Conversation Partner #5: IEP Social

Last Friday I met Maram at the IEP hosted conversation partner social. This was my first time Maram and I spent time together with other people as well. It was fun getting to meet other people in her classes. After talking to a few other students in the program, I realized just how good Maram’s English is compared to some of the other students. After meeting a few people, she and I got the opportunity to play Jenga together. A lot of our conversations throughout this semester have felt somewhat formal or significantly question-answer based. I enjoyed getting to spend time with Maram just as I would any other students. We didn’t ask each other anything about our cultures or what class was like or what we liked to do, we just got to spend time together. Reflecting on this hour, I think I learned more about Maram and her personality than I have before. While we laugh all the time when we meet, it’s usually caused by something we find funny or different about the other’s culture or occasionally the awkward silence laugh. Friday, however, the laughter was simple and genuine. We laughed at the game and how bad we both were at it. We talked about how done we were with school and how we just wanted to be on vacation. While I’ve always thought of Maram as a friend, Friday was the first time I felt we truly connected as friends!

Learning Experience #2: The Importance of Sleep

This semester I have learned the importance of taking care of yourself. In life, especially college, it is so easy to get swept up in the craziness. Whether it be homework, studying for a test, hanging out with friends, going to the gym, doing laundry, calling home, sorority events, meetings, or other extracurricular activities, there’s always something calling your name. Quite often, there are multiple things requiring your attention. It’s hard. I’ve never been good at saying no. In fact, I’ve never been good at not saying yes. You need somebody to run that errand for you? Sure I can do it. We need one person in the group to oversee some event? Yeah I got it. Even when it’s not asked of me, I’ll do it. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. It keeps me busy and involved and I know I help others in the process. However, maybe Mom was right. Maybe sleep is important. My motto for this whole year has been that I can sleep when I’m dead. I mean, life is so short, why waste is sleeping? Now don’t get me wrong, a nap here and there, or daily, is totally worth it. But why go to bed at eleven when everybody else is up until two? Well, after about five visits to the health center, multiple prescriptions, and who knows how many naps a day because I never felt caught up on sleep, I finally learned my lesson. Sleeping. Is. Important. Well, maybe I’ve learned my lesson. I’m currently writing this blog at two in the morning, but I have no reason to get up early in the morning so I don’t think it counts. What matters is that I finally understand how important taking care of myself is. Because if I don’t, I won’t be saying no to one or two things but a bunch because I’ll be too sick to do anything. Although I technically didn’t learn this in the classroom, I think it might be one of the most important things I’ve learned all year.

Conversation Partner Four: A Simple Gift

I’ve always known I had a great conversation partner. She’s sweet, easy to talk to, responds immediately, and we have a lot in common. Today, however, Maram officially became the best conversation partner ever when she gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts. Recently, Maram spent a day volunteering in a kindergarten classroom where she helped the kids to write their names in different languages. When we met for coffee earlier today, Maram brought the class example to me. Attached to a box of chocolates, she had written Mary in four different languages: English, Chinese, French, and her own, Arabic.

Although it was only a simple piece of yellow paper with some writing in marker and a couple of stickers, I couldn’t have been more excited. I felt connected to her culture. I’m sure that’s weird to say considering it’s just another way to write my name, but it’s something I’d never really done before. I took Spanish for five years, but never actually bothered to, for a lack of a better way to put it, feel Spanish. The best way to learn about another culture is to put yourself in the shoes of somebody who lives in it. When I saw my name written in Arabic, it reminded me how important it is to picture myself in the culture that Maram tells me about each week. We always talk in English, since that’s the only language I can speak of course and that’s what she’s here to learn. However, it connects her to my culture, not me to hers. I always think of things in terms of what is different that she does compared to how I do it, rather than the other way around. In the smallest way possible, Maram let me into her culture. Since I can’t actually just hop on a plane and visit Saudi Arabia, the little piece of paper was my replacement, my bridge.

Conversation Partner Three: Spring Break

Right before Spring Break, Maram and I met for coffee again. Each time we meet our conversations seem easier and more natural. We talked about our week and what assignments we had or tests we were studying for. I enjoy hearing about her classes and school work because the Intensive English Program is much different than I imagined it to be. Maram also really enjoys the program so I love getting to watch her talk about it and explain it to me. After that Maram asked me what I was doing for Spring Break. I told her about my plans to go to Colorado, home to Kansas, and then Arkansas. She hadn’t been to any of those States so I told her all about the Mountains in Colorado, my home in Kansas, and my friend’s farm in Arkansas. I then asked her if she had any plans for Spring Break. Maram told me about her plans to go to Chicago with her brother. Having lived in Chicago and been back many times since, I was eager to hear what she was going to do there. She pulled up on her phone a map of the city and pointed out her hotel. I knew the exact spot where she was staying and told her all about things to do in the city. It was fun to talk to Maram about everything I loved and see how many things she seemed excited to experience too. I pointed out the Shedd Aquarium, Millenium Park, the Hancock building, and the Field Museum, all of which she was eager to go to. In our previous meetings, Maram and I spent a lot of time talking about what she loved to do back in Saudi Arabia, so it was fun to reverse the roles and get to tell her a bit about what I love to do and introduce her to part of my culture. I can’t wait to meet with Maram this week and hear all about her time in the city and see if she loved it as much as I do!