First experience with my conversation partner!

                Today, November 13^th, I met my conversation partner! Her name is Sina and she’s from Germany, near Hamburg (i.e. the Northern part). She is super sweet and already adapted to the Texas way of life, as she was wearing cowboy boots! However, we had a little bit of a communication breakdown. One of the things we talked about was what she was going to do this weekend. She plans to watch a movie with some friends and I jokingly said, “You should take a vote” to pick which one they wanted to watch. She looked at me inquisitively and I tried to explain further by saying, “where you guys raise your hand to decide on something.” Sina was very polite and always asked, “Sorry?” when she needed clarification. Obviously, this is very different from Americans who say, “huh?” or “what’d you say!? when they don’t understand.” She told me all about the program she’s in here at TCU, called IP, and how she has class 10 hours a day! (although she said it was from 9:00-5:00, so I must have misunderstood her…)  She’s living with her aunt in Arlington (who actually graduated from TCU in 1999) and drives here every day! She has a 24 year old sister named Annika who works in Germany as a hotel receptionist. I asked her what she wants to do after she graduates from this program and she actually wants to work in Texas! She said something about education but I didn’t quite catch it… She and her aunt are the only studious ones in the family, so I’m guessing her sister didn’t go to college.

                Sina is very into horseback riding and sports. She goes to the gym a lot and is on a polo team in Arlington near her aunt’s house! She described it as a sport where “we ride on little horses and have a stick where we hit a soccer ball.” She’s also in Hyperfrogs! I learned that they don’t have football or baseball in Germany.  Her English is very good. She told me that in IP, they have levels where 5 is the best and everyone is taught by 3 or 4 professors. For reading/writing, she’s in Level 4 and for speaking/comprehension, she’s Level 3 (or something like that!) She has a lot of friends in the program from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and one guy from Africa. Sina is very good at texting, just a few little English mistakes here and there, but overall, I had a very enjoyable time getting to meet her! We’re now Facebook friends, which must mean a friendship has officially blossomed… J