prefers Chinese musicians, he still enjoys American music.  Some of his favorite artists include Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, and the Lumineers.  I chuckled when Chris confidently stated who the greatest American artist of all time was, Michael Jackson! It is amazing how much Chris knows about the American culture and language.  Even prior to coming to TCU, he could almost speak fluent English because of the classes he took in school. I began to feel slightly embarrassed that he knew so much English, whereas I could not speak a lick of Mandarin.  From my experience, it seems like other countries are more aware of their surrounding cultures.   For example, both my conversation partners were taught English throughout all their years in school, whereas I started learning a foreign language in high school.  Even though Chris is so fluent in English, he still stumbles on a few words.  We found that our Iphones were a valuable asset to our conversations.  Chris has a Chinese to English word translator on his phone, as well Google to show pictures of certain items.  This resource was especially helpful when we were talking about our drink choices.  Chris was disappointed in the drink he got because it was not what he pictured in his mind.  Instead of a vanilla bean frappiccuno, he ordered a vanilla cappuccino.  We solved this problem by using our phones to look up pictures of his desired drink, as well as how to pronounce it.  Our conversation finally ended with planning our last meeting time, and wishing each other luck on the rest of the week.  In all, I enjoyed my time with Chris, and the chuckles we shared.  It seems like Chris is opening up more, which I appreciate. My last blog about my conversation partner is coming later today, so get ready!